Comments on: Coworkers Considered Harmful

By: I Can Has Ruby? « // Internet Duct Tape

I Can Has Ruby? « // Internet Duct Tape — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 14:18:19 +0000

[...] of a new language. Obviously, the internet is a gateway drug. I tried out Ruby mainly as a way of increasing my own job satisfaction after I had heard so many good things about [...]

By: blog-thing : Digest for October 2007

blog-thing : Digest for October 2007 — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 17:13:22 +0000

[...] Coworkers Considered Harmful [...]

By: Richard

Richard — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 04:32:26 +0000

{shudder} I remember those days so well. Now as a consultant, things are a little easier since I manage myself – which is a full time job in itself – and my only coworker is myself. I do have clients though, which is another problem entirely.

By: Weekly Link Post 12 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog

Weekly Link Post 12 « Rhonda Tipton’s WebLog — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 23:19:30 +0000

[...] Tape lists a number of coworker induced workplace failures ways to avoid them in the article Coworkers Considered Harmful. [via [...]

By: talkni

talkni — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 11:34:54 +0000

entech says:
“one good easily point out that one of the biggest failures when it comes to programming is worrying more about the code than a finished product that works…”

and I absolutely agree. :-)

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 06:03:24 +0000

That comments ninja thingy of yours is pretty cool, btw.

Teams do not always succeed, particularly when they – DUH – don’t work together. This means, by definition, that compatibility and proactive communication are critical in long-distance or even cubicle farm teams. Unless you share a space, you won’t have cohesion naturally. I’ve worked remotely with people I’ve been so compatible with I could finish their sentences or blog posts and they wouldn’t even notice. I’ve worked across the fuzzy grey cubicle wall from people who were plotting against me on the phone, even as I was typing what they were saying into an email to my blog.

Just stapling people together is not the same thing as building a team, and ensuring the staples don’t come out is not the same thing as managing.

By: engtech

engtech — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:11:23 +0000

@Mitch: I'm handing out Code Complete for christmas.

By: engtech

engtech — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:10:20 +0000

@talkni: one good easily point out that one of the biggest failures when it comes to programming is worrying more about the code than a finished product that works...

By: engtech

engtech — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:08:37 +0000

@raincoaster:

Thanks. The one good counterpoint I’ve seen in the reddit comments is that what I’m suggesting is really going against being a team player…

but I think the general gist comes across that at this point the team cohesion has already failed.

By: engtech

engtech — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 02:07:12 +0000

@thatpessimist: just a FYI, if you go to wordpress.com Dashboard >> Users >> Your Profile and set your website under Contact Info then you won't have to manually type your blog url in comments. It will be done automatically for you.

By: thatpessimist

thatpessimist — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:42:09 +0000

There’s this guy at my job that checks in code that either:
#1 Doesn’t work at all
#2 Doesn’t work the way it used to
#3 Ends up causing problems by affecting something else

I think it comes down to simply testing your code thoroughly before checking it in.. which my co-worker simply doesn’t understand.

By: raincoaster

raincoaster — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 21:54:41 +0000

This has applications wider than the software world, for sure.

Welcome back to WP Top Posts.