I worked at a startup that nearly collapsed because so many incredibly smart engineers were brought together with no leadership (which is different than management). The belief that engineers will always just do the right thing is, in my experience, not true. The product came close to collapsing under its architectural weight as so many engineers tried to build an amazing cathedral. Better leadership would have ensured the engineers understood we needed to start with a strip mall.
EDIT: I want to retract my leadership isn't management. In a knowledge worker company, it absolutely should be, and if it isn't, you're doing it wrong.
Of course any good idea can be taken to an extreme, and Spolsky probably is doing that with this one. But my experience is that the majority of startups will be fine. The problem is much more rarely "The engineers are getting away with murder!" and more commonly "I told those engineers everything they were supposed to be doing with no deviations. Why aren't they listening to me?!" Most startup founders (but by no means all) end up being such control freaks that Joel's advice probably won't be dangerous.
Engineers want to do "the best thing for the product". The trick is giving them enough information to equate "what is best for the product" with "what is best for the customer". That is when a good CEO/Product Manager earns his/her money.
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I worked at a startup that nearly collapsed because so many incredibly smart engineers were brought together with no leadership (which is different than management). The belief that engineers will always just do the right thing is, in my experience, not true. The product came close to collapsing under its architectural weight as so many engineers tried to build an amazing cathedral. Better leadership would have ensured the engineers understood we needed to start with a strip mall.
EDIT: I want to retract my leadership isn't management. In a knowledge worker company, it absolutely should be, and if it isn't, you're doing it wrong.
Of course any good idea can be taken to an extreme, and Spolsky probably is doing that with this one. But my experience is that the majority of startups will be fine. The problem is much more rarely "The engineers are getting away with murder!" and more commonly "I told those engineers everything they were supposed to be doing with no deviations. Why aren't they listening to me?!" Most startup founders (but by no means all) end up being such control freaks that Joel's advice probably won't be dangerous.
Engineers want to do "the best thing for the product". The trick is giving them enough information to equate "what is best for the product" with "what is best for the customer". That is when a good CEO/Product Manager earns his/her money.