The User Interface hall-of-shame have continued the software-developers-as-builders metaphor: http://www.userinterfacehallofshame.com/index.php?p=51
[via slashdot, so probably everyone has already read it] On 6/10/05, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- > Hash: SHA1 > > On Fri, Jun 10, 2005 at 01:56:54PM +1000, Rowling, Jill wrote: > > Systems Engineering used to be a compulsory subject at both UNSW EE/CS and > > UTS EE; clearly it isn't compulsory everywhere! > > Unfortunately most small businesses (includes many telcos, computer game > > developers and some dot-com survivors) are unaware that the cost of a > > project is inversely proportional to the effort put into the initial > > specification, and just cannot understand the leap from small projects to > > large projects. > > It isn't necessarily anything to do with the INITIAL specification. > Everything starts life as small (in the commercial world anyhow) and > small projects don't need much initial specification and that is probably > a GOOD thing because otherwise the small projects will not get off the > ground at all. > > I've worked at the military side of things and they are the complete > opposite, they believe in MASSIVE specifications. The problem is that > because the massive specification is written up front (before anyone > really knew what they were doing or why) it is guaranteed to be wrong. > Everyone knows that the specification is guaranteed to be wrong so they > try to build contingency into it for expansion and that makes it even > bigger. Later on in the project, the pain of changing anything that > might break the specification is so great that there is no room to > get in there are actually make the stuff work. > > Getting back to the point at hand, the real issue is that as a project > gets older, at some stage a specification must get written and the > project architecture (whatever that might be) needs to be documented. > It is probably a great idea NOT to try and do this up-front, or if you > do it up-front then don't try too hard to make it correct and always > be willing to go back and admit you were wrong (because you will be). > On the other hand, it is a terrible idea to try and not do it at all, > and that's where so many people make their mistake. The attitude is, > "I got started without a design document, therefore I never will need one". > When it gets to that stage there is a serious problem. A design document > is part of the overall system documentation and it has to grow along > with the rest of the project. > > The other problem (deeper than all the others) is that companies hire > managers based on how they dress, who they drink with, who they sleep > with, who they went to school with and a host of other parameters > up to and totally excluding what they know about the tasks that they > are supposedly managing. There is a belief in a "generic manager" who > can manage any task simply by juggling numbers in a spreadsheet and > does not require any task-specific knowledge whatsoever. Convenient > though this belief is, it is demonstrably wrong. This belief has > probably caused more pain and suffering than all the terrorists > on earth. > > > > The usual result is they cease to be in business after a while. > > Well you only have to look at Microsoft to see where selling high > quality software can get you :-) > > > - Tel ( http://bespoke.homelinux.net/ ) > > -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.2.6 (GNU/Linux) > > iQIVAwUBQqkg3MfOVl0KFTApAQIxXhAAnTsN4Icdquiq8++O57oMhMy7fMjQW3v+ > YYgb3ZFGJ9RpoxC1Db7FBfOGpcBEmovUiMA9vasNGmxe2G6SMPyh87B4cbZvq9oa > Vfj/m0C3qkqijqbMJHn4km8M2q0ZUu3xNAhQtuwbf4znDKEKcGfcfyoDfvy3NW2v > t9fGP/O6xUMsE0QTuEuUvn0cfYOWzBHmt+a5SIQ/oiJMWVsEVjawj2Jwf14+gvSA > Saq9muvHnTT2973h6S1sCpqutWKJJbKKJZQyq8yYblvNG1UV6ZJ9Z8FXsQNJjVeR > rV2Jce0lUDupr/GQnEaq9RX5iPPBvpzBiNWNB4tNfc5uNlkbeH5eLb0PEG9xpfCO > Wm0gXWpGtqFgHJZ3E0omk178UJaMZHyVSIbXFHzA7WrO5/hlGPl+ZYCdyHkc8szG > QWMwyNyII76/DimfrrWWnB1vfoVz4f8GLAASVvn+BMGyPRPQyMhDLwIl604gIsJI > /YScqarSXin+Me9QSP+Df7HEdRTS9EqQvrK0FjU71/auvIxGCtLuSKgXHU+tp2dh > nCOoT4JkpfufL769eCwpy+bl6ci8RSeNPfZHBr/ZhxyMe/k3aBR0VeHSSAseK7DA > /i3fN9e4IIqPduxocaVxh+4Vno7pi+c1tM5H44XlqPPYjjNEUfeLASuIWk9SUhRG > +nfm8GEr0L4= > =Kwsj > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > -- > SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ > Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html > -- Rob Sharp email/jabber: [EMAIL PROTECTED] web: http://sharp.id.au pgp: 0E2C C63B BA04 DEB4 7CC0 84FD 17E3 6AA4 87FB 62DF -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
