Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
On Sat, 20 Jan 2001, you wrote: > On Sat, Jan 20, 2001 at 08:01:51PM +, Chris Benson wrote: > > > Another link is > > > > http://www.arsdigita.com/careers/ > > > > They seem to be a very good model for a consultancy business > > Personally I wouldn't like to work anywhere that thinks like this: > http://www.arsdigita.com/asj/managing-software-engineers/ > > Even if that article is slightly tongue-in-cheek, it disturbs me :-) > I could detect no tongue in cheekness about it ... he truly believes that if he;s not pushing you to 70~80 hours a week then you aint working hard enough .. according to his own calculations his company burdens programmers with around 25 hours a week of management crap .. I know where i;d start looking for effiencies. this article was more up to date: http://www.fastcompany.com/online/25/geeks.html much more up to speed with the culture. -- Robin Szemeti The box said "requires windows 95 or better" So I installed Linux!
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
From: "Robin Houston" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > http://www.arsdigita.com/asj/managing-software-engineers/ I particularly liked: "Your business success will depend on the extent to which programmers essentially live at your office. For this to be a common choice, your office had better be nicer than the average programmer's home. There are two ways to achieve this result. One is to hire programmers who live in extremely shabby apartments. The other is to create a nice office. " This is so extraordinarily obvious (about aesthetic rather than the living bit -- that's extreme) and hadn't yet occurred to me -- I look back at the places I worked that sucked and they all were shabby & unkempt or tidy but amazingly dull. Hmm. PS I *really* recommend going to a plant shop and putting even just a few plants around the home & office. Maybe just me, but it makes the environment so much more pleasant. The whole "Turning good programmers into good managers" section was good with its decoupling scheduling responsibility and review responsibility. Neat idea. > Even if that article is slightly tongue-in-cheek, it disturbs me :-) Really? Why? Scary -- it mostly seemed pretty sensible to me! Eek. The bit I disagreed with was more hours always equal more productivity. There is definitely an upper limit I have. I can certainly sprint (and am best probably at bursts) but above a certain point (200hr over a month or so) my code quality and concentration declines. I'm sure this is broadly true of everyone for different upper limits. Discover what works best and do that, while trying to also continuously progress. Having a life is important - I honestly think the brain works better if it has to deal with something completely different for a while. Search for user comments on the neurological effects of overstimulation. Paul
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
On Sat, Jan 20, 2001 at 08:01:51PM +, Chris Benson wrote: > Another link is > > http://www.arsdigita.com/careers/ > > They seem to be a very good model for a consultancy business Personally I wouldn't like to work anywhere that thinks like this: http://www.arsdigita.com/asj/managing-software-engineers/ Even if that article is slightly tongue-in-cheek, it disturbs me :-) .robin.
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
On Sat, Jan 20, 2001 at 12:52:58PM +, Leon Brocard wrote: > Paul Makepeace sent the following bits through the ether: > > > Y'all might find this excellent piece interesting, > > > > http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$287 > > Pretty darn interesting. Fogcreek sounds like a pretty cool place to > work. I'd suggest that if we were thinking of doing something similar > we'd need to build a product, or concentrate on a product or something > like that. Do a MySQL or an AxKit, and get a couple of companies > interested right from the start or there's no point. Hmmm. Another link is http://www.arsdigita.com/careers/ They seem to be a very good model for a consultancy business -- they've been successfully and profitably building ecommerce sites for several years -- they grow by "budding" new (semi-autonomous) organisations -- interesting structure: almost no chiefs, with several well defined types of workers and well defined development paths. -- interesting recruitment method: go on a 2week training course (boot camp) to learn how to use their OSS ArsDigita Community System for free, but they "reserve the right to offer you a job at the end of it". If you are offered a job and refuse, you get (I think) us$1000 and of course you can still go away and use their software to build your own sites. The only disadvantages I see from a London.pm PoV is their chosen platform: AOLServer,TCL,Oracle,HPUX :-} On of the AD founders Phil Greenspun has a v.entertaining book "Philip and Alex's Guide to Web Publishing." Online at: http://www.arsdigita.com/books/panda/ Also available on glossy photo paper, which gives some background to the creation of ArsDigita. You should probably not read it if you are irritated by criticism of one-or-more-of NT, Informix/Illustra, PCs, academics, German women (that may be his travel writing), MS, ... actually even his chosen environment doesn't get off free. HtH -- Chris Benson
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
Leon Brocard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Dave Hodgkinson sent the following bits through the ether: > > > Talk to Gunther. This is what Extropia tried to do. > > Hey, Gunther was talking about this kind of thing at Apachecon, He had some very good opinions on this. I wish I hadn't been so pissed. -- Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star http://www.deep-purple.com Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire -
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
Dave Hodgkinson sent the following bits through the ether: > Talk to Gunther. This is what Extropia tried to do. Hey, Gunther was talking about this kind of thing at Apachecon, I just failed to remember until now... Which reminds me, everyone should read the book: http://www.extropia.com/ExtropiaObjects/ Leon -- Leon Brocard.http://www.astray.com/ yapc::Europehttp://yapc.org/Europe/ ... All new improved Brocard, now with Template Toolkit!
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
Leon Brocard <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Pretty darn interesting. Fogcreek sounds like a pretty cool place to > work. I'd suggest that if we were thinking of doing something similar > we'd need to build a product, or concentrate on a product or something > like that. Do a MySQL or an AxKit, and get a couple of companies > interested right from the start or there's no point. Hmmm. Talk to Gunther. This is what Extropia tried to do. -- Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star http://www.deep-purple.com Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire -
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
Paul Makepeace sent the following bits through the ether: > Y'all might find this excellent piece interesting, > > http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$287 Pretty darn interesting. Fogcreek sounds like a pretty cool place to work. I'd suggest that if we were thinking of doing something similar we'd need to build a product, or concentrate on a product or something like that. Do a MySQL or an AxKit, and get a couple of companies interested right from the start or there's no point. Hmmm. Leon -- Leon Brocard.http://www.astray.com/ yapc::Europehttp://yapc.org/Europe/ ... All new improved Brocard, now with Template Toolkit!
Re: Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
"Paul Makepeace" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > Y'all might find this excellent piece interesting, > > http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$287 It's down to greed. I worked with a guy who easily filled his 200-odd day working year with 1k+ a day gigs (motivational speaker). But he soon realised he'd maxed out. So his blinding flash of the obvious was: "How do I make money while I sleep" Two years ago, the answer was: "build a web site". Wonder how he's doing now? -- Dave Hodgkinson, http://www.hodgkinson.org Editor-in-chief, The Highway Star http://www.deep-purple.com Apache, mod_perl, MySQL, Sybase hired gun for, well, hire -
Big Macs v The Naked Chef -- pitfalls of scaling consultancies
Y'all might find this excellent piece interesting, http://joel.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$287 Paul
