Comments on: Scraping the Bottom of the “Developer Productivity” Barrel http://jboxer.com/2008/12/scraping-the-bottom-of-the-developer-productivity-barrel/ I change the directions of small pieces of metal for a living. Fri, 20 Aug 2010 19:29:20 -0700 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Jake http://jboxer.com/2008/12/scraping-the-bottom-of-the-developer-productivity-barrel/comment-page-1/#comment-15 Jake Fri, 12 Dec 2008 19:45:13 +0000 http://terrorist-fist-jab.com/?p=84#comment-15 This is a great point. I have only worked at a full-time software engineering job for a single summer, so I haven't yet experienced things like this. Now that you mention it, I can see how, if something <em>may or may not</em> pay for itself in efficiency (like an SSD), it's worth buying for the X-factors (ego, encouraging good testing, avoiding little breaks, etc.). I would still argue that you should ask for the lower-hanging fruit first (monitors/chair), but assuming you've already got them, I can see how it would actually make a difference. Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my blog post. I'm just getting started, and I really appreciate getting feedback from someone I've been subscribed to for a bit. This is a great point. I have only worked at a full-time software engineering job for a single summer, so I haven’t yet experienced things like this. Now that you mention it, I can see how, if something may or may not pay for itself in efficiency (like an SSD), it’s worth buying for the X-factors (ego, encouraging good testing, avoiding little breaks, etc.). I would still argue that you should ask for the lower-hanging fruit first (monitors/chair), but assuming you’ve already got them, I can see how it would actually make a difference.

Thank you very much for taking the time to respond to my blog post. I’m just getting started, and I really appreciate getting feedback from someone I’ve been subscribed to for a bit.

]]> By: Patrick Smacchia http://jboxer.com/2008/12/scraping-the-bottom-of-the-developer-productivity-barrel/comment-page-1/#comment-16 Patrick Smacchia Fri, 12 Dec 2008 13:00:48 +0000 http://terrorist-fist-jab.com/?p=84#comment-16 I believe you are missing an extremely important point: ego As every human being developers expect respect from their hierarchy and spending a few hundreds bucks to make their life easier is not a luxury. And buying 5400 RPM HD while 7200/10000 RPM and even SSD exist, it is not really demonstrating respect. Also, often when a 1 minute process begin, developer will likely take a small coffee/toilet/collegue rambling... that will end up in a 5/10 minute loss of time + the time the developer re-enter its current development context. So shrinking from 1 minute to say 20 seconds can be a much massive improvement. Another thing, encouraging long time delay spent in running tests will foster not run tests at all, and this also has a consequence in the overall quality of the software. As long as developers ask for SSD, monitors and good chair, and not for BMW, do a favor for your team, buy it. I believe you are missing an extremely important point: ego

As every human being developers expect respect from their hierarchy and spending a few hundreds bucks to make their life easier is not a luxury. And buying 5400 RPM HD while 7200/10000 RPM and even SSD exist, it is not really demonstrating respect.

Also, often when a 1 minute process begin, developer will likely take a small coffee/toilet/collegue rambling… that will end up in a 5/10 minute loss of time + the time the developer re-enter its current development context. So shrinking from 1 minute to say 20 seconds can be a much massive improvement.

Another thing, encouraging long time delay spent in running tests will foster not run tests at all, and this also has a consequence in the overall quality of the software.

As long as developers ask for SSD, monitors and good chair, and not for BMW, do a favor for your team, buy it.

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