Real Developers Don’t Do Status Reports
Real developers write code — not status reports.
I Need It
There are typically 2 reasons for needing status reports: 1) collaboration and 2) monitoring.
Agile shops recommend status reports for the first reason. Software development is a team sport. Rarely do individuals work in a vacuum, so regular status is important to address dependencies, remove blocks, and ensure folks don’t step on each other’s toes. The manager may collect reports for logistical reasons, but the reports aren’t for managers — they are for the team.
Monitoring is more common in consulting arrangements. Work is being done on someone else’s behalf and that person wants to monitor the activities. Very simply they want to ensure they getting what they are paying for. Every once in a while you read about dysfunctional uses of status reports. This “use case” is commonly the scenario where that’s found. The reason is that people often don’t care until there is a problem. Then the reports are reviewed to help understand where things went wrong.
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