Process, People, and Pods


Tuesday 24 July 2007

Building a Better Programmer, Part 1

Programmer productivity varies much more widely than project management spreadsheets would suggest. Differences within a moderately sized team can be 5:1, 10:1, or higher, discounting any incompetent programmers. In a previous post, I discussed how to assess the skills of the individuals. In yet another post, I extolled the more expensive talent was actually a huge bargain with their productivity boost.

But knowing the skills, are you stuck with this team? Is your only option as a project manager to swap team members out to improve your mix of skills? The answer is a resounding no. You can improve your mix of skills.

One of the attractions of the Master-Journeyman-Apprentice (MPA) model for me is that it clearly indicates the path to improving the skill mix:
  • Apprentices need constant supervision as they begin to acquire skills and apply them for the first time. Gross, project-impacting mistakes await unsupervised Apprentices trying to apply their new knowledge for the first time. (Would you let a first year med student perform open heart surgery on you?) The natural supervisors? Journeymen (and not project managers!)
  • Journeymen should choose the Masters from whom they will learn. It was the case with craftsmen of the Middle Ages, and is just as true today. They need exposure to such people to improve their skills to the next level. Self-taught Masters are quite rare; more often, Master programmers I know learned at the hands of another Master programmer.

Another alternative model for Master/Journeyman relationship come from academia: The relationship between PhD's and their doctorial candidates at universities. The doctorial candidate selects a professor under which to study. In exchange for guiding the doctorial candidate, the professor gains additional research capacity in his field of study. When the professor feels the student is ready, he presents him to a committee of other PhD's for examination. This committee decides whether the candidate is qualified to join their ranks. So a self-controlled Academy of Master Programmers is another interesting model.

It behooves the project manager to create an environment to supporting this learning. The rewards for supporting this learning are large productivity boosts without a corresponding growth in costs (yes, you should pay your Journeymen and Masters more, but they will be happy with less than 100% or 500% raises).

Enabling elements (in order of importance):

  • Pair programming. Not only is pair programming as productive as two individuals working alone, it creates an amazing learning opportunity by pairing Apprentices with Journeymen, and Journeymen with Masters.
  • Collocation. Conversations cannot occur unless people are speaking distance from each other. Throw in a convenient whiteboard, and knowledge transfer will take place.
  • Project teams. Project teams that are deliberately formed to expose key individuals (Journeymen) to a Master programmer will create communication between them; knowledge will grow.
  • Communities. Whether formal or informal, encourage and support communities around the skills (OOP, database, dynamic languages, .NET, etc.). Communities are quite a bit less effective than the above alternatives, primarily because they involve participants choosing to participate on their own time. This caters to a subset of candidates only.
  • Training. Training is largely ineffective for all but Apprentices. But for Apprentices, it inbues them with new terminology and techniques. Hands-on training is much preferred to lectures. All training is ineffective if the techniques learned cannot be immediately applied to current project work. There is near zero retention for material that is first used a year after it is taught. Consider this when staff can sign up for education, but will have little opportunity to use the material in their normal job.

A subsequent post will talk about specific paths of transition from Apprentice to Journeyman, and from Journeyman to Master.

20 comments:

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梁爵 said...

2019.10.16台北市酒店上班八大行業即時新聞稿表示,依酒店工作的酒店小姐現場保護規則第3條第2項規定,酒店現場總人數在120位以上部分人員是學生身份,應設置從大學生不影響課業酒店兼差人員辦理達成5小時工時服務,提早下班可順利完成隔天白天學校課程,另外針對上班族酒店兼職保護規則明定,依照勞基法工時健康著想不讓酒店小姐因酒店打工過勞影響未來健康,知名酒店經紀梁小尊/梁曉尊應依不同年齡、族群、學生、單親、上班族等逐步設置從事酒店小姐健康服務護理人員,並辦理臨場健康服務單位。

梁爵 said...

2019.11.27知名酒店經紀公司數據統計調查顯示,有39.6%酒店上班族認為本身工時過長。但也有52.4%大學生酒店打工認為工時剛好,滿意目前酒店兼差工作狀態。而調查對象中的制服店、便服店、禮服店、鋼琴酒吧、日式酒店、飯局、傳播等八大行業工作人員每天平均工時落在8.7小時,與目前勞基法規定的每周工作總時數不得超過49小時相去不遠。知名酒店經紀指出,有29.2%酒店兼職受訪者每個月「不用加班」,另有61.8%則每個月都要加班,而平均加班時數為20.6小時。又從「坐檯陪酒或色情之伴遊、伴唱、伴舞、顏射(精子射在臉上) 、口交口爆(精子射在嘴裡) 、戴套肛交進行交易專業精緻化等行為」交叉分析可以發現,擔任「酒店小姐」最難為,加班的頻率及時數,高居之冠,成為最辛苦的職場族群。

梁爵 said...

有女陪侍酒店11月16日解封營業,豈料因疫情停擺半年,公關小姐大多另謀出路,包括出國打疫苗陪酒、轉戰傳播、飯局妹或私人招待所,酒店大鬧「小姐荒」,到班率不到復業前的一半。為此台北市酒店業率先提高坐檯費來「搶小姐」,帶動全台酒店聯漲,幅度約1成。業者盼價格戰奏效,重回百花齊放的榮景。
5月中旬新冠本土疫情爆發,全台酒店停業半年,復業後儘管上門尋歡要攜帶疫苗接種紀錄「小黃卡」,報復性消費酒客仍絡繹不絕;尷尬的是,店家普遍沒有足夠的陪侍小姐能接待。
缺錢公關 轉戰傳播、酒店兼職飯局以北市中山區目前最大的一間禮服店來說,上周末有100名酒店上班公關上班,僅疫情前一半;另家高檔便服店,則酒店工作只有15人到班,只有之前的2成。張姓業者形容,他有18間包廂,晚上7時營業,預約酒客10分鐘就客滿了,但酒店應徵
小姐根本不夠,只能說抱歉。
業者分析指出,酒店公關家裡缺錢,哪能忍受半年沒收入,在經紀人牽線下,都往傳播酒店兼差、飯局跑,甚至出國陪酒。酒店業者因此提高檯費抽成,讓小姐重新考慮回酒店打工,但半個多月下來,仍不見成效。
業者提高坐檯費 漲約1成
抬高坐檯費,加上部分酒商以國際疫情導致貨運成本增高,調漲酒錢,反映在酒客身上,就是漲價約1成,原本1個小時消費1500元的酒店,漲到1680;2100元的高檔酒店,更是漲到2310。加上酒錢,一群人喝數小時,埋單動輒近10萬,早已非正常上班族能花得起。
業者更不諱言,只要調漲,價格就回不去了。雖然北市酒店最多,衝擊最大,但全台都鬧小姐荒,這波調漲是全台聯漲。桃園酒店業者就說,台北市對酒店PT酒店小姐最有誘因,連北市都缺,其他地區怎可能不缺,一定跟著漲價留人。酒客只能大嘆:「油價都沒漲這麼快!」
除小姐荒之外,北市原本與龍亨、巴塞隆納並稱3大高檔便服店的麗園酒店,酒店經紀受疫情影響,原本大股東不願經營,在上月並未申請復業,留下的包廂暫時租用給業幹做招待所。松江路一家陸客最愛的制服店,也和同集團其他店整併。
業者說,目前觀察農曆年後疫情是否再起,否則不僅酒店小姐卻步,資金不夠雄厚的店家,可能也撐不下去,紛紛轉做招待所,有牌酒店版圖將大洗牌。