An analogy between game play and manageability

[This was originally posted at http://timstall.dotnetdevelopersjournal.com/an_analogy_between_game_play_and_manageability.htm]

In the demanding field of software engineering, everyone wants to have technical ability. That's great, but there's more. As most problems are big enough that they require multiple people, that means that someone needs to manage these people. This means that a good employee should not just be technically able, but also manageable. It's like when playing Age Of Empires (or any real-time strategy game), imagine you have the "super unit" - i.e. a technical star - but they won't obey orders. You want them to move right, but they move left. It would drive the player insane (you could simulate this by using a older, pre-laser, mouse where the track ball gets dirty and the mouse no longer responds properly). That's what it's like to have an unmanageable employee. In fact, when judging most games, "game play", in this case the ability to manage your units, is a major factor. After all, what good is the "super unit" if you cannot control it?