Comments on: Nine Woman Can’t Have a Baby in One Month

By: Software development misconceptions « Oscar Diaz Tech Entrepreneur

Software development misconceptions « Oscar Diaz Tech Entrepreneur — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:02:49 +0000

[...] To read more follow this interesting link. http://www.followsteph.com/2007/07/26/nine-woman-cant-have-a-baby-in-one-month/ [...]

By: Chicken or Pig » Thoughts on a PMP

Chicken or Pig » Thoughts on a PMP — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 02:10:49 +0000

[...] It’s provides some credibility with Senior Executives when explaining why you can’t have nine women create a baby in a month. [...]

By: Give us nine women and we’ll have that baby out in a month « Skedsheet Blog

Tue, 10 Mar 2009 14:30:31 +0000

[...] a comment » I used to have a boss who’s favorite sarcastic expression was “Give us nine women and we’ll have that baby out in a month”. He thought throwing people at a problem was silly, but I have proof it can work – up to [...]

By: The Constructive Pessimist

The Constructive Pessimist — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 14:27:23 +0000

[...] The destructive tendencies really come out if he is a manager or team lead: He’ll overrule requests for extra testing resources, he won’t manage scope creep in requirements, and he won’t recognize (or react to) the warning signs your project is headed for failure. This is also the guy who will throw extra people and overtime at the last minute on your failing project, optimistically thinking that nine women can make a baby in one month. [...]

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:33:05 +0000

I just want to quickly point out that I’m not saying all junior developers can’t code as well as senior developers. Quite the opposite, I’ve also seen many “senior” developers who can’t code. What I mean by junior is people without the adequate skill sets. That is people who don’t have the experience or know-how doing what they shouldn’t be doing. For example someone who’s never written a line of sql designing a database. It happens more than you think!

What I should be saying rather is that I’m finding this industry has a good number of people who shouldn’t be there. I’m sure it’s like that in many other industries, but for some reason it seems as though it’s easier to hide in software development.

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:28:39 +0000

Hi Scott,

Absolutely. For me to get where I’m at, I spent a lot of time learning. I went to a 2-hour study group almost every week for almost 2 years when I lived in LA (a subset of lajug). There were some very smart people that attended that group let me tell you.

I also read almost every book on software development on every aspect (from low level to high level). I tried to implement many things I learned (there’s nothing like firsthand experience). I listened to some really smart people and learned from them during my employment there. I observed, tried, and so on.

And because of that I now know what I’m doing. Should I be compensated accordingly? That’s another completely different debate. But what I can tell you is that there is a difference between someone who has tried to educate themselves versus someone who’s trying to fly under the radar.

By: Steph

Steph — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 20:19:11 +0000

Hi Magic.

I bet you if you took 5 regular people off the street who had played the game at least once in their lives (it sure feels like a lot of junior developers are like this) and had them play against Michael Jordan, he could take them on

I used to play a lot of basketball in my hay day and I can tell you that 2 on 1 isn’t that hard with people who aren’t really that good. Even 3 on 1 is doable… I know I could never do 4 on 1 but I’m sure Jordan could.

Maybe another good analogy would be the Mona Lisa. How many people could ever paint a Mona Lisa? Even if you had 10 junior painters working together they probably couldn’t do a Mona Lisa. As well it’s pretty much impossible to physically have 10 people working on the same painting at the same time, there’s just not enough physical space.

I completely agree with you that sometimes you need quantity, no doubt about it. Its just that you can rush quality if that’s what you need. You can’t start building on your house until the foundation has dried. Somethings just need to take their time. And that’s a reality that’s very often missed by people trying to deal with software development.

By: Magic

Magic — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 19:49:02 +0000

I’d like to see Michael Jordan play 1 on 5…

Quality is one thing, but sometimes you can’t do without quantity…

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 05:22:57 +0000

Love the analogy!

By: Scott Meade

Scott Meade — Fri, 27 Jul 2007 04:31:51 +0000

I agree that developer quality and productivity can differ by factor of 10. It’s interesting that you mention Jordan and Gretzky because the sports world is one of the few (music and acting being a couple other) professions in which participants value ‘practice’. Players and performers with dreams of getting to the majors know that their job doesn’t start at 9:00 or end at 5:00. Before the sun comes up and after dinner you’ll find them on the court, stage or performance hall continuing to practice, learn, and improve. Competition is fierce and participants love what they are doing, and so they have no problem spending hours daily getting better at what they do. So it should be with developers.