Subj : Re: Personal connections
To   : comp.programming,comp.lang.java.programmer,comp.lang.lisp
From : Patricia Shanahan
Date : Sun Sep 04 2005 07:47 pm

Since this is a general comment about programming, independent of
language, followups set to comp.programming only.

Robert Maas, see http://tinyurl.com/uh3t wrote:
>>From: "Shiro Kawai" <shiro.ka...@gmail.com>
>>once you got many years of experience, you're expected to have enough
>>personal connections.
> 
> 
> How is that possible? When I had a job, I was paid to write software,
> not to socialize with co-workers thereby distracting them from the
> work they were trying to do.

I think this embodies a basic misconception. A programming team can be
much more effective than its members would be working in isolation.

People tend to communicate better with people they know than with total
strangers. Socializing facilitates exchanges of information and mutual
aid. The benefit in "whole greater than sum of the parts" effects of
getting to know colleagues often outweighs the costs.

Many programming and engineering managers understand this. For example,
I've known managers discussing proposed office space layouts to treat
spaces that support informal, casual conversation as an important design
feature. They plan activities, such as a weekly "donut hour", for the
purpose of getting random individuals to talk to each other.

Of course signals, such as closed office doors, are needed to get peace
and quiet when needed, but that should not be all the time.

Patricia

.