Joel’s latest article entitled, “The Development Abstraction Layer” offers a peak inside what happens within successful software companies. While I don’t agree with everything Joel says I think he (not surprisingly) hits a lot of things right on the head. Over the last few years I thought about going out on my own to startup a software company countless times. The fact that I wouldn’t have had any abstraction layer is what always stopped me. Well that and the fact that I didn’t have an idea I really believed in 
Anyway, for those people working at software companies Joel’s latest article is a must read. As a “techie” he understands what it takes to get the most out of his programmers.