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Example of Brooks' law on communication channels with multiple actors as\nthey grow within a project.
Sometimes, we think adding more resources or people power is always the right solution to speed up a process.
\nHowever, is it really the case ? Lets explore some key concept about Brooks' law, explaining how increasing the human factor on a project can have other unwanted results.
\nIt is a phenomenon observable in software engineering and project management where adding people power to a large and generally unsupervised in terms\nof task disivibility is going to delay such project instead of speeding up the completion.
\nExample of Brooks' law on communication channels with multiple actors as\nthey grow within a project.
From Brooks, the following points captures the general (simplified) comprehension of the rule:
\nThere is a learning overhead when introducing new actors to a project, especially in software engineering.\nIntroductions of bugs from actors with few experiences on the project can delay progress.\nIt is important to remember that it is not necessarly in terms of overall seniority of a developper's career by example, but rather\nhis time on the specific project and especially if the project is special and was never done before.
\nWhen working on a task which information needs to be synced with others, a coomunication overhead occurs.\nThis is due to the combination of links between actors, raising in a combinatorial rate because there is one link created for\neach new actor in the group.
\nTasks needs to be divisible for the overhead to be close to none. Otherwise, work will generally be slowed down.\nA famous example: A baby can be made in 9 months, but it cannot take only 1 month by having 9 persons to do so.
\nFrom my perspective and personal opinion, here are possible actions we can take to reduce overheads on software engineering projects:
\nHaving a good Agile/SCRUM process and divide tasks without leaving dependances with one-another.\nOtherwise, actors will have to communicate a lot for trivial information, and you will have to manage a lot of Merge Conflits (GitHub).
\nOffering a global communication channel for genral questions. This way, we reduce the combinatorial aspect of links between multiple actors of a group.
\nCreating a strong documentation process to reduce learning curves and trivial questions of new developers.\nThey will be able to learn and check by themselves when needed, reducing the use of communication channels.
\nHaving a balanced management guideline, sometimes having a rigid management framework can reduce or alter a project's progress because of all the overhead it produces.\nOf course, having no rules will reduce considerably the quality of the software codebase and render metric compilation ineffective.\nThus, having a balance between processes and people's autonomy is important, and it motivates the reason why Agile/SCRUM is so popular and effective in practice.
\nI’m thrilled to announce that my website has received a refresh!
\nI’ve added some new sections and polished the layout to make it even more user-friendly and engaging for students, colleagues, and fellow researchers.
\n![\"\"](\"/_next/image?url=%2F_next%2Fstatic%2Fmedia%2Fp1.91911a74.png&w=1920&q=75\")
\nAs seen on the preview picture above, a new segmentation of pages as been done to organize the website.
\nBelow is an overall description of new additions :
\nI think it is important to share knowledge and make learning available easily. As such, the Teaching Section\nnow contains slides, generic or older assignments, and soon much more. The list contains multiple seminars and courses I have given in the past or actively teaching.\nAs time goes by, more and more content will be added.
\nEverything is tied up to a GitHub repository to encourage contributions and feedbacks. In case\nof mistakes or new ideas, please do not hesitate (if you wish) to create an issue on the GitHub repository\nso I can fix them.
\nI started research a bit late because, but I learned that it is an exercise that I'm passionate about.
\nIf you want to collaborate with me on any field related to those of my Research Interests or if you might have any intersting opportunities\nfor me (part time research), please feel free to contact me!
\nFeel free to drop a follow on LinkedIn, GitHub or put this Website\non your favorites if anything of sorts is interesting to you. I will be sure to put my news and updates on any of them!
", "url": "https://stevelevesque.com/articles/website-redesign", "title": "Exciting Update: My Website Just Got a Polished Look!", "summary": "I’m thrilled to announce that my website has received a refresh!", "date_modified": "2024-12-08T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Steve Lévesque" } }, { "id": "https://stevelevesque.com/articles/new-website", "content_html": "Welcome to my new website. Containing my resume, my professional socials, projects, news and courses.
\nSmall section with my professional socials and a small description about myself.
\nAll of my thoughts and related news.
\nProjects I've worked on for fun or for more serious purposes. They normally link to their\nrespective GitHub page or website.
\nCourses I graded or tought as a teacher assistant or lecturer during my career.
\nMy global resume with downloadable options for multiple cases or job types.
", "url": "https://stevelevesque.com/articles/new-website", "title": "New Website", "summary": "Welcome to my new website. Containing my resume, my professional socials, projects, news and courses.", "date_modified": "2023-02-26T00:00:00.000Z", "author": { "name": "Steve Lévesque" } } ] }