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Our thoughts on making great software
I enjoyed reading the Socialtext response to Assembla’s piece on why distributed teams are great.
When it comes to distributed teams, I’m more in the ‘suck’ camp, than the ‘rule’ camp.
From my perspective as a developer, and a manager of development teams, I think that the biggest problem with distributed teams is idea decay.
Once somebody has a thought in their brains, most of us need to get it into another brain quickly to validate it. The quickest known route, even in our super connected “universe 2.0″ is:
brain>mouth>ear>brain.
Instead, if you have something like:
brain>fingers>keyboard>XMPP>monitor>eyes>brain
there are too many connection points. People seem to somehow sense that they are more inhibited, and they don’t end up sharing as much. Or good ideas seem to never make it across the wire.
This is a challenge for people who are making software – but it’s also more of a challenge for people who are developing business systems. As good as the latest collaborative tools may be, they still aren’t close to co-location for maximizing the innovative process.
When you’re trying to figure out the best way to solve a business problem, it’s probably worth bearing this in mind. (like lots of nerds, I automatically try to solve problems with technology. Sadly, sometimes – low-tech is better : )