Page 121 - The Art of Designing Embedded Systems

108 THE ART OF DESIGNING EMBEDDED SYSTEMS

All of us have worked with that creative genius who can build
anything, who pounds out a thousand lines of code a day, but who
can never seem to complete a project. Worse-the fast coder who
spends eons debugging the megabyte of firmware he wrote on a
Jolt-driven all-nighter. Then there are the folks who produce work-
ing code devoid of documentation, who develop rashes or turn into
Mr. Hyde when told to add comments.
We struggle with these folks, plead with them, send them to
seminars, lead by example, all too often without success. Some of
them are prima donnas who should probably get the ax. Others are
really quite good, but simply lack the ability to deal with detail. . .
which is essential since, in a released product, every lousy bit must
be right.
These are the ideal prototype developers. Bugs aren’t a big
issue in a model, and documentation is less than important. The pro-
totype lets them exercise their creative zeal, while its limited scope
means that problems are not important. Toss Twinkies and caffeine
into their lair and stand back. You’ll get your system fast, and they’ll
be happy employees. Use the more disciplined team members to get
the bugless real product to market.
Part of management is effectively using people’s strengths
while mitigating their weaknesses. Part of it is also giving the work-
ers a break once in a while. No one can crank out 70-hour weeks for-
ever without cracking.