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0 pointseckesicle4y ago0 comments

With strict deadlines and OKRs to hit it wasn't really feasible for people to double up on projects.

> Instead of 2 devs working for 2 months each on their own project, put them together on the first project for a month, then on the other project for the second month (simplified example, of course).

We did try this and it sounds good in theory but as the old saying goes 'two women can't have a baby in 4.5 months'.

In my experience (in this particular team and org) it would've simply been better to invest some time into documentation and suffer a short drop in productivity on a project when owners left.

0 comments

trulyme4y ago

I'm sorry to hear you couldn't make it work, but I can assure you that this approach works in practice. You don't get a child in 4.5 months, but you can get 2 children in 9 months.

I agree that not all environments are good at managing developers though (and that is probably a huge understatement).

fendy30024y ago

> strict deadlines and OKRs

Simply said, that deadlines and OKRs don't account for bus factor.

Viliam12344y ago

Before the developer gets hit by the bus, it is cheaper to only have one developer on the project. For many managers, the economical analysis seems to end at this point.

bee_rider4y ago

Robustness and efficiency are fundamentally enemies, right? Unfortunately this means that the 'best' solution is often the least robust one that survives.

fendy30024y ago

correct. Risk aversions most of the time are expensive. And it's always management's decision to take the risks and cheapen out or avert the risks.

bobthepanda4y ago

It kind of depends on how exactly the sharing mechanism works.

If you are in a place with code-review, the 2-person system allows one person to at least read the code that is being written as it's being written, so the genesis and reasoning behind such code might be a little more obvious.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointseckesicle4y ago0 comments

With strict deadlines and OKRs to hit it wasn't really feasible for people to double up on projects.

> Instead of 2 devs working for 2 months each on their own project, put them together on the first project for a month, then on the other project for the second month (simplified example, of course).

We did try this and it sounds good in theory but as the old saying goes 'two women can't have a baby in 4.5 months'.

In my experience (in this particular team and org) it would've simply been better to invest some time into documentation and suffer a short drop in productivity on a project when owners left.

0 comments

trulyme4y ago

I'm sorry to hear you couldn't make it work, but I can assure you that this approach works in practice. You don't get a child in 4.5 months, but you can get 2 children in 9 months.

I agree that not all environments are good at managing developers though (and that is probably a huge understatement).

fendy30024y ago

> strict deadlines and OKRs

Simply said, that deadlines and OKRs don't account for bus factor.

Viliam12344y ago

Before the developer gets hit by the bus, it is cheaper to only have one developer on the project. For many managers, the economical analysis seems to end at this point.

bee_rider4y ago

Robustness and efficiency are fundamentally enemies, right? Unfortunately this means that the 'best' solution is often the least robust one that survives.

fendy30024y ago

correct. Risk aversions most of the time are expensive. And it's always management's decision to take the risks and cheapen out or avert the risks.

bobthepanda4y ago

It kind of depends on how exactly the sharing mechanism works.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse