Visualizing Startups & the Space Program: What's your DOD?

http://proggers.posterous.com/visualizing-startups-the-space-program-whats-24485

by rwitoff • 14 years ago

15 8 14 years ago

proggers.posterous.com

paulsutter• 14 years ago

Wow, I wonder how the graph looks for SpaceX employees? Somewhere in between I'm sure. It could give interesting insight into productivity and costs.

This is a really superb insight on measurable data we all have.

rwitoff2• 14 years ago

That's a great question - I'll reach out and see if we can pull one of their DODs too

rwitoff2• 14 years ago

Hey Paul, though I'm not drawing from the largest sample size I've computed my DOD with SpaceX to be 2.00, which is telling compared to my 178 average.

001sky2• 14 years ago

Though hundreds of thousands of engineers and 16 countries have participated in the construction of the ISS, only 167 people have ever seen it in person.

-- Sobering thought. Interesting work.

ChuckMcM2• 14 years ago

This is a great insight. I recognized early on in my career that I could realistically only hold 6 or 7 crisis' in my head at one time. It is why I shied away from management.

001sky2• 14 years ago

Used to work with someone who was a big proponent of 5-7 max layers of abstraction as a design principle. I never researched it, but it seemed to make a lot of sense (he claimed it was documented). So you many not be at all atypical =D.

ChuckMcM2• 14 years ago

I don't know, I've worked with folks who thrive on keeping what seems like dozens of threads active at once. Got to work with some at Google and NetApp who were really excellent project managers. It is definitely a talent. I try to get better at it but rely on crutches like my notebooks for swapping out brain state.

michelleclsun• 14 years ago

This is great work, thanks for sharing the code!

"Having a low DOD translates to less on your mind and less mental overhead. Less overhead gives a greater ability to focus and less time spent keeping tabs on and switching among happenings throughout your organization."

I wonder if that applies to the number of opened tabs in browsers. Just thinking of my bad habit of leaving many tabs open :)

Visualizing Startups & the Space Program: What's your DOD?

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