22 Dec
2015
22 Dec
'15
1:16 p.m.
On Fri, Dec 18, 2015 at 4:31 PM, Louigi Verona <louigi.verona(a)gmail.com>
wrote:
What you say about the user is also true. Perhaps it is right to say that
users and developers should work together. But the reason why developer, in
my view, carries more weight in this matter, is because he is the one
investing his time and skill. Therefore, it seems rational for him to make
sure he understands the feature and why it is needed (if at all).
I enjoyed your talk(s). But I wanted to note that I've had (recent)
experience working with proprietary/commercial audio software development
that somewhat paradoxically undermines your description of the role of the
developer. Although it may seem strange, some companies choose or are
forced to hire developers who, despite having excellent development skills,
have close to zero knowledge about the domain they are working in. All the
understanding of the workflow and desired goals is left to a "product
manager" who defines the required changes/additions, and then the
developers are expected to implement them without (necessarily)
understanding their purpose.
Open source tends not to work this way, and we generally expect developers
to function as de facto product managers (or at least feature managers).