Question

I’ve read a long time ago an article about why managers should appreciate the devs., and there was analogy drawn to the 7 samurais movie: that a company can’t really offer much to an engineer, and that the engineer chooses to help the company — like the samurais helped the villagers.

I thought that was on joelonsoftware.com, or codinghorror.com; but the search did not bring any result. Does it ring a bell to anyone? Anyone?

Answer 1

It’s from Joel’s book ‘Smart and Gets Things Done‘. Section is entitled ‘Treat Them Like Samurai’.

A quote:

The village is your team. The samurai are the programmers who, you hope, will come solve your problems, bringing their talent and expertise in exchange for, maybe, a bowl of rice. You may be poor and hopeless, but you sure as heck know how to show some respect for the samurai who is going to save your behind.