A Programmer’s Bill of Rights?
ByHere’s a link to good post that talks about how companies can enhance developer productivity with some small investments in things like dual monitors. I just reread this article after finding it over a year ago. I am diligently trying to move our own department towards the things listed in the article, though some items, such as dual monitors, may be difficult for us given the current economic climate. We developers understand experientially how these things help our productivity, but is not always easy to communicate these truths to management.
It is difficult for developers to understand why a company might resist making changes like these, given the tangible benefits of these practices. Monitors for example are cheap compared to the cost of a programmer’s time. I joke with my team, by telling them: “Your problem is that you think logically” 
In a lrage company, the bucket the money comes out of is almost more important than the actual cost.
Here’s an article on CodingHorror.com that puts forth a Programmer’s Bill of Rights. I just reread this after finding it a year or so ago. Some of the ideas here make good sense. There are concrete things that can be instrumented that will increase the effectiveness and therefore the cost-effectiveness of a development team.
We programmers are often viewed as overhead. The company pays the same amount on a monthly basis for our services regardless of how long it takes us to perform our development tasks.
The last line of the article states “And remember: you can either change your company, or you can change your company.” Hmm, things may have changed a bit since this was written a few years back. That isn’t to say that we don’t have the required influence to initiate change, we just have to use it bit more wisely. Demanding change probably won’t work. We must strive to show tangible, not theoretical benefits whenever possible. A couple of things happened here that may have helped our cause, and perhaps you can leverage the same ideas to your benefit. First, my team started requesting to work from home more often because they have better equipment at home. Second, one of the guys bought a new wide screen monitor and brought it into work so he could be more productive. He had to take it home, because company policy doesn’t allow connecting personal equipment, but the point was made. By the way, these actions weren’t part of a planned effort. It was completely organic.
So read the Programmer’s Bill of Rights and see what you can do to influence its adoption at your place of work.
Link: Programmer’s Bill of Rights
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