Software bean-counters

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Is it just me?

After the bad years of the web bubble, when large fortunes were put up and spent on blue sky projects with no prospect of a revenue stream... once all the hard-working technically-able developers were made to join the dole queue... the software bean counters and project managers once again gained the ascendancy... or did they ever lose it?

Speaking in terms the CEO could understand they persuaded the executives that only they could produce value from software development. They had the new (old) magic.

And expected the developers to work like slaves. The days of endless conferences and freebies changed to being locked to a terminal producing code the PM and IT Director say is of value to the business.

Endless timesheets were completed to match ever-revised project plans. As long as it all kept going fast enough no-one would notice that the plans were free of meaningful content, nor that the development would have happened anyway - only quicker and cheaper - had the PM been able to understand the technical meaning of the words he/she was meant to record.

Those able to do so voted with their feet on the new oppressive atmosphere. Until finally there was no imagination, no creativity and no customers interested in the new product, because there was no identifiable new product.

No wonder IT's a business with a bias towards youth.

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