Confessions of an IT Manager_Phil Factor

Section III: Software Projects: the Good, the Bad and the Pitiful 105
It may not be logic that fires the hunger for the latest technology. One of the
strange side effects of testosterone is an irresistible urge to play with the latest
technology, and it is hard to distinguish real productivity from unashamed selfstimulation.
It takes courage and willpower to adopt a relatively conservative approach
to development work and select the technology appropriate for the application.
When I plan a project, I generally construct a 'playpen' area in which all the
latest technologies are used to develop a non-critical project component, and
then let each team take turns developing it.
The team gets to put all sorts of skills and technologies on their CVs, and
the pressure is off to prematurely adopt a fancy technology for the project's
serious deliverables. We can then inform the project sponsor that we are using
glitzy technology just like in the advertisements, and everyone is happy.
Code, then recode
Throwing away code, just when you've gotten it to work, may seem unkind
or unnecessary but is actually a deeply cleansing experience, like sloughing off
dead skin. I discovered this by accident when the bad luck fairy struck and no
one had made backups.
Initial feelings of despair were followed by a curious lightness of spirit, as
all the false turnings and cul-de-sacs of everyday coding were forgotten. We
knew what needed to be built, having done it once, stumbling in the half-light
of the systems analysis.
When we keyed it all in again, it was half its previous length and ran twice
as fast. It didn't take long to do it either, and we hummed as we worked. I've
since discovered that the same applies to any creative work. Tentative work
should always go on the fire.
Discourage virtuosity
The principle that you should never let a programmer do anything you
cannot understand is a classic one, first articulated by C.A.R. Hoare, inventor of
the Quicksort algorithm. It is ignored at your peril.
My worst experience with this behavior was when I was supervising a
freelance Sybase programmer who created a reporting system for a financial
services company. He used dynamically compiled stored procedures that were
created in response to the exact slice-and-dice query required by the financial
analyst.
He almost got the code working to the satisfaction of the business, and then
demanded a doubling of his contract rate. We parted on bad terms, and I was