Lots of Folders != Project more Organized

Making a development project with lots of folders does not mean that the project is more organized.  However, there is a seemingly irresistible desire to make a folder for every possible purpose, and then put the one or two files that fit in there, all in the name of keeping the project organized.  This might make the programmer feel good, but it is a large pain for anyone new who has to join the project or review the source for any reason.

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Don’t Baby Your Builds

In a conversation this week, one developer insisted that a special build machine should be built to assure that the build is always comes out the same.  My response: if your project is building differently on different machines, then you have a much deeper problem.

Classic Date Drift Case Study

A waterfall project is required to predict dates that certain things will happen in the future.  There are usually many pieces of the project, each with their own date, and each dependent upon others.  No one can change a date without effecting others, and so a game of “chicken” ensues where people report dates they plan to complete and never hint there is a problem.  At the last possible minute they declare a change in date, and when you look at the history, you can easily conclude that they should have known ahead of time that the deadline was to be missed.  But everyone waits for someone else to change first.