Date: Fri, 08 Apr 2005 11:14:06 -0400
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>
From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: The joys of working in a bookstore
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org>

At 09:14 AM 4/8/05 -0400, Barry L. Newton wrote:
>Most Remarkably, N Lynch wrote:
>>Do you really wait for the design to be fully
>>specified?  The last place I worked, the programmers
>>usually were programming while we were discussing the
>>design.  If they coincided when I got to test it, that
>>made my job a little easier.   But that didn't happen
>>too often.  The software was also rarely on time.
>
>The major contributor to late software is doing work over several times
>because the design was never settled in the first place.  Sometimes this
>happens because the design was flawed, and the flaw only showed up in
>testing.  Sometimes it's just the customer changing his mind.  This happens
>less often if he's charged for it and the deadline extended each time.

Very true.  Another good technique involves rapid prototyping.  You get the
initial ideas, and you throw together a simulation of the final product
using whatever tools are handiest for that (scripting languages, canned
response data, fixed slides of various user interface screens, or whatever)
so the end users (customer) can see what they are asking for and play with
it, albeit in a limited form.  That usually results in some, "Close, but
what I *really* wanted..." comments, so you adjust the prototype
accordingly and let them play some more until they say, "Yes, this is what
we want!" at which point you go implement that for real...and use Barry's
method to limit or account for any changes after that.  Generally when it's
in writing that a change is going to add $XX and YY weeks, they only insist
on the really important changes at that point.

I've seen it done wrong, and I've seen it done right.  Working in an
environment where management does it right is FAR more pleasant, and the
turnover rate is a LOT lower...and the customers are happier in the long
run anyway.

-- Mike B.
--
If we don't succeed, we run the risk of failure.