Get the things done with a small, motivated team!
Article#: 00020
Date: 2020-07-04
Author: Radim
Small, positively motivated teams of programmers who only work on one project are the most efficient.
Programmers often enjoy working on an interesting project so much that they work overtime.
When there is such a mood in the entire team, the programmers can make incredible progress.
Productivity increases noticeably if people don't interrupt the flow of creativity just after eight hours of work.
However, they mustn't work tired and under stress.
© Radim-Automation, 2020–2025. All rights reserved.
Sharing of this article is permitted with proper attribution (link to the original page).
Related previous articles:
- Multitasking is harmful
- 9 women can't make a baby in a month
- Understand - Agree - Be Identified - Believe
Related next articles:
- Recruit and retain the best employees!
- Develop a sense of responsibility!
- Don't replace employees in the middle of the project!
- Get and stay in the flow!
- Realize every good idea ASAP!
- Keep the answers to the question "Why"
- I can see what you can not see
- Store email messages in the project folder!
- Do you really want to start with this?
- Is the way really the goal?
- Prepare a good project plan and keep it up to date!
- HMI and PLC applications should grow together
- Write down your best practices and processes!
- Set your goals for today, tommorow, this week ...
- Are the people planned for this task really available?
- Appoint a representative!
- Who knows it?
- Write and accept only readable code!
- Use a usefull styleguide!
- Why do automation projects fail?
- Project leader
- Learn from your journey!
- Modular software architecture
- Machine modularization
- Knowledge gained from a completed project is priceless
- Choice of programming language
- My boss was a hero
- Dedicated employees
- An irreplaceable employee
- Hidden dangers during commissioning
- The false illusion of rapid progress
Comment#: 00001
Date: 2021-02-11
User: Radim
For a larger project, the best option is to break it up into as many separate parts as possible and assign each to a smaller team.
Comment#: 00002
Date: 2021-02-11
User: Radim
As soon as a project exceeds a certain size (e.g. when developers no longer fit into a room), more attention must be paid to the documentation of all project features and formal communication! The mere verbal exchange of information no longer works for such a large team. This makes the project slower even though the team is bigger.
Comment#: 00003
Date: 2021-12-05
User: Radim
"As the team grows, developers spend more and more time with writing and reading documentation, meetings, sending e-mails, personal explanations and other forms of communication, so their productivity, as measured e.g. by the number of lines written, decreases with increasing team size."
Translated from:
- Petr Paleta. Computer Press (2003). Co programátory ve škole neučí.
Comment#: 00004
Date: 2022-10-22
User: Radim
"Not only is workaholism unnecessary, it’s stupid. Working more doesn’t mean you care more or get more done. It just means you work more."
- Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson. 37signals (2010). Rework.
Comment#: 00005
Date: 2022-10-22
User: Radim
"With a small team, you need people who are going to do work, not delegate work. Everyone's got to be producing. No one can be above the work.
That means you need to avoid hiring delegators, those people who love telling others what to do. Delegators are dead weight for a small team. They clog the pipes for others by coming up with busywork. And when they run out of work to assign, they make up more - regardless of whether it needs to be done.
Delegators love to pull people into meetings, too. In fact, meetings are a delegator's best friend. That's where he gets to seem important. Meanwhile, everyone else who attends is pulled away from getting real work done."
- Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson. 37signals (2010). Rework.
Comment#: 00006
Date: 2023-01-30
User: Radim
The more people involved in the conception and development, the more complicated the result becomes. Especially when one doesn't know what and why the other is doing.
Comment#: 00007
Date: 2023-08-18
User: Radim
"Don't dig deep into anything because it costs us money. Just pretend that we are experts and hope that the others gets the chestnuts out of the fire."
- unnamed user (own experiences leading to this ironic statement)
Comment#: 00009
Date: 2023-08-25
User: Radim
"We all have ideas. Ideas are immortal. They last forever.
What doesn't last forever is inspiration. Inspiration is like fresh fruit or milk: It has an expiration date.
If you want to do something, you've got to do it now. You can't put it on a shelf and wait two months to get around to it. You can't just say you'll do it later. Later, you won't be pumped up about it anymore.
If you're inspired on a Friday, swear off the weekend and dive into the project. When you're high on inspiration, you can get two weeks of work done in twenty-four hours. Inspiration is a time machine in that way.
Inspiration is a magical thing, a productivity multiplier, a motivator. But it won't wait for you. Inspiration is a now thing. If it grabs you, grab it right back and put it to work."
- Jason Fried, David Heinemeier Hansson. 37signals (2010). Rework.
Comment#: 00010
Date: 2023-09-13
User: Radim
Often the person who knows the answer or the right way is closer than you think. All you have to do is ask.
Comment#: 00011
Date: 2023-10-04
User: Radim
"Never discourage anyone who continually makes progress, no matter how slow."
- Plato
Comment#: 00013
Date: 2023-10-06
User: Radim
"Having the right boss early in your career is a huge blessing."
- Sandeep M.
Comment#: 00014
Date: 2024-01-05
User: Radim
Let's speed things up!
One man needs one hour to dig a hole 1 meter deep, 1 meter wide and 1 meter long. How much time does it take if you engage 10 men?
ChatGPT: "If one man can dig a hole that is 1 meter deep, 1 meter wide, and 1 meter long in one hour, and you have 10 men working simultaneously, you can divide the time by the number of men to find the total time it takes for the group to complete the task.
So, it would take 1 hour / 10 men = 0.1 hours (or 6 minutes) for the group of 10 men to dig the hole."
Do you agree with ChatGPT's answer?
Comment#: 00015
Date: 2024-02-22
User: Radim
Is your native language not English and do you work in an international team? Have you agreed on English as the project language within the team? Then please:
1. Install and use all project tools in English.
2. Use English help files for the tools.
3. Write English variable names and comments in the code.
These rules make collaboration between team members, documentation and support tasks easier. Because people will use the same terms.
Do you agree with these rules?
Would you add anything else?
Comment#: 00016
Date: 2024-07-04
User: Radim
Use the same program/application versions for all members of the team. And keep the installation files in case someone starts working on the project later.