Re: Timeless Classics of Software Engineering

From: Marshall Spight <mspight_at_dnai.com>
Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2004 02:58:04 GMT
Message-ID: <05iPc.64964$8_6.28994@attbi_s04>

"Nick Landsberg" <SPAMhukolauTRAP_at_SPAMworldnetTRAP.att.net> wrote in message news:4wZOc.363590$Gx4.77588_at_bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...

> The corollary to your observation would be that since
> management only ever reads executive summaries, they
> presume all tasks are relatively trivial and can be
> outsourced.

It's just human nature. What you can't see, you're not aware of; what you're not aware of, you can't manage.

I was a programmer for 20 years. I noticed that often, for myself and co-workers, an estimate for a job would be produced, and management would question it. Why does it take so long? It doesn't seem like it should take so long.

Then I became a manager.

After a fairly short time, I noticed that I would ask people for estimates, and they would turn them in, and I would look at them and say, why does it take so long? It doesn't seem like it should take so long. And it was absolutely how I felt, and you certainly can't say it's because I didn't know enough about programming, because I'd been doing it for 20 years.

It's the missing details that befuddle.

The particularly ironic thing about this is that most programmers' estimates are not in fact overly long, but wildly optimistic!

Now when I see an estimate and I can't understand why it's so long, I ask for more details. They're usually forthcoming, and then the problem doesn't seem so easy anymore.

Marshall Received on Sun Aug 01 2004 - 21:58:04 CDT