A common misconception, I assume popularized by Hollywood, is that as you get closer to shipping software, activity becomes frenetic as everybody scrambles to finish all the things that need to be done in time for the deadline. In the typical crappy movie, there’s a mad rush of typing in a room full of cool alterna-dressed programmers with found-object earrings and jeans jackets. Somebody stands up and shouts to the room in general “I need the Jiff subroutine! Somebody give me the Jiff subroutine!” A good looking young woman in Vivienne Tam urbanwear throws a floppy disk at him. “Thanks!” As the second hand swoops towards the :00, the whole team waits breathlessly around Ryan Phillipe’s computer and watches the “copy” progress indicator as the final bits are put onto a floppy disk with less than a second to spare before the VC cuts off funding. … On good teams, the days before shipping just get quieter and quieter as programmers literally run out of things to do one at a time. (Yesterday I took the day off to explore New York City with my wee niece and nephews.)
| Author | Joel Spolsky |
| Work | Working on CityDesk, Part One |