Developers Vs Mere Mortals

This is the new me from the old world of IT..... All thoughts, corrections and comments are most welcome ;)

The eternal battle between good and evil, saint and sinner, developers and business managers these symbolize some of the way life is super imposed on the software industry.

The very origin of this industry was based on ‘misfits’ or as Apple and Steve Jobs so proudly proclaim the square pegs in the round holes. But with changing business requirements things have undergone a paradigm shift, the high tech industry is more a way of life now rather than the passion of a few ‘misfits’. And this causes the entry of business managers like your’s truly, the mercenary MBA with his tie and a repository of polished terms, jargon and immaculate oxford English.

So the battle begins as to who has the control the business people or the developers?

When Steve Jobs in many ways my idol was thrown out of Apple looked like the managers had won, but he was back like a true Jedi knight. Many software companies in India have started hiring MBA’s like never before.

IT companies like INFOSYS, WIPRO, and Cognizant account for a huge chunk of placements. This brings about a direct clash between the managers and the developers. One side is focused on functionality and the other on technology. Things are getting worse as business requirements change often and the poor Analyst has to go back to the developers with the changing requirements and face the wrath of the developers who do not seem to take it kindly.

So what is the way out?

It seems the developers should be worked around in cross functional roles and even the managers have to be involved in some amount of coding and development. It is easy to criticize or blame others if we don’t know the challenges that we face in doing things we are good at. The road ahead lies in cooperation and not confrontation and if this can be achieved its business as usual!!!