NYCPHP Meetup

[Peter Sawczynec]

I have found and employed some valuable advice for when one must comment
upon (read as criticize or complain') about failed job tasks or fractured
plans in a non-specialist corporate environment. 
 
[But note that Dale Carnegie in his book "How to Win Friends and Influence
People, said "Remember the 3 C's: never condemn, criticize or complain."]
 
When noting an ineffective office policy, a bad project plan,
under-budgeting, wrongheaded timelines, lack of peer cooperation -- it is
helpful to couch your comments as what I think of as "encased in third-party
effects". 
 
Don't criticize the faraway parent company or your local company office,
don't "gotcha" the manager, don't blindside an associate -- always "blame"
the system(s) only, and only with dispassionate third-party style
references. 
 
For example, say things roughly like so: 
 
"An under adherence to code commenting can cause decrease in access to
legacy knowledge base items and hard won baseline techniques." 
or 
"A missing backup policy that poses even minor data loss can stall any
project in any time frame at any facility and probably cost valuable company
funds." 
or 
"Distributed staffers experiencing communication lag -- and this can happen
at any fast-paced company like ours -- can derail a precision deadline
sometimes even by hours." 
or 
"Very valuable corporate monies can be lost when fast-start strategies don't
hold up under long term executions that demand larger perspectives and more
encompassing parameters." 
or 
"The predictable changeover of programming staff -- really any highly mobile
staff -- might benefit immensely from even the most schematic transferable
documentations that inform new team members, bringing all users up to speed
and saving critical company dollars as projects propel themselves more
effectively."
 
Because no one likes to be attacked, but typically most people want to be
seen as fair minded, embrace this concept from the book entitled "How to
Deal with Difficult People". It is highly recommended that you couch
difficult recommendations with smoothing universal lead off comments such
as:  "It is fair to say...", "Likely most can agree...", "Third parties
might observe..." 
 
Warmest regards,
 
Peter Sawczynec,
Technology Director
PSWebcode
_Design & Interface
_Ecommerce
_Database Management
ps at pswebcode.com
718.796.1951
www.pswebcode.com

-----Original Message-----
From: talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org [mailto:talk-bounces at lists.nyphp.org] On
Behalf Of Ben Sgro
Sent: Thursday, August 17, 2006 9:51 AM
To: talk at lists.nyphp.org
Subject: [nycphp-talk] General Q; Programming Jobs & Expectations



Hello all, 

 

I've been following the list now for a bit, lots of great discussion. 

 

I recently moved to NY from NH where I was doing php/mysql/c development for
a small start-up.

We had very detailed specs, excellent coding styles (use of includes, small
modular procedures and plenty of comments). 

Software was engineered first through a specification and given at least
'some' thought prior to implementation.

 

Now, starting my new job in NY I am at a larger company that is much more
successful than my last. However,

I am constantly running into files with no comments, spaghetti structure (or
non at all) limited includes (large amounts of duplicate code) and NO specs
what-so-ever on an extremely large project & database(s) with 100's of
stored procedures (again with no comments).

This effects my work directly as it takes unnecessarily long to become
familiar with the code that is spread across multiple files and templates
with no comments or structure.

 

So, my question is: Is it unreasonable of myself to have expectations of
'engineered' code or is this (current job) just the way things are.

Is it crazy to think I can change things from the bottom, by writing the
specs and speaking with the other programmers to reach a consensus on 'best
practices' and create 'grassroots' support? Should I just 'suck it up' and
put in my time, then move to another job?

 

I've been consulting along with my fulltime work for about 2 years now, and
I believe that is what I truly enjoy, being my own boss.

But I do need a paycheck every week, so this is not yet a viable
alternative.

 

Thanks for your time, I am eager to view your responses!

 

- Ben

 

 

 

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