I'll Introduce the Next Programmer on Monday. A Comment on Team Structure. - 03/29/2007 - 9:23 PM:

I had intended to introduce our next team member today, but the video simply didn't get done in time. I was close - I almost posted it, but didn't at the last second. Instead, I'll introduce our next team member on Monday, after a weekend of tweaking lets me get it right.

In the mean time, I wanted to mention something about how we're structuring our team - a potentially dull but important subject. When starting a team from nothing, without resources to offer salaries, how you structure your team is very important. Considering our unusual start, I figure it's only fair that you know how I've chosen to try to organize Novel Projects. So, instead of a video today, you get a nifty little graphic that basically outlines how our team is and will be structured. You can click on the image there to the left to take a look - I hope it's not confusing. Since my official focus at University was Industrial Organizational Psychology, team structure is one of my biggest concerns. You see, you don't want the team to be too large, especially if you're working on a linear development path, meaning you can't start phase II until you have output from phase I. Not only does it kill enthusiasm when you don't have your team well matched to your workload, it can also become a managing nightmare that ultimately collapses under its own weight. Ideally, you want the smallest and leanest team capable of getting the job done.

At the same time, if your team is too small, then the project ultimately ends up resting on the shoulders of a single rockstar programmer. When you're not paying salaries, your project depends on the free time of one individual, and if life happens - as it always does - your project suffers. The approach we're taking tries to take into account the tremendous number of programmers that have stepped forward to offer assistance, and also balance out the size and flexibility issues.

It might not be the right way to do it, but it's how we're doing it, for better or worse.

Little fun note: Brandon sent me this link a second ago, and I'd never seen it before and thought I'd mention it. :) Apparently, if you ask Google Map for directions from, say, New York to somewhere in Europe, it'll give you directions something like this:

7. Continue on Central St. - .01 miles.
8. Turn right at Long Wharf - .01 miles.
9. Swim across the Atlantic Ocean - 3,462 miles.
10. Slight right at E05 - .05 miles.

Very amusing.