When I first read "The Psychology of Program Development", to be honest, I was skeptical about the practicality of the content of this book: the software development industry is changing with each passing day, new technologies and new products are emerging in an endless stream, and the book meeting 40 years ago Not out of date, the content is too old to be of any help in today's software development work. After reading the sample chapter, I have to say that this book is a divine book, which can be said to be a miracle. Why is it a miracle? In the past 40 years, the software development industry has undergone tremendous changes, but the content of this book's thinking on software development is still wonderful, and the content is not out of date.
Programming is human behavior
The reason is that the author has grasped the universally applicable regularity in program development, and examines the point of view of program development as a kind of human behavior. The main body of software development is people, and people are the participants in software development activities. Program development is the process of people's artistic creation, which is not qualitatively different from writing and painting. Program development is a work of art of a specific programmer under a specific mental state in a specific environment, and a change in any one of these factors may lead to a different outcome of the work of art.
Program development team
In the sample chapter of this book, I focused on the chapter "Program Development Team". I recently left the company and started my own business. This is my first time leading a team. To build the company's team from 0 to 1 , I have also considered a lot about the structure of the team. The personnel structure of the team needs to be based on the actual situation, taking into account the salary expenditure and the current situation of the company's funds. As the book says "it's easier to meet a bad supervisor than it is to find a great programmer", so trying to be a great manager, many examples in the book gave me direction.
The key to programmer job satisfaction
The key to programmers' job satisfaction in the collective described in the book is divided into 4 aspects:
1. Material rewards and opportunities.
2. The challenge and interest of the work itself.
3. The general conditions of the larger unit to which it belongs, such as employee benefits, working conditions, and the unit's relative low ranking among similar units.
4. Ability to manage and lead.
my feeling
Before starting a business, I have been working in a large company, and I very much agree with the four aspects summarized by the author. The first three can be met through regulations, and company benefits are clearly written in the contract. Therefore, in determining the degree of satisfaction of programmers with their work, supervisors and leaders will largely lead to their dissatisfaction with their work, resulting in a decrease in work efficiency. The Hitler-style dictatorial leadership mentioned in the book is not suitable for the management of program development work. There is also a leader with a rigid management model and rigid thinking. Just like the leaders in the two examples in the book, one forced to clock in and out of get off work, and the other severely controlled the consumption of office supplies. They did not fundamentally solve the problem, but instead To make the problem worse, programmers are slow to work.
The main force of today 's IT Internet companies is the post- 80s and post - 90s . These two generations are active in thinking, strong in innovation, like freedom, and eager to be recognized. If you follow a fixed management model, you will not be able to stimulate the creativity and identity of the post - 80s /90s generation. The book proposes a democratized collective that can adapt to changes in the environment, but it is difficult to achieve in reality.
What leaders need to know
In addition to managing the team, the leader also needs to communicate with the management and bring the management's information to the team. How a leader handles his relationship with management is very important. Leaders need to understand:
1. No matter how much executives stress their promises, all they really care about is results.
2. If the desired result is consistent with the target work identified with the participation of the whole team, then this target can be achieved very easily.