In the latest post to his blog Chris Roane looks at something that, while not generally considered a good thing, can help to make your development and work better - peer pressure.

When you are held responsible to other people and when you are in an environment that has competition, that not only helps the company as a whole, but it allows for more individual growth. In the typical corporate atmosphere, accountability and competition can be lost because no one really knows anyone else. But the other side of this, in extra small companies, you can have too much accountability...where every move is constantly watched.

He notes that, without the pressure of peers - ones that you really know and that really know you and your work - the quality of the applications written degrades in most situations. Sure, there'll be the one or two developers that are extra motivated, but without the real interaction with other skilled developers, innovation can quickly fade.