Comments on: Why Office Gurus Are Bad (And The Buses Who Hit Them) http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/ Ideas for building efficient developers and software Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:03:44 -0500 hourly 1 By: StevenHarman.net http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-1002 StevenHarman.net Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:18:41 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-1002 <strong>Stop Refactorbating or You'll Go Blind!</strong> Stop Refactorbating or You'll Go Blind! Stop Refactorbating or You’ll Go Blind!

Stop Refactorbating or You’ll Go Blind!

]]> By: Rick http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-1000 Rick Tue, 29 Jan 2008 09:56:22 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-1000 Having been in the position of 'office guru', I have to say it all depends on how the guru in question deals with his position. I for one have gone through great lengths to share my knowledge, educate juniors and documenting virtually everything I did, and most of all, encouraging them to have a go at it themselves. I rarely made any decisions without talking them through with coworkers, mostly just to keep them involved (plus talking to yourself gets old real fast...). Unless the person in question is a sociopath or severely autistic, most office gurus will consider sharing the knowledge part of their mission (or even better: the best part). What usually gets in the way is an excessive workload, giving a team very little time to share stuff, not the attitude problems of the specialist. In other words: I don't think the office guru is the liability, but the manager that creates an unhealthy team dynamic that allows/forces specialists to isolate themselves. Having been in the position of ‘office guru’, I have to say it all depends on how the guru in question deals with his position.

I for one have gone through great lengths to share my knowledge, educate juniors and documenting virtually everything I did, and most of all, encouraging them to have a go at it themselves. I rarely made any decisions without talking them through with coworkers, mostly just to keep them involved (plus talking to yourself gets old real fast…).

Unless the person in question is a sociopath or severely autistic, most office gurus will consider sharing the knowledge part of their mission (or even better: the best part). What usually gets in the way is an excessive workload, giving a team very little time to share stuff, not the attitude problems of the specialist.

In other words: I don’t think the office guru is the liability, but the manager that creates an unhealthy team dynamic that allows/forces specialists to isolate themselves.

]]> By: Max Pool http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-999 Max Pool Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:12:18 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-999 @Gab - To be honest, I don't know what ever happened, it was kind of a friend-of-a-friend relationship, but if I am not mistaken there was a lot of conversation with him shortly after he left... @Gab -

To be honest, I don’t know what ever happened, it was kind of a friend-of-a-friend relationship, but if I am not mistaken there was a lot of conversation with him shortly after he left…

]]> By: Gab "SEO ROI" Goldenberg http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-998 Gab "SEO ROI" Goldenberg Tue, 29 Jan 2008 05:10:08 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-998 Max, that was a really memorable post. You broke it down well. As to the first guy, I think the co. should have sued him for the cheat sheet. In a situation where a company pays someone to code, the resulting work is their intellectual property, no? (And no, that's not legal advice/a legal opinion.) Max, that was a really memorable post. You broke it down well.

As to the first guy, I think the co. should have sued him for the cheat sheet. In a situation where a company pays someone to code, the resulting work is their intellectual property, no? (And no, that’s not legal advice/a legal opinion.)

]]> By: Chad Sturtz http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-996 Chad Sturtz Mon, 28 Jan 2008 16:35:36 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-996 Like anything else there needs to be a grey area. While I don't want a sole Reports guy and a sole Database guy, I also don't want them to be an exact copy of each other's knowledge. Too much time would be wasted making sure they both know everything compared to the very small risk of one of them being hit buy a bus, leaving the project with very short notice, etc. Like anything else there needs to be a grey area. While I don’t want a sole Reports guy and a sole Database guy, I also don’t want them to be an exact copy of each other’s knowledge. Too much time would be wasted making sure they both know everything compared to the very small risk of one of them being hit buy a bus, leaving the project with very short notice, etc.

]]> By: Max Pool http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-995 Max Pool Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:54:49 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-995 @Sensei - It *is* sad that people work so hard to work against each other, but in the end it is one of the many ways we gain a false sense of security. @Sensei –

It *is* sad that people work so hard to work against each other, but in the end it is one of the many ways we gain a false sense of security.

]]> By: » Daily Bits - January 28, 2008 Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links, development, gadgets and raising rugrats. http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-994 » Daily Bits - January 28, 2008 Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links, development, gadgets and raising rugrats. Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:33:23 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-994 [...] Why Office Gurus Are Bad (and the Buses Who Hit Them) (Max Pool) [...] [...] Why Office Gurus Are Bad (and the Buses Who Hit Them) (Max Pool) [...]

]]> By: ActiveEngine Sensei http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-993 ActiveEngine Sensei Mon, 28 Jan 2008 12:41:21 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-993 I don't think you can eliminate the local wizard phenomenon entirely, but one technique I have used to force people out of their is bring in a consultant or contractor to work the guru. The third party reports back to me and I get a leg up on areas of mystery that can be cleared up. My advise is that if you have someone who is actively working to obfuscate code is to hold a review, fire questions off at the guy, give him a chance to fix it, then fire him if he doesn't. The pain of putting up with someone who is essentially blackmailing you is not worth it. A clash in the long run will be inevitable and you might as well take it on in your own terms when you are prepped. It's sad that people work so hard to work against each other, but life is short so gather those around you who won't knife you in the back. I don’t think you can eliminate the local wizard phenomenon entirely, but one technique I have used to force people out of their is bring in a consultant or contractor to work the guru. The third party reports back to me and I get a leg up on areas of mystery that can be cleared up.

My advise is that if you have someone who is actively working to obfuscate code is to hold a review, fire questions off at the guy, give him a chance to fix it, then fire him if he doesn’t. The pain of putting up with someone who is essentially blackmailing you is not worth it. A clash in the long run will be inevitable and you might as well take it on in your own terms when you are prepped.

It’s sad that people work so hard to work against each other, but life is short so gather those around you who won’t knife you in the back.

]]> By: Dave http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-992 Dave Mon, 28 Jan 2008 08:25:03 +0000 http://www.codesqueeze.com/why-office-gurus-are-bad-and-the-buses-who-hit-them/#comment-992 That's so true, and very common in the SMB sector. If I were to get hit by a bus today, I honestly cannot imagine how my company would survive. I try to be relatively rigorous about documentation, backups, source control, etc. However, any attempt to explain these things to management is always met with glazed-over eyeballs. So, in the event they're needed, it would probably take weeks or months for someone to come in and figure out what's what anyway. Very frustrating. That’s so true, and very common in the SMB sector.

If I were to get hit by a bus today, I honestly cannot imagine how my company would survive. I try to be relatively rigorous about documentation, backups, source control, etc. However, any attempt to explain these things to management is always met with glazed-over eyeballs.

So, in the event they’re needed, it would probably take weeks or months for someone to come in and figure out what’s what anyway. Very frustrating.

]]>