Software development the Gordon Ramsay way
I often enjoy watching Gordon Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares and I’ve wondered if his approach could be used to illustrate common problems with software development.
- Know what your customers want and will pay for: i.e. Get the requirements right
- Lack of training and experience can be fatal
- Don’t expect kids with 6 months experience in only one language to implement large complex systems without significant supervision and mentoring
- There is no substitute for passion and hard work
- Success comes from the whole team working together
- Keep things as simple as possible
- Ensure equipment is clean, working and eliminate ‘bad smells’ from the materials
- Version control
- Build environment
- Refactor
- Test planning and infrastructure…
Some come on people, it’s not exactly fucking rocket science is it?
Update June 2008 — It appears I’m not the first to have made this connection, and again
Well, as you are aware most computer programmers are rocket scientists!! And dont forget the old adage “computers are dumber than human beings, but smarter than computer programmers”
I envisage a media career for myself where I go into failing software projects and roundly abuse:
1) Project sponsors for failing to be realistic in their expectations
2) Project managers for not talking or listening to their team
3) Software designers for being too timid clarify the requirements
4) Developers for not giving realistic estimates or taking responsibility for the quality of their work
5) Everyone for being unwilling to compromise and focus on the most effective account solution for the end user
It’s a bit formulastic, but that never stopped anyone else…
I think it would work. Can I suggest a few people for you to abuse?
Perhaps we could become a double act Andrew. You can be Jeremy Clarkson and I’ll be James May. I’d suggest Bill as Richard Hammond but he doesn’t wear enough hair product
I’ve been thinking about this for a long time. There are distinct parallels which I’ve been trying to put into practice for a while.
I think I’ll put some of my thoughts into a blog shortly too.
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