in reply to Look at the Big Picture

Very few of us have the luxury of tweaking the politics of a major lab group for its own good

But for gods sake try before giving up ;-) I've worked numerous places where I've managed to change politics and working practices for the better. Most of the time when I asked why they hadn't implemented testing / version control / small iterations / whatever, it wasn't because nobody had wanted to - it was because nobody had asked.

Be diplomatic. Be careful. Just don't give up without the attempt.

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Re^2: Look at the Big Picture
by samizdat (Vicar) on Oct 18, 2005 at 12:42 UTC
    They're begging me to. I've actually set myself up in a position where I work for a manager who basically gives me free rein and says "go gettum!" This way, I can divide up my time and make everybody a little happy, go 'round again and make everybody a little happier, stop and clean up my code, go 'round again...

    The key is that I'm outside of any one group's pressure cooker. The Fab isn't any more political than any other large group, it's just a much more challenged group by the very nature of things. Which, to be honest, is what makes it so much fun to take this on.

    Perl is a big asset for me here. When I can move forward in big leaps (even counting my time babbling on PM), things Get Done.
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