The Old Joel on Software Forum: Part 4 (of 5)

Life is good

We have a boss who's sensible, makes good decision and doesn't mess with our heads.

Our team is producing good code, we are right on schedule and will ship right on time. QA people are happy with our turnaround.

We have private offices, Starbucks is nearby and we have mp3 server. I am listening to "Are you gonna go my way" by Lenny Kravits without having to have headphone on. Did I mention we have pool table too?

Life's good, what else is out there?

HappyDudeinLA
Friday, February 20, 2004

Happy dev teams are all alike; every unhappy dev team is
unhappy in its own way.

Corrolary 1. Happy dev teams are boring.

Joel Spolsky
Fog Creek Software
Friday, February 20, 2004

Anna Karenina was a coder?

Nick
Friday, February 20, 2004

We see things not as they are, but as we are.

(more fun, of course, to blame or credit outside sources)

magoo
Friday, February 20, 2004

Funny thing about that, they had private rooms and music on the Titanic as well. ;-)

Nigel
Friday, February 20, 2004

Actually Joel, if the comments on this forum are anything to go by, then its rather the opposite.

All of the complainers are complaining about the same things - brain dead managers, unreasonable deadlines, too long hours, too noisy offices and a lack of understanding of their work.

But then again, perhaps they really are happy at bieng able to moan all the time, so Tolstoy is right after all :)

Stephen Jones
Friday, February 20, 2004

My contract was just abruptly terminated. This would normally stress me out, but in this case it just means I get to leave on my round-the-world trip in April instead of October. YEAH!!!

Friday, February 20, 2004

Congrats on finding the good life.

Life is good in our shop too, but not nearly as glamourous. Our boss trusts us and lets us do what we need to do. The team gels, and we think we're producing good code.

We fall short on the other criteria though: software is not our company's line of business, so there's no justification for spending money on creature comforts for us above and beyond what everyone else gets. No pool table, no door to close, and the cartilage in my ears gets sore every day around 1800 from wearing headphones. We're also behind schedule. And we don't have QA people.

Still, I think we're happy because the first three make the biggest difference, and I can understand why the other perks wouldn't be feasible here.

MacSqueeb
Friday, February 20, 2004

"Corrolary 1. Happy dev teams are boring. "

What the hell that's supposed to mean? Joel having bad day?

cosmo kramer
Friday, February 20, 2004

It means that a thread about "happy dev teams" has 15 replies in one day, when threads about "unhappy|miserable dev teams" get at least 50. :-)

Ricardo Antunes da Costa
Friday, February 20, 2004

"Our boss trusts us and lets us do what we need to do....
so there's no justification for spending money on creature comforts for us above and beyond what everyone else gets. "

Consider yourself ahead of the game. The rest of the "creature comforts" are icing on the cake. Having a good boss and good dev. team are the key to meaningful and interesting work like

BTW, I am very fortunate also to be able to work in the same kind of situation: good boss & good dev. team. From my past work experiences and readings on the JOS Board, these two combinations are very rare to come by.

Cletus
Friday, February 20, 2004

Ricardo,

Yup. That's why the nightly news usually leads off with the latest tradgedy or other negative story. We just love to bitch.

My former boss used to say, "You know things are going well when it gets boring." Things have gotten quite...exciting, in the years after he left the company.

I do disagree with the use of "boring" though. I agree a good work environment is free of heroics and isn't in a constant crisis mode, but a great environement isn't boring because people are enthusiastically communicating with each other, sharing ideas, and constantly thinking about how to work smarter. 3M and Google come to mind.

VP
Sunday, February 22, 2004

One of the worst curses the Chinese have is:
"May you live in interesting times!"

There's a lot to be said for an inordinate affection for cuckoo clocks!

Stephen Jones
Sunday, February 22, 2004