Science Backs Up Bixly!

I love this article that just came out on Slashdot entitled:

Happy Software Developers Solve Problems Better

Checkout the article on Slashdot.

There were 42 participants, so I can’t claim this is an end-all, especially considering the bias towards novel results and studies that can’t be reproduced in academia. But! I didn’t need a study in the first place to tell you that happy developers are better developers.

We have a few things in place to keep our developers happy. For one, our managers are programmers. They don’t push unrealistic agendas on the developers since they know what it takes to get it done. On top of that we don’t put up with politics. Any murmurs of “he said she said” get zapped to a crisp right where they stand. If you have a problem you talk about it with that person, or the management decides the problem maker needs to be dealt with, or you just drop it.

Let’s see, there’s more:

• We don’t allow bullies. That goes for clients and other team members.
• We often boot sucky clients.
• We provide a free lunch, cooked in house.
• We take breaks for video games and long chats.
• Champagne is usually around on Thursday.
• Most developers have a close friend at work.
• We often hang out for reasons outside of work.
• We don’t micro-manage (which is usually a symptom of under-management oddly enough).
• We discuss financials openly with developers.
• We pay them overtime if they work more than 40 hours in a week.
• We keep giving raises or fire them, no in-between. You are great or you don’t work here.
• We give plenty of warning before we fire so they know it’s coming, but this SELDOM occurs. Our interview process is extreme, so only the best get through. We debate important decisions with them.
• We don’t hire sad/angry/chip-on-shoulder people.
• I treat employees like I want to be treated.

There are more reasons we have happy developers, but I think you get the point.