Well, I know most of the principle before I attend Monday class. I picked up those from CS2261 and my internship last year. They are quite simply are straightforward, but only on paper. When you do real coding, you’ll face stupid problems and you have to give yourself an exception, as long as the problem is minor and not critical. I believe Monday lecture is not about SE, most of the programmers in the class knew the principles, and most of the non-programmers do not care. So what did I learn on Monday :-P?
I found Weiman, Justin & Zi Han talks are way more interesting than the lecture (sorry Dr. Ben hehe). They’re practical and very very true. I believe people is the most important factor when it comes down to execution part. Sucess = good idea + pick the right person at the right time. Management means nothing if you don’t have the right people.
There’re some interesting things, just write down according to my memory :-P
- If a programmer says he can finish in 1 day, he probably means 1 x (a number greater than 1)
- Outsourcing is not always a good choice :).
If a programmer says he can finish in 1 day, he probably means 1 x (a number greater than 1)
This is not always true. You have to assess the person.
Most programmers have over-inflated views of their abilities and so what you said is generally true. Koh Zi Han is however a pessimist. His factor is less than one, i.e. he is much better than what tells you he can do. :-)
As a project manager, you have to know your people to squeeze the most out of them. :-P