So O’Reilly is publishing a new book, called Codermetrics. The sample first chapter is linked from the product page there. I read over that and some initial thoughts made their way into irc:
3:08 PM < volkadav> haha so there's some new oreilly book called Codermetrics 3:08 PM < volkadav> which appears to be some sort of "we can track and quantify people and yay!!!" for the manager set 3:08 PM < volkadav> i read the first chapter online (sample via ora's website) 3:09 PM < volkadav> it's depressing how well it fits into the stereotypes i have of idiot frat boy managers 3:09 PM < volkadav> a) lots of sports analogies 3:09 PM <@BSDCat> stop. 3:09 PM < volkadav> b) desperate attempts to quantify the unquantifiable 3:09 PM <@BSDCat> oh please let there not be more than a+b 3:10 PM < volkadav> c) main example [given in the first chapter] is of a team that had a series of serious setbacks so OF COURSE it's the fault of the two junior members who quit after the first year 3:10 PM < volkadav> with METRICS and NUMBERS to prove it couldn't POSSIBLY be management's fault 3:10 PM < volkadav> HURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR 3:11 PM < volkadav> sigh. 3:11 PM < volkadav> i mean, yes, sure it's great that you hired people better able to answer their own questions 3:12 PM < volkadav> buuuuut i doubt two junior people on a team of six+ could have run the whole thing off the rails by themselves, brah! 3:12 PM < volkadav> it's like every generation has to discover for themselves that "Scientific Management" is and ALWAYS HAS BEEN complete and total BULLSHIT
[Seriously, Taylor’s methods were deeply flawed to the point of it being fraudulent to even call them science. Go read up on this stuff because it expands beyond my desire to replicate here. Then cry yourself to sleep because that egregious codswallop has been cited thousands of times in scholarly works and is the basis for a lot of so-called modern management.]
Then I got off on another rant about the differences between leadership and management that probably deserves a longer blog post at a later date. Suffice to say “frantic casting about for simple measuring tools, however desperately flawed” is a perfect hallmark of a pure-strain Manager woefully unsuited to leading human beings in any ultimately productive enterprise.
“You lead people, you manage things.” ~ Grace Hopper