U
/usr/ceo
The general effect of my question here would be akin to calling a
friend in a tight spot and having him look up a phone number for you
instead of calling 411 mainly because he's your friend and you judge
him to have additional knowledge in this case that 411 doesn't have.
Anyway, I've searched Google Groups and come up blank with what I'm
looking for and I know from previous posts here that there are a lot of
knowledgable persons here in the position I've discovered myself to be
in the last couple of years, so I thought I would ask a friendly
question and get some directions.
I've been a hard-core and pretty well-paid developer for about 17 years
now. The last 5-6 has seen quite a lot of Perl. Of course, I've
struggled as most to find a way to "advance"; the bane of every
developer, esp. good ones, has been to find paths of advancement in
companies while still doing what one is really good at (eg.
development) because most companies don't provide technical paths into
upper management. I don't need to further describe this delimma; you
know what I'm talking about. In those 17 years, I helped bridge the
gap my doing a lot of consulting. But now...
I'm now in a full-time position and have been for about 2 years now.
I've encountered more difficulty in these two years than in my previous
15-17 because I've developed into what I call a "tweener." Someone
with some project management duties and skills while carrying still
some development duties. Maybe 60-40 -- 60% PM and 40% development, or
sometimes 50-50. Here's what I'm finding and I'd like to get into the
proper Usenet group for discussion on this (and leave you guys back to
discussing Perl...):
I find that unless my development duties are weighted significantly
higher than PM duties, PM duties always seem to encroach on development
duties. For example, with what is supposed to be a 60-40 split (ie.
that's what everyone's EXPECTATION is), I find my time ends up being
more 70-30 or even 80-20. I've even experienced a 90-10 shift because
I'm responsible, create plans, am able to work with people (so a lot of
people come to me as well as get sent to me by my supervisors with the
expecation that I do those things), I follow through, etc. And my
development time suffers greatly in two directions:
(1) AMOUNT of time. If I'm expected to do 60-40 in a 50 hour work week
(roughly) and I chew up 80% on PM'ing, I would have to spend an
additional 10 hours that week to make up for the lost time in
development. That isn't *too* bad, if it weren't for this other factor
I am about to point out. If I *don't* do the extra 10 hours, then I
fall behind in development by... log 57 x sqrt(9.45) + cos 82... 10
hours.
The other factor...
(2) TYPE of time. This the biggest issue in my mind that I am
discovering and finding difficult to overcome. I think most people in
my "tweener" position would agree that proper development takes long
unbroken stretches of time. If I am supposed to be doing a 60-40 split
for example, mathematically, I could satisfy that split in say 5 hour
increments. 5 hours to PM, then 5 hours to development... 5 hours to
PM and 5 hours to development. Half of each day. If I were RELIGIOUS
about this, I STILL think that the quality of development work would be
POOR (and in fact that is what I am finding). I experience what I call
"development time fragmentation". Like disk fragmentation, I may be
able to mathematically satisfy the time requirements (and again, often
the reality is more that my development time is encroached upon), but
my "development efficency" is way down. Just like seek and load time
on a badly fragmented disk. The disk may report 40gb free, but it's a
very fragmented 40gb.
My analogy for non-developers (in describing to upper management what I
am finding) is this: Try to write a book during your work week. The
company agrees to pay you for doing a 60-40 split. 60% of your time
you manage people, budgets, projects, etc. And 40 of your time, we
want you to write a book. What would the quality of that book be like?
Do you think you would be able to spend 5 hours a day managing people,
budgets and projects and then change gears and concentrate on your book
writing for 5 hours and never loose concentration or continuity in your
book writing, plot and story line? Esp. if what really happened is
your 5 hours of "book writing time" was interrupted with phone calls,
requests for updates, etc. but you were still left to "write."
I maintain that development -- good development of any length beyond
simple scripts is like writing a book. There is a "plot", a "story
line" and characters which need to be "developed" in every development
project. I'm finding it hard to write my books and manage other book
writers, sellers and distributors at the same time. I'd love to
discuss this further in the right Usenet group or hear what others here
have to say. My sense is that there are a good many here that can
relate to what I am saying.
