All power to the developer

The typing pool has been superseded by the word processor; clerical workers by the spreadsheet and the database. What used to require the management of men, now requires the management of machines.

Two very different tasks indeed.

Man-management is a very interesting, very challenging job. Marshalling and aligning a group of humans to meet a common objective requires the ability to handle the vagaries of human relationships; interpersonal conflicts, political machinations, uncertain and conflicting motivations, forgetfulness, imperfect communication and understanding ... the challenges that must be overcome form a long long list. Indeed, one might be excused if the challenge of getting other people to do what you want them to rather masks the extent to which our objectives are woolly and ill-defined in the first place.

By contrast, as a programmer, our minions are infinitely more compliant; patient, predictable and indefatigable. The orders that we issue will be followed to the minutest detail. Indeed, the orders that we issue must be *specified* in the minutest detail.

Therein lies the rub.

The professions of programming and man-management both require the professional to make decisions and to delegate tasks. For the man-manager, the central challenge is to ensure that the tasks are completed; for the developer, the central challenge is to ensure that the tasks (and their consequences) are well enough understood in the first place.

This is surprisingly hard; especially the consequences bit, and especially in the face of complexity.