« How XP are you? | Main | People twittering about JAOO »
Is it professional to cheat your boss?
By Therese Hansen | June 19, 2008
Our industry is plagued by an epidemic of very bad code – Robert Martin (known as Uncle Bob), founder of ObjectMentor.
One of the videos on jaoo.blip.tv from last year’s JAOO is about craftmanship and being professional. It is a discussion between Robert C. Martin, Michael Feathers and Pete McBreen guided by Trifork CTO Kresten Krab with the premise that there is a lot of very bad code out there and that the development process and code maintenance is impeded by this bad code.
As Kresten Krab asks how a programmer can get the time to write good code Pete McBreen answers that you should “cheat the boss” – just write good code without permission to use the time. Robert C. Martin then says, that he doesn’t consider that cheating – he considers that professionalism!
You can watch the whole interview here:
But what do you think – is it professional to cheat the boss and just take the time to write good code? Is your work impeded by bad code? Why did you write it then?
June 23rd, 2008 at 3:00 pm
[...] Is it professional to cheat the boss? [...]
September 24th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
Here at HP, the IT arena is going down the route of plug and play developers. We are all alike which seems to go against the idea that organization want good developers.
November 7th, 2008 at 4:09 am
A more interesting question might be, why must you be forced to make the choice between cheating the boss and writing good code? Why does “good code” imply an additional investment of effort?
The answer lies in the programming language(s) that you use and the mindset that they box you into.
November 13th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Is it professional of the boss to require his staff to work below standards they are comfortable with and suffer the consequences when things go wrong? (Which includes the bosses wrath.)
November 19th, 2008 at 3:14 am
[...] just finished watching a special interview with Robert “Uncle Bob” Martin, Michael Feathers and Pete McBreen (author of one of my favorite [...]