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Egoless programming
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<h2 id="history">History</h2> <p>The concept was first propounded by <a href="/facts/Gerald_M._Weinberg/IAdGN2nk">Gerald M. Weinberg</a> in his 1971 book, <i>The Psychology of Computer Programming</i>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="peer-reviews-of-code">Peer reviews of code</h2> <p>To ensure quality, reviews of code by other programmers are made. The concept of <i>egoless programming</i> emphasises that such reviews should be made in a friendly, collegial way in which personal feelings are put aside. <a href="/facts/Software_walkthrough/alPlds0T">Structured walkthroughs</a> are one way of making such a formal review.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="strengths">Strengths</h2> <ul><li>Works best for complex tasks. ('difficult' used in <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a>)</li> <li>Open communication channels allow information to flow freely to team members</li> <li>Greater conformity that helps in consistent documentation</li> <li>Team members have greater job satisfaction.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a></li></ul> <h2 id="weaknesses">Weaknesses</h2> <ul><li>Projects take longer to complete.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a></li> <li>Projects experience a higher failure rate due to the decentralized nature of and volume of communication between members of the team.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a></li> <li>Risky shift phenomenon – Programmers attempt riskier solutions to solve a software problem.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a></li> <li>Simple tasks are made more difficult by open communication channels.</li></ul> <p> Note: The single paper cited <a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> for 'Strengths & Weaknesses' is from 1981 and says in its conclusions: </p> <blockquote><p>Most of the research on group problem-solving behavior was conducted in a laboratory setting with students and tasks of short duration.</p></blockquote> <blockquote><p>None of these task/structure recommendations have been tested in a software development environment.</p></blockquote> <h2 id="rival-concepts">Rival concepts</h2> <p>Egoless programming explicitly minimizes constraints of <a href="/facts/Hierarchy/mYJyqFrG">hierarchy</a> and <a href="/facts/Social_status/X5j4NvxM">status</a> so as to enable the free exchange of ideas and improvements. It may be contrasted with the <a href="/facts/Chief_programmer_team/HmpbE1L6">chief programmer team</a> concept which emphasises specialisation and leadership in teams so that they work in a more disciplined way.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9"><sup>9</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/List_of_software_development_philosophies/5K3JNWYT">List of software development philosophies</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Software_review/WcNas2HL">Software review</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Egolessness/UuU2H9cs">Egolessness</a></li></ul> <h2 id="external-links">External links</h2> <ul><li><a href="http://blog.codinghorror.com/the-ten-commandments-of-egoless-programming/">The Ten Commandments of Egoless Programming</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Weinberg, Gerald M. (1971). The Psychology of Computer Programming. Van Nostrand Reinhold. ISBN 9780442207649. <a href="9780442207649" target="_blank">9780442207649</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Wiegers, Karl Eugene (2001). Peer Reviews in Software: A Practical Guide. Addison-Wesley. p. 14. ISBN 978-0-201-73485-0. <a href="978-0-201-73485-0" target="_blank">978-0-201-73485-0</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Mantei, Marilyn (March 1981). "The Effect of Programming Team Structures on Programming Tasks" (PDF). Communications of the ACM. 24 (3): 106–113. doi:10.1145/358568.358571. S2CID 207907944. <a href="http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf" target="_blank">http://sunnyday.mit.edu/16.355/mantei-teams.pdf</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:9"><p>Grubb, Penny; Takang, Armstrong A. (2003), Software maintenance: concepts and practice, World Scientific, ISBN 978-981-238-426-3 <a href="978-981-238-426-3" target="_blank">978-981-238-426-3</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>