Karmona Pragmatic Blog

I have an old, sentimental newspaper-article-cut claiming “pessimistic hi-tech employees are more productive than their optimistic peers” hanging on my office wall.

In this context, last summer I wrote, coined and trademarked the Pessimistic Developer Paradigm.

Early this week I have interviewed a very interesting dude* who saw this old article hanging on my office and introduced this amazing poem by Robert Graves which I must share in this pessimistic context…

In Broken Images (by Robert Graves)

He is quick, thinking in clear images;
I am slow, thinking in broken images.

He becomes dull, trusting to his clear images;
I become sharp, mistrusting my broken images.

Trusting his images, he assumes their relevance;
Mistrusting my images, I question their relevance.

Assuming their relevance, he assumes the fact;
Questioning their relevance, I question their fact.

When the fact fails him, he questions his senses;
when the fact fails me, I approve my senses.

He continues quick and dull in his clear images;
I continue slow and sharp in my broken images.

He in a new confusion of his understanding;
I in a new understanding of my confusion.

* Thanks Tomer and Good Luck!

“The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature.” (Peopleware, 1987)

I think that human capital is the silver bullet* for successful software projects – productivity, personalities, teamwork and group dynamics will make or break a project.

Picking the right people is maybe the most important managerial task so on your next interviews please remember** that knowledge can be easily acquired but personality is there to stay.

Don’t spend 90% of your interview time on knowledge when personality (and potential) is the real key for successful recruitment.

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* Although “Peopleware” have a full chapter on how there is no silver bullet… but I partially agree since I never said it will be easy to get to the human capital silver bullet…
** Also remember: Somewhere today a project is failing… and I can personally guarantee that people were somehow involved in its failure!