RE: OT - poor word choice re: Managing Extreme Progr amming

banshee858 said:
> As someone who is "just a laborer", please reconsider your choice of 
> words when you think to use phrases like, "deliverers of value".  The 
> only reason why I can imagine using phrases like those is to 
> dehumanize the employees in order to justify doing bad things to 
> them.  I am sure that is not your intent, but that is the message 
> such sterile "business" terms impart.

Yes, my favorite such term is "resources" used to mean "developers."  I have
no problems when it's used at a high level such as "we don't have the
resources to take on a new project without dropping something else."  Too
often, however, I see it used in a much more personal and dehumanizing
fashion such as "we need to allocate specific resources to specific tasks,"
or "I'm going to have a meeting with my resources."

Steve Ropa may have been very lucky to "not know a single manager who
doesn't have a ton of respect for engineers and what they do."  Then, again,
perhaps some of the managers I've known had such respect, but didn't
communicate it.  Instead, they communicated entirely different things.  I
would rather a manager treat me with respect.  Share their vision.  Listen
to my concerns.  Engage in dialog.  I've seen far too many who treat
developers as machines (and rather imperfect ones) that produce what they
demand.

Perhaps much of encouraging XP adoption, in many situations, comes down to
teaching mid and low level managers how to manage with such respect, how to
lead rather than command.

 - George

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