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We are on the stage of planning a CakePHP project.

It is a relatively a big project for us, as a developer+project manager, I want to hire someone to work with me. But what I really want is to spend less time on actual coding, without losing control of the code quality.

What I want to do is that I will design all the functions of the project in CakePHP, at least all the model's functions, and leave the implementation part to the coder who I am going to hire.

But my worry is still if I am going to lose control of the code quality using this approach? is it feasible to do so or it is going to turn this project to a chaos.

Thank you all in advanced for reading my question and give me answers.

  • if you want to spend less time on actual coding then I don't think Pair Programming is the answer because you will still be sitting watching the person code whilst it sounds like you have other things to do. Plus, this may make the person feel uncomfortable. To be honest it sounds like you are being a bit strict and negative about whoever you are going to hire already. You need to trust them and their ability after making the decision to hire based on interview, tests, their portfolio of work etc. – martincarlin87 Nov 16 '11 at 09:51
  • thank you very much for your response. However as I said, I will still need to get involve with the actual coding. –  Nov 16 '11 at 09:55
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    I think I would suggest the two of you working together with some kind of versioning control system in place, Git seems all the rage these days. You could also have a review system in place where any time you both commit it has to be approved by the other person before it is added to the repository, that way you can see the changes before they are actually committed. – martincarlin87 Nov 16 '11 at 10:14

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You could schedule daily code walkthroughs so the developer can explain to you the code they've written that day.

I'd recommend daily to begin with so the code base doesn't get too far ahead, you could probably lessen that to twice a week as the project progresses and you gain a bit more trust in your developer.

RichardAtHome
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You can do this through code reviews, but personally I think that you would be better off investing your effort in acquiring the right developer as opposed to controlling them. If you hire someone to implement code, but don't trust them, it's a recipe for bad feelings. They might well leave, or you might end up with a high turnover and a different brand of chaos will ensue than the one you're avoiding.

Good management is not an exercise in total control, rather in training your charges to manage themselves.

sunwukung
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