Complaining About Projects is Good For Developers

Software development is difficult, it's why companies pay developers good money to create software. It’s not just technical skills developers need, they need to keep cool when things are going wrong and the project is falling behind.

Software development is a test of mind, body, technical skills and spirt.

How do developers keep morale up in difficult projects and being blamed for the project failing and being late.

Complaining

Complaining is good for morale and helps release tension (this is my blog, you don't need to click it says complaining is a good way to let off steam and bond with other developers) . If you swear its supposedly a sign of intelligence – Why swearing is a sign of intelligence, helps manage pain and more

Having a life outside of development

You need to have a lfie outside of work that allows you to stop thinking about work and relax and recharge. Family, friends, sports, hobbies and other activities that let you leave software development and your project behind.

Development is creative, you need to be fully rested and recharge to work at your best. Tired developers create tired code and make mistakes.

Don't work for free

Developers should not regularly work at night for free, even if the project needs your free labour to survive. You are fixing the projects problems with your free labour, this is treating the symptom on the real problem.

Before big releases its ok to work extra but there are lots of artifical deadlines (sprint deadlines) that developers regularly work to meet.

Care but not to much

This idea came from Herb Cohen and negotiation. He said its difficult to negotiate if you are too desperate. Its difficult to work sensible hours if you so invested in the project that you are willing to work all hours available.

This increases the possibility of burnout , it doesn't push forward your career and its likely no one will notice and you won't get the credit for all those extra hours.

Question

What other ways do developers survive software development and difficult projects? or is it just part of the job and developers need to toughen up to survive