Episode 9: Peopleware, Part I

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This episode, we began our discussion of Peopleware, by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister. Initially, we noted that we both found it interesting to watch how the ideas in Peopleware have been slowly adopted, or met with great resistance, over the decades since its writing.

Then we got into the nitty-gritty details:

• 5:46 The 7 false hopes of software management:
  • 6:32 Some new trick will send productivity soaring
  • 9:38 Technology is moving so quickly you’ll get passed by
  • 12:12 Changing languages will give you huge gains
  • 17:18 Because of the size of the backlog, you need to double productivity immediately
  • 21:39 If you’re automating everything else, may as well automate software development
  • 27:40 People will work better when put under a lot of pressure
• 32:20 The Spanish vs. English Theories of Value
• 41:08 The Cornell Music Experiment and the value of silence
• 49:42 The impact of office environment on the programmer
• 56:55 Architectural patterns for an office
• 1:02:29 The Furniture Police
• 1:05:28 Closing thoughts

We’d love to hear your thoughts about the book as well. Join us on Slack and share with other Dev Empaths!