Thanks!
/usr/ceo
friend in a tight spot and having him look up a phone number for you
instead of calling 411 mainly because he's your friend and you judge
him to have additional knowledge in this case that 411 doesn't have.
Anyway, I've searched Google Groups and come up blank with what I'm
looking for and I know from previous posts here that there are a lot of
knowledgable persons here in the position I've discovered myself to be
in the last couple of years, so I thought I would ask a friendly
question and get some directions.
I've been a hard-core and pretty well-paid developer for about 17 years
now. The last 5-6 has seen quite a lot of Perl. Of course, I've
struggled as most to find a way to "advance"; the bane of every
developer, esp. good ones, has been to find paths of advancement in
companies while still doing what one is really good at (eg.
development) because most companies don't provide technical paths into
upper management. I don't need to further describe this delimma; you
know what I'm talking about. In those 17 years, I helped bridge the
gap my doing a lot of consulting. But now...
I'm now in a full-time position and have been for about 2 years now.
I've encountered more difficulty in these two years than in my previous
15-17 because I've developed into what I call a "tweener." Someone
with some project management duties and skills while carrying still
some development duties. Maybe 60-40 -- 60% PM and 40% development, or
sometimes 50-50. Here's what I'm finding and I'd like to get into the
proper Usenet group for discussion on this (and leave you guys back to
discussing Perl...):
I find that unless my development duties are weighted significantly
higher than PM duties, PM duties always seem to encroach on development
duties. For example, with what is supposed to be a 60-40 split (ie.
that's what everyone's EXPECTATION is), I find my time ends up being
more 70-30 or even 80-20. I've even experienced a 90-10 shift because
I'm responsible, create plans, am able to work with people (so a lot of
people come to me as well as get sent to me by my supervisors with the
expecation that I do those things), I follow through, etc. And my
development time suffers greatly in two directions:
(1) AMOUNT of time. If I'm expected to do 60-40 in a 50 hour work week
(roughly) and I chew up 80% on PM'ing, I would have to spend an
additional 10 hours that week to make up for the lost time in
development. That isn't *too* bad, if it weren't for this other factor
I am about to point out. If I *don't* do the extra 10 hours, then I
fall behind in development by... log 57 x sqrt(9.45) + cos 82... 10
hours.
The other factor...
(2) TYPE of time. This the biggest issue in my mind that I am
discovering and finding difficult to overcome. I think most people in
my "tweener" position would agree that proper development takes long
unbroken stretches of time. If I am supposed to be doing a 60-40 split
for example, mathematically, I could satisfy that split in say 5 hour
increments. 5 hours to PM, then 5 hours to development... 5 hours to
PM and 5 hours to development. Half of each day. If I were RELIGIOUS
about this, I STILL think that the quality of development work would be
POOR (and in fact that is what I am finding). I experience what I call
"development time fragmentation". Like disk fragmentation, I may be
able to mathematically satisfy the time requirements (and again, often
the reality is more that my development time is encroached upon), but
my "development efficency" is way down. Just like seek and load time
on a badly fragmented disk. The disk may report 40gb free, but it's a
very fragmented 40gb.
My analogy for non-developers (in describing to upper management what I
am finding) is this: Try to write a book during your work week. The
company agrees to pay you for doing a 60-40 split. 60% of your time
you manage people, budgets, projects, etc. And 40 of your time, we
want you to write a book. What would the quality of that book be like?
Do you think you would be able to spend 5 hours a day managing people,
budgets and projects and then change gears and concentrate on your book
writing for 5 hours and never loose concentration or continuity in your
book writing, plot and story line? Esp. if what really happened is
your 5 hours of "book writing time" was interrupted with phone calls,
requests for updates, etc. but you were still left to "write."
I maintain that development -- good development of any length beyond
simple scripts is like writing a book. There is a "plot", a "story
line" and characters which need to be "developed" in every development
project. I'm finding it hard to write my books and manage other book
writers, sellers and distributors at the same time. I'd love to
discuss this further in the right Usenet group or hear what others here
have to say. My sense is that there are a good many here that can
relate to what I am saying.
Thanks!
/usr/ceo