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Derek Powazek last week quoted in his blog "Programmers are tiny gods" which now sparked interesting discussions across the development world online.
He quoted:

Programmers are the Gods of their tiny worlds. They create something out of nothing. In their command-line universe, they say when it’s sunny and when it rains. And the tiny universe complies ... So if you’re working with a programmer, you have to treat him or her like a God. You have to pray. You cannot issue edicts. You have to come on bended knee. “Here’s the problem I have. I need a solution. Please help.”

This certainly put some perspective (albeit different and arguable) on the relationship of the development team with management and other teams (QA and Designer). It's a nice insight into the psyche of many development organizations. This is meshing with a sentiment I’ve heard a lot lately: “Don’t tell me what to build. Tell me what you need built.” It’s a subtle distinction that replaces the feeling of micromanagement with one of empowerment.

The good news is, programmers want their work to be used, and the good ones know that the design matters. So programmers and designers actually have the same goal: getting the stuff used. If each can honor the talents of the other, great things can happen.