Inspired by Jerry Weinberg's web-based roundtable on software engineering and management - the SHAPE forum, for Software as a Human Activity Performed Effectively - the editors reviewed thousands of postings and culled the most powerful, provocative points of debate.

Reading this fast-paced dialogue among three dozen experts, software professionals will quickly benefit from the contributors' many years of combined experience.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION:

THE COURAGE TO BE YOURSELF (An Excerpt)

Jerry Weinberg:

Here's a note about job hunting from a member of one of my Software Engineering Management groups:

''I've been on a major interview almost every day for the last few weeks, and I find that exhausting. I have been learning a lot about myself and where I want to head, though. ''Unlike last year, and the last job change, this time I haven't cut my hair. In fact, not cutting my hair has become as much of a symbol for me as cutting it was last time. It's simpler to represent myself to people as I am, rather than how I think they want me to be.''

As a consultant, I'm always looking for new jobs. As a bearded old guy, I've often wondered about shaving my beard in order to increase my chances; as a slob, I've wondered about changing the way I dress. I've written about dressing for the job, especially in The Secrets of Consulting, and this correspondent's experience was instructive (and confirming) for me.

To get his previous job, he cut his beautiful long hair. After only a few months, the company got in trouble and had to downsize. Its managers used the curious principle of classifying people on their ''work fit'' and their ''culture fit.'' He was in the highest category on work, but in spite of cutting his hair, lowest on culture. Evidently, he hadn't fooled anybody.

They cut all the low scorers on culture, using the argument that they could teach people skills but couldn't change their culture. This was especially curious because he had been brought in as a specialist in culture change -- precisely to change their culture.

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Humble, realistic and valuable advice from design experts, July 1, 2002

Reviewer:
Charles Ashbacher "([email protected])" (Hiawatha, Iowa United States

     
The first line of the book puts forth a wonderful and accurate tone for the text. "The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity." There are two main threads in the book, stupid programming tricks and strategies for effective teaching. By their definition, a stupid programming trick is a design tactic that appears to be a stroke of genius when first used and then after circumstances evolve, turns out to have been negative, sometimes even a disaster. Effective teaching is more an art than a science, and the second section deals with some of the mindset fundamentals necessary to do it well.

The material was gleaned from an invitation-only web discussion group called SHAPE. In the introduction, 38 contributors are listed, and they provide the reservoir of wisdom necessary for the winnowing and pruning of the best ideas. The advice in the book is some of the best that I have ever read. There is none of the egotistical posturing that pervades so many of the online forums, the contributors are genuinely humble and realistic. I found them refreshing, entertaining and likable.

The chapter titles are descriptive content headers and they are as follows:

1) Tricks That Ignore Those Who Come After.
2) Tricks That Destroy Portability.
3) Stupid Design Tricks.
4) Stupid Design Document Tricks.
5) Tricks Arising From Social Inadequacy.
6) Experts And Gurus As Leaders.
7) The Leader As Learner.
8) The Expert As Teacher.
9) The Courage To Teach In Any Direction.
10) The Courage To Be Yourself.

So many technical books contain quality information, but the style of presentation is dense to the point of mind lock or something like a pot of dishwater containing gold nuggets. The good stuff is present, you just have to dig around to find it. This book is neither, the lightness of the prose and the candor of the participants makes it entertaining, and the quality of the advice makes it valuable. When designing software, we all step in it from time to time, and if you read this book you can reduce the frequency of that happening to you.