Are multiple solo developers better than one multi-developer team?

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I lead an small group of four developers. We work mainly on development projects for internal use only, we also mantain our company's web site.

Project duration usually varies from 1 week to 3 months, but we try to split large projects, to last no more than 4 to 6 weeks.

Since ever we have had developers working on a one per project basis, even when all of them work on the same physical office. This was dictated by my boss, he beleives this is more efficient, but I have my doubts. I would like to give it a try to have all of them working on the same project at the same time, or at least two per project, but my boss doesn't allows me.

Since I'm unable to compare which scenario yields better results, I would be very grateful if I could resort to your experiences about managing developers on the following scenarios:

Many projects with only 1 developer.
Few projects with few developers.
One project with many developers.

Thanks in advance.

Posted 13-Aug-13 17:07pm

ZaHgO

Updated 13-Aug-13 17:17pm

v2

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2013-08-13T17:51:00

Solution 1

You cannot. It simply makes no sense. People are too different to count them as cattle. If you don't feel the main thing here, human factor, you should not continue to do what you are doing.

You need to feel it when you work with developers.

It's very typical that one person is more important then ten or even tens of developers. It's very typical when just one developer disrupt the work of others for a long time thus producing strongly negative contribution (but is accounted by managers as positive). It's unfortunately less typical (but not too uncommon) if some core of developers boost results by discussing things and feeding each other with ideas. It's unfortunately not very uncommon when two certain developers are quite productive separately, but disrupt development if they work at the same project. It even happens when some developer is almost useless when working along, but produce good results when is led by others. And yes, it's quite usual when some developer can make great work and others are only the hassle; but perhaps such developer simply never met workers of her/his level.

If you are going to plan development time and results by multiplying number of developers by time and weights, or something like that, you have nothing to do in development.

—SA

Posted 13-Aug-13 17:51pm

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Updated 13-Aug-13 17:52pm

v3

Comments

ZaHgO 14-Aug-13 1:15am

So you are telling me I can't measure some kind of velocity (for example, story points per iteration), on the next project try a different configuration, measure it again, and then compare the results. Of course not an exact science, but the point is I can, or could if I were allowed to, compare performance on different scenarios.

Please consider the fact that I haven't asked which one is better, because that would mean knowing the people I work with. Rather I asked for people to tell their experiences. I was expecting an answer such as "We have had usually better results with X scenario, because ...".

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Aug-13 1:32am

I understand you, but this has nothing to do with the question you are asking, because you suggest us to answer the questions on particular scenarios without knowing any of the people and nothing about the projects. Projects are also very different. All those calculations are just a waste of time. You should not take seriously if two-three members tell you that X scenario was better then Y, and so on. Or do you hope to get hundreds of responses? No, I doubt that even a one member would give you the particular answer on a particular organization. This not rocket science, this is pseudo-science...
—SA

ZaHgO 14-Aug-13 1:42am

What would be a better question?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Aug-13 1:48am

Not a correct question. Better for what? Perhaps you could ask some practical question on how to organize the development, but it would involve too many detail...
—SA

ZaHgO 14-Aug-13 2:06am

I still feel like I need some kind of guidance on this matter.
Anyways I appreciate the time you have put on this. Thanks.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Aug-13 2:26am

You are welcome.

But what is the real situation? Do you already have developers or candidate for the roles and have to organize development? Or something else?

It really needs a lot of experience, and something else. I could tell something only when I interviewed everyone well, looked at their portfolio (almost no one does that, but I do, or suggest test tasks). After that, I would start with first stage of the project and then could choose to re-group people on the fly. This is really much better than any general principles you might be preoccupied with. Without some experimenting, nothing serious is possible. And hiring the whole team is hardly a good idea. The developers should be hired one by one, starting from the very core people...

I hope you understand that you should develop some prototypes as you develop the project stage by stage? Same thing with people: you should live with the idea that the roles you preliminary planned for them will change in real life. And you
should not resist it, but adopt it to work.

I know, in most cases companies don't use such principles. But do you know that majority of projects fail? It's just that majority of companies are not capable of doing development at all, but does it; honestly.

—SA

ZaHgO 14-Aug-13 3:15am

I was a developer before getting promoted to lead of development. I already have the developers, all of them have been recruited right after finishing college. We don't work for a development company, and none of the team has any experience on one. We are the only team of development on the company.

I didn't had any training on software project management, nor does my manager. I have been learning on my own on the web and reading a few books on agile. But I still not very far from the beginners' mark.

So, yeah, maybe we are one those companies that can't do development, but I've being trying to change that. I need to change that.

Thing is I'm about to hire more people, and with them re-assign responsabilities. Be sure I'll be taking your advice.

Thanks a lot.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Aug-13 6:37am

Ooh, difficult case. However, consider this as a rare opportunity, not as a hassle.

Wish you the best of luck.
—SA

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 14-Aug-13 6:38am

By the way, will you accept the answer formally now (green button)?
—SA