“2,500 years ago, a Greek writer told us something about creating software: Thucydides wrote, ‘The society that separates its scholars from its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting by fools.’ The optimal society is one that mixes scholar-warriors and warrior-scholars. The same is true for companies that schism their designers and engineers. The most important trait a team can have is empathy. Without it, the implementers will not care, and the designers will not be realistic. When companies complain of specs and code being “tossed over the fence”, a lack of empathy is to blame.”
An excellent article by Aza Raskin. I bet family get-togethers at his house are a real trip.