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Jul 13Coding Practices MUST Be Followed
by in Feature Articles on 2013-08-22
When a new company is formed, it's usually just the owner, possibly some partners, and a small staff. As they figure out how the business is to be run, they come up with their own ways of doing things. Over time, the staff grows, and more rules are created about how this or that is to be done. Eventually, it reaches critical mass, and all of these rules get quantified into written guidelines. Sometimes this can be a good thing. For example, coding style guidelines, if done correctly, can be a good thing.
Unfortunately, beyond a certain point, the company becomes bureaucratic, and the folks making the rules tend to be insulated from the bigger picture. People start clarifying rules to add finer grained detail. To the point of lunacy. You get stuff like instructions on whether of not to put a space before a semicolon; in which corner of the page a staple should be used, and at what angle it should be to the page, or how many sheets of TP to use for #1 vs. #2, and whether you should choose one ply or two ply. The rules start to resemble a mindless automaton, blindly forging ahead, without thought, sensibility or sentience. It's enough to suck the life out of any well-meaning effort.