Confusing Great Programming with Great Innovation

Robert Scoble runs with one segment of Zef Hemel's theory on why Microsoft can't hire great programmers, suggesting that non-programmers can, in fact, recognize great programmers. Looking at Scoble's list of who he considers to be great programmers, I think he has mistaken (at least from the non-coder's perspective) the concept of a great programming skill with the ability to execute a great idea. Based on my experiences with BitTorrent, Bram Cohen innovated a great concept, turning p2p on its head with a better delivery mechanism. The programming is far from great because the user experience sucks for a guy (or company) who wants to share a large number of files. The code may be tight, but in my non-programmers mind, usability is as much an important part of great programming as the underlying code. We could pretend that BitTorrent only makes sense for small pools of sharing by users sharing one or two files, but I can already see how the concept will also revolutionize small business file sharing; it just needs an interface that eliminates the tedium. The great programming will come later when someone runs with Bram's idea and makes it a better user experience.

Posted by Jake

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Confusing Great Programming with Great Innovation

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