Comments by "Mentat" (@_Mentat) on "Why Pull Requests Are A BAD IDEA" video.

  1. The best methodology I ever used had a non-branch, locking, real time update, code management system. The instant you edited a file it was locked on every other developer's PC. The instant you pushed your changes every other PC was updated. You could make any change at any time without asking anyone. There were no merges obviously. You could hit build twice, a second apart, and the first time it would build and the next fail to build, because a developer had made a boo boo. You might try to edit a file and it would say "File locked by Fred." This system compelled all the behaviours Agile gurus try to instill, without ever calling itself agile. You had to negotiate to get a file; you were unpopular if you broke the build; you need to push working software only, but in little increments. There was complete freedom but also a lot of responsibility. Possibly the best bit was what Wikipedia calls the "good fairy". You could browse through the code base fixing tiny things, rewording an error message, tweaking logic. It was like working on a personal project. It made the software very good and was fast and friction-less to write.
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  2. With PP the higher IQ dev will get frustrated by the need to continually explain things. In my experience it's best done with an attractive member of the opposite sex -- and they're usually booked solid!
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