Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
and mental effort in work is as natural as play or rest, and that the
average person learns, under proper conditions, not only to accept but
to seek responsibility.
66
For the supporters of Theory Y management,
Weinberg's adaptive team represented an exemplary model of the par-
ticipative problem-solving approach.
67
The concept of egoless programming was rarely adopted in toto,
though. In later descriptions of the chief programming team, Baker and
Mills claimed that their system represented a form of egoless program-
ming, in the sense that the code produced by the chief programmer was
open for inspection by other members of the surgical team. By this point,
egoless programming was interpreted by many managers in terms very
favorable to management: it meant that programmers should not be
defensive about code reviews, task assignments, and other management-
imposed structures. The adaptive team terminology in this case seems to
have been adopted for public relations purposes only. The whole point
of the chief programming team was to consolidate all aspects of design
and implementation into the hands of a single superprogrammer. It
would have been impossible to maintain the level of architectural integ-
rity desired by Brooks if the chief programmer were not heavily invested
in their own individual conceptual structure.
Indeed, by the mid-1970s the language of egoless programming
appears to have been almost entirely transformed and co-opted by con-
ventional managers. These managers picked up on the idea that requiring
programmers to develop open, nonpropriety code allowed for increased
administrative oversight. To them, egoless programming meant that “all
programmers were to adhere to rules that would make their products
understandable to others and make the individual programmer replace-
able.”
68
Weinberg's original intention that egoless programming would
enable programmers to develop as autonomous professionals appears to
have gone entirely by the wayside. One management consultant reminded
his audience that managers should “stress the non-punitive nature of the
new approaches. Egoless programming is designed to help the program-
mer, not point out his faults.”
69
The not-so-subtle subtext of this reminder
is that by this period, egoless programming had acquired a reputation
for being worker-hostile management jargon.
Although
The Psychology of Computer Programming
received a great
deal of popular attention for its descriptive verisimilitude, it was less
successful in its prescriptive capacity. Weinberg's recommendations do
not appear to have been taken seriously by many academic or industry
leaders. It may be that his adaptive teams did not scale well to large
