The commodification/fungibilty of programmers is the goal. See, also open office plans.
I think the bad started for me (long ago) when the Microsoft style management and so-called MS best practices began to conquer the PNW.
In the late 90's a company I was in started driving to an exit. First they hired an ex-MS Group Program Mgr, whatever that means. Next, came tons of PMs pulling one or two devs into their projects/features. Doing it the MS way I guess (at least the MS way back then).
I was a manager, I refused to dole out my team members to PMs -- everything my team did was run through me. I don't even think I let them enter individual devs into their project plans. Just the team.
This worked well for us (my team) because I knew their capabilities, interests, family commitments, likes/dislikes, etc. I could adjust resources as needed to meet the team commitments. We had successes and failures as a team.
PMs who tried put pressure on my devs behind my back would really catch it from me.
My management style wasn't any new idea, it was what we did in the Army. Assign a team a task, then the team leader ensures the task is completed by the team.
It was a good time, we were the only real team in the place as the other managers embraced the MS way of doing things.
At end (right before dotcom bust) the company started doing some Agile-lite with two-week release cycles absent stories, standups, etc. I did like that enough to put it place at the next company I worked at.
I did get burned out though, mostly because I didn't want deal with what the industry had become as the last startup I was at petered out.
I still love programming but not enough to do it in modern shop.
>The commodification/fungibilty of programmers is the goal
This rings true. It's probably why I have always had a tendency to look sideways at these efforts to turn everyone into a coder. I get it: there's demand, opportunity, etc. But, for me, there's always been a cynical element of devaluing actual coders to it.
The stuff you're talking about regarding your management approach almost seems like a relic from a bygone era at this point. So many companies now allow the process to manage devs. PMs back then frequently over-focused on the work vs. people, but even many of them have been replaced with some version of a scrum master with an even more relentless focus on the never-ending storyboard. They're driving the work over people approach without apology because it's what the process demands.
This is not to say it's 100% the case across all companies. But, there's very much an inhuman element to the process that has manifested to some degree in nearly every place that employs agile.
I think the bad started for me (long ago) when the Microsoft style management and so-called MS best practices began to conquer the PNW.
In the late 90's a company I was in started driving to an exit. First they hired an ex-MS Group Program Mgr, whatever that means. Next, came tons of PMs pulling one or two devs into their projects/features. Doing it the MS way I guess (at least the MS way back then).
I was a manager, I refused to dole out my team members to PMs -- everything my team did was run through me. I don't even think I let them enter individual devs into their project plans. Just the team.
This worked well for us (my team) because I knew their capabilities, interests, family commitments, likes/dislikes, etc. I could adjust resources as needed to meet the team commitments. We had successes and failures as a team.
PMs who tried put pressure on my devs behind my back would really catch it from me.
My management style wasn't any new idea, it was what we did in the Army. Assign a team a task, then the team leader ensures the task is completed by the team.
It was a good time, we were the only real team in the place as the other managers embraced the MS way of doing things.
At end (right before dotcom bust) the company started doing some Agile-lite with two-week release cycles absent stories, standups, etc. I did like that enough to put it place at the next company I worked at.
I did get burned out though, mostly because I didn't want deal with what the industry had become as the last startup I was at petered out.
I still love programming but not enough to do it in modern shop.