Project Codenames - Yea or Nay?
- by rmx
Where I work, most of our projects have (or at least attempt) descriptive, useful names. However we have a few with names that make no sense: I found that an assembly named WiFi which actually has nothing whatsoever to do with wi-fi, but is a codename. When I asked why, I was told that it's to protect company secrets incase some intern has few too many at the pub on Friday and starts chatting about the brand new 'WiFi' project he's been working on.
Its clear that some people find enjoyment in finding silly / amusing codenames for their projects (like in this question).
My question is: is it really a good idea to use codenames for your projects or are you better off spending the time to decide upon a descriptive name?
My opinion is that in the long-run its better to give your projects relevant names. My reasoning is that if you can't think of a decent name, perhaps you don't really know the requirements well enough.
I think there are better ways to 'protect company secrets' and I find it quite confusing when the name does not correlate at all with the content. It's just common sense, surely?!
So do you use codenames and what the your reasons for or against this seemingly common, yet annoying (to me at least) practice?
