Episode 103 - Productivity and Estimation

Join Mark, Greg, and new co-host Peter as we discuss Language Productivity and Estimation.

Productivity

Using Scala will make you less productive - Is Productivity King? There are many more things in “development” which will lower your productivity than the language you eventually implement the solution in. I (Mark) think I made the comment I've never seen scala as being "a more productive language", but a more flexible, adaptable, etc. language which may lead to more productivity, but productivity is WAY more the sum of intangible parts of development

How do you measure productivity in a language, and when should you expect to get results, e.g. 6 months, 1 year, 2 years - 5 years?

Is there a correlation between small, modular, artifacts and static typing? does having a contract get better with smaller service ( even if generic type contracts )

Is static typing a fractal cost on your code base. The better you write your code the more cost you incur?

Static typing suits large method and class as you pay the tax less times?

How do you determine the productivity of a new language?

Statically typed javascript (typescript)

Estimation

How does switching languages affect how you handle time estimates?

How do you handle time estimates in general? (Mark) I’ve often seen it said rather than just estimate how long it will take, estimate how long it will take Person X to do it ( if they’re doing the work, taking into account things you know about their productivity/skill level/work load etc.) - you may know Clojure/Scala well, but with DevY is to do the work and not yet fully up to skill with the toolset.....

Development estimates are only accurate if you are maintaining velocity. What error margin and corrective multiplier is reasonable?

What methods of estimate generation are good? Planning poker can be slow, but can be a great method of generating estimates.

Function Point Calculations as a confirmation guideline

How far out do you estimate, and how does YAGNI play into this.