Re: Timeless Classics of Software Engineering

Marshall:

"Marshall Spight" <mspight_at_dnai.com> wrote in message news:05iPc.64964$8_6.28994_at_attbi_s04...
> "Nick Landsberg" <SPAMhukolauTRAP_at_SPAMworldnetTRAP.att.net> wrote in
message
> news:4wZOc.363590$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.

Or so it is sometimes thought. One can account for and manage unknowns. It's just part of the management equation, as long as one can deal with the unexpected when it arises.

> 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.

I'll bet one of the more frequent suggestions was to change the scope and purpose of project; especially when the project management and business people came closer and closer to a mutual understanding of the actual business requirements.

> 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.

Astute manager. :-)

> 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!

Steve McConnell agrees.

> 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.

As a US citizen I'm much more inclined to realize that business conditions can, and do, change often. As such, I need to account for unknown market conditions, which make planning much more difficult than it might otherwise be. That's why most successful companies want gov't to secure their position in their markets and why I, as a struggling company, want them not to. :-)

Bill Received on Mon Aug 09 2004 - 02:15:15 CEST