| Tuesday, November 27, 2007 | |
| | | A Developer's Perspective | |
 | David Walsh is a Senior Web Developer at Econoprint in Madison, Wisconsin. He spends most of his time in jEdit coding PHP, playing around with MooTools, and finding different ways to bend the rules of the web. David also shares his web wisdom via his blog, davidwalsh.name. |
8 Ways For A Programmer To Stay Sane
By David Walsh
Being a web programmer is hard work. Long hours, coupled with the fact that we're presented with nothing but problems, can make our job unbearable. Not to mention deadlines and unreasonable customers. Oh, and the fact that we're all casualties of the never-ending browser wars.
So why do we do what we do? We love programming. We love creating functional, virtual worlds where people can get information, post pictures, and meet people. We love taking a given set of rules and bending them to their limits. We love that we can post a collection of code that can some day be a money-making powerhouse like Facebook or Digg.
With all of the rewards that come from being a programmer, the job can still be overwhelming. Dealing with the stress that our job creates is an important skill. I've compiled a list of ways for you, as a programmer, to keep your sanity.
Know When to Step Away
Programmers, in general, are obsessive, detailed-oriented people. We don't like admitting defeat and we tend to not step away when we are frustrated. The best thing to do when you've spent a long period of time working on one problem is to step away. Clear your mind. Take a walk. Come back to your desk when you've cooled down.
Go Out For Lunch…
I used to eat lunch at my computer every day — I'd check out my favorite websites and send a few personal emails. Once more and more customers knew me, I'd get inundated with phone call after phone call during lunch and soon I didn't have ANY time during the day to myself. Don't let your lunch hour become another hour of work! Get away from your desk for lunch!
…But Eat Healthy
A healthy body is a healthy mind. It's much easier to grab a quick donut or candy bar when at the desk, but take a quick break and eat something healthy. Try a small salad, a granola bar, or good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Eating poorly can make a person feel weighed down or even depressed (I tell my coworkers that my self-esteem is low when I eat at McDonald's). I suggest eating a healthy sub sandwich — it will fill you up, give you the nutrients you need, and not make you feel tired or ill.
Ignore Your Home Computer
After a frustrating day at work, stay off of your home computer — your personal programming can wait another day. Your personal programming could become more frustrating than your work problems, and that's not what you need. Let it go for the night.
Get Another Non-Tech Hobby / Exercise
Having passions other than computer-related hobbies is ideal. Performing physical activities is even better, as it will help you stay in shape. Too often I hear other programmers speak about nothing but computer-related topics — get out of the programming world once in a while! Find another hobby! Learn how to cook. Start playing chess. Do puzzles. Play soccer.
Spend Time with Friends
Friends are generally low maintenance and have interests other than computer-related topics. Schedule a weekend event with your friends. Get together for a barbecue, go to a movie, play video games, go to the football game, or have a night out on the town. Instant messaging your buddies doesn't count!
Take Your Vacation
When things get tough at work, don't be afraid to use your vacation — it could save you from outright quitting when work is overbearing. You don't have to go on an exotic vacation or a cruise; hell, stay home if you want. The point of the vacation is to focus on not working.
Know If Programming Isn't Right for You
If you're losing your mind on a consistent basis and your job is affecting your family, health, or sanity, it may be time to stop. There are other jobs out there — maybe you'd be better off with another career. Just know that programming isn't everything and you don't have to suffer because of your job.
Dealing with the stress of programming is a very important skill. How do you deal with stress at work? Until next time,
David Walsh
davidwalsh.name | | |
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| | | Eric Redmond is a certified Java developer and architect with a decade of experience on high-reliability systems, reborn as a Ruby and Rails programmer. He is author of "Maven: The Definitive Guide" and contributing author to "Java Power Tools". He also blogs @ www.coderoshi.com |
Micromanaging - Tasks versus Goals
By Eric Redmond
This is something I've wanted to write about for a while, but held-off for fear of another 10 page rant. But, taking a page from Seth Godin, I've decided to try writing less. Here goes.
I think it is well understood the weaknesses of task-based software development processes - hence the popularity of agile frameworks. Telling a programmer to code a small little piece of a large framework out of context is error-prone, slow, and most importantly a difficult way to keep talent. Give me a piece of a system and say "work with teams A, B and C to make D" is entirely different than saying "Do tasks X, Y and Z" without any basis for them. Good managers want the input of the expert paid to do the job - even if that expert is a 21 year old pimply-faced programmer punk. Sure, I might have more overall smarts and education than my mechanic - but when he's elbow deep in grease with my car taken apart, I'm not going to give him tasks, just a goal: make it work. Anything more is micromanaging and gives substandard results (since I'm not an expert but he is) -- that doesn't mean I can't keep an eye out on him from dumping metal shavings into my oil-pan.
Micro-managers give "tasks"; Good managers give "goals".
It may sound like a mere semantic difference, but there is some real value in conceptualizing the distinction. Shortly, a task is a step toward reaching a goal. Sadly, there are people who cannot tell the difference. If you have one, or are one, my condolences. Some good things about goal-based over task-based management: - Easier on the manager (my favorite reason). If a manager has to take a collection of goals from higher-ups or customers (the ultimate higher-ups) and distill them into tasks, that puts a great strain on the manager. (S)he becomes a point of failure in the organization, since all new goals must travel through that point. However, when a manager spends time giving out goals rather than managing tasks, (s)he can spend the time ensuring that the goals are reached satisfactorily.
- Gives a sense of ownership to employees. Great for morale, sure, but also keeps talent around. Smart people don't like feeling like cogs, and almost always prefer to have a stake in the outcome. When given a goal "get project A done in two weeks - by any means necessary" rather than a series of tasks "come in between 8am and 5pm; 3 days of design, 4 days of coding, 3 days of testing; utilize technology X" they are more likely to care about the outcome - it becomes their baby.
Are these benefits psychological? Sure. Companies are groups of people working toward a common set of goals - psychology is an important organizational component. But it has another bonus beyond the sanity of employees: goal-based directives are developed faster. My feelings on fast initial development are no secret, mainly because most projects have such short lives (if any at all) building "perfect" architectures are sinkholes of money and time. Complex top-down architecture (as opposed to emergent) take a high-minded view of an oligarchy which are suited for dividing labor into discreet tasks: create a caching mechanism, create a logging framework, create the model layer, create the DAO layer, etc. Oftentimes (I'll go as far as say usually, in my experience) these tasks are divided up to several people. Can you spot the vicious waste? If person A is working on component 1a, and person B is working on 1b you have now succeeded in failing in two ways: - If person A quits, person B can hardly take on 1a without a learning curve. Perfect interchangeability of programmers is a pipedream - you have gained nothing by way of componentizing the org chart.
- Person A and B must cross artificial barriers to communicate (viz, between 1a and 1b). If person A and B were given a goal (work on component 1) they could leverage each others strengths, as well as cooperate in a manner comfortable to themselves to avoid redundancy. But as it stands, A will work on 1a, B will work on 1b, and any common effort not outlined by the oligarchy will be duplicated (1ax and 1bx - versus 1x).
Proponents of the top-down, task-based method will argue: "Iterations fix this problem!" True, after the effort has been expended once, retrospect will come into play and fix the original faulty analysis. But why go through the effort? Just let A and B loose to develop 1, fixing any architectural defects on later iterations. A simple shift in tact frees up a manager to work with the employees by removing obstacles rather than managing a check-list. Either that or going golfing. Until next time,
Eric Redmond
www.coderoshi.com |
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