Comments on: Ships and lighthouses, on Rails! http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/ Thu, 04 Dec 2008 18:01:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Scott http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18820 Scott Thu, 28 Jun 2007 15:13:37 +0000 http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18820 The best developers in the world can be sidelined by the environments they work in. It is very impressive that companies the size of Google or Microsoft can still get anything out the door. So many companies half their sizes get bogged down with the "corporate" nonsense. The best developers in the world can be sidelined by the environments they work in. It is very impressive that companies the size of Google or Microsoft can still get anything out the door. So many companies half their sizes get bogged down with the “corporate” nonsense.

]]> By: Eddy Young http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18511 Eddy Young Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:02:19 +0000 http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18511 To be honest, I've never looked at software development in this light. For me, good programming is all about expressing a problem in a way that can be translated into instructions for the computer as simply as possible. I don't think we should praise heroes, but we should take inspiration from those who have achieved great things. We should not follow "standard processes" but rather adopt best practices that have been proven. What works at Google will not necessarily work in another organisation. Processes should emerge and evolve naturally in a given environment, and once they have developed, they cannot be transplanted somewhere else without that new environment having the same conditions for them to work. To be honest, I’ve never looked at software development in this light. For me, good programming is all about expressing a problem in a way that can be translated into instructions for the computer as simply as possible.

I don’t think we should praise heroes, but we should take inspiration from those who have achieved great things. We should not follow “standard processes” but rather adopt best practices that have been proven. What works at Google will not necessarily work in another organisation. Processes should emerge and evolve naturally in a given environment, and once they have developed, they cannot be transplanted somewhere else without that new environment having the same conditions for them to work.

]]> By: oli http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18456 oli Mon, 25 Jun 2007 22:08:14 +0000 http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18456 Thank you for you comments, Eddy. I agree there are very good developers elsewhere. However. while I am sure Google is an awesome place to work at, my rhetoric about the Googleplex goes deep into my developer bones. Software development is mostly a problem of human proportions; the chaos in our minds, the garbage that comes out of our mouth and all that don't make it to our brains from our ears. We are imperfect machines, working imperfectly with each other trying to produce code as perfect as it can be. Should we praise heroes? Should we think about standard development processes? To me, THAT'S an interesting problem to solve. Thank you for you comments, Eddy.

I agree there are very good developers elsewhere. However. while I am sure Google is an awesome place to work at, my rhetoric about the Googleplex goes deep into my developer bones.

Software development is mostly a problem of human proportions; the chaos in our minds, the garbage that comes out of our mouth and all that don’t make it to our brains from our ears. We are imperfect machines, working imperfectly with each other trying to produce code as perfect as it can be.

Should we praise heroes? Should we think about standard development processes? To me, THAT’S an interesting problem to solve.

]]> By: Eddy Young http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18452 Eddy Young Mon, 25 Jun 2007 20:30:33 +0000 http://www.oliyiptong.com/blog/2007/06/25/ships-and-lighthouses-on-rails/#comment-18452 Very well put, Olivier. You must be the first person that I come across and who do not idolise Google and their programmers. There are so many other capable developers out there, including Microsoft's own John Lam and Scott Gu. Novell also has Miguel de Icaza and the rest of the Mono team who implemented Moonlight in 21 days. Very well put, Olivier. You must be the first person that I come across and who do not idolise Google and their programmers. There are so many other capable developers out there, including Microsoft’s own John Lam and Scott Gu. Novell also has Miguel de Icaza and the rest of the Mono team who implemented Moonlight in 21 days.

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