Something I found on Michael Feathers' Blog: "Do restaurants separate the roles of taste and execution? It's really in their interest not to if they are striving for excellence."
Among other things, he is talking about the perils of too much differentiation in the software development talent pool. By artificially separating developers in "UI" and "back-end" we loose sight of what makes software great: the user's experience.
The piece resonated with something I've been reading lately: about the division of labor as a cause for economic development and growth (Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations).
I'm struck with the apparent contradiction between the expected economic benefits derived from the specialization of developer's skills, and the software quality degradation it causes.
But then again it's kind of obvious: one cannot expect a well-rounded product from a gang of narowly focused specialists ...
No comments:
Post a Comment