Desperate situation

[Mike McCarty]

taharka wrote:
> On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 14:22 -0600, Mike McCarty wrote:
> 
>>taharka wrote:
>>
>>>Howdy,
>>>
>>>On Mon, 2006-02-13 at 11:29 -0600, Mike McCarty wrote:

>>>>Computers *are* logical. It's the *designers* who need to be taken
>>>>out and shot. Especially the ones who came up with CS. :-)
>>>
>>>
>>>Aren't *designers* AKA Engineers? ;-))
>>
>>Yes, of course. No smiley necessary.
> 
> 
> The smiley was there, because I remember you saying, you are a laid off
> Engineer. Please don't take it personal, it's just a joke. BTW, if you

Of course I don't take it personally!

> were to design something poorly (say you were the original designer of
> cs), would you agree to "be taken out and shot"? Inquiring minds want to
> know :-)

Yes, I would. But I was using a figure of speech. Actually, two, to wit
metaphor and hyperbole. In fact, when I was working, all of us
always submitted our requirements, designs, and code to review.
And frequently, we *were* "taken out and shot". Always nicely,
though. I always strove not to make statements, but rather to
ask questions during such review meetings, like

"What happens at line 45 if the parameter passed in is negative?"

and

"Is that what you think the code should do?"

It's important for people to feel as safe as possible when getting
their work reviewed. Nobody wants to hear his best effort called
a piece of crap. That includes me. And I know I'm going to be on
the other end of that stick some day. So, always always always I was
careful when in a review meeting. It's scary going through review,
no matter how many times. After a while, though, when some of the
same people are in meetings and always treat each other with
respect and being careful of feelings, one can get some confidence.
Especiall I bore this in mind when I was reviewing code written
by one of my own team, for whom I was technical lead.

BTW, even when I was technical lead, I had people who were
nominally "under" me review my work as well. It's important
to keep perspective, and to make people feel valued. "Leading"
and "driving" are two entirely different management styles.

Mike
-- 
p="p=%c%s%c;main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}";main(){printf(p,34,p,34);}
This message made from 100% recycled bits.
You have found the bank of Larn.
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
I speak only for myself, and I am unanimous in that!