Ben Allfree :: Painless Programming

I run the “surgeon” model of development: an expert and one or more assistants.

The first place I read about the surgeon model was in Fred Brooks’ book, Mythical Man Month. In it, he describes a configuration where one expert uses several assistants. The expert tends to ambiguity: high-level crafting, planning, and architecture. The assistants tend to tasks which are important but well defined.

The surgeon model means someone like me should not be a 100% dedicated coder and in all honesty would be too expensive to use just for that. Instead, leverage my knowledge and skills through conversations and architecture. Let my assistants to do rote coding tasks like emailers, databases, and web pages. I can effectively communicate and direct coders to do those tasks more effectively and less expensively than if I did it myself.

This configuration works well because you get a singular vision for architecture and application design without having to incur the cost for an expert to do things that could be accomplished just as well by junior or mid-level developers. That also helps me stay more visible to you, where we can take time to discuss and think through high level strategy.

The benefit of running the surgeon model is that you get people with 10+ years of application and architecture experience who are constantly researching new topics that might apply to you. You can’t have that with a single freelancer, and I’m certain you will not find more a capable surgeon than me.

I spend most of my days researching technical topics and working with the developers. That leaves less time than you deserve for keeping in touch with startups. So, I’ve recently brought on another surgeon named Patrick Kenney. Patrick is a huge help. Welcome, Patrick!