Re: tunnel vs open a hole

[George Capehart <capegeo () opengroup org>]

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On Thursday 10 April 2003 03:34 pm, Carroll, Shawn wrote:

<snip>

> This is a top-down solution to the problem.  Which is perhaps a
> necessary component to solving the problem.
>
> To me, there's no reason to believe that a grassroots one isn't a
> valid, even necessary solution to the problem.

I arrived at the conclusion that the top-down solution is probably the 
only solution that will work in the long run because I've tried the 
grassroots one for years.  The grassroots approach doesn't stand a 
chance in hell against product managers and project managers who don't 
care about anything but getting product out the door *now*.  
Universally, my experience has been to hear something like:  "Get it up 
and going/shipped by x date.  You can clean it up later!"  "Yeah, but . 
. ." just doesn't cut it.  In one case, the result of rushing a project 
was that when it went live, it was so broken that it shut the plant 
down for a week and permanently lost some inventory . . .  *This* is 
why I'm convinced that it truly is a function of lack of governance and 
accountability . . .

> What if coders were taught primarily by other coders, and get in the
> habit of doing things right, watched closely, and corrected.  Like
> someone who has learned to make fine furniture.  They wouldn't think
> of using the wrong tool, and are generally incapable of producing
> crap and letting it out the door.  If there were this same ethic with
> programmers, and the same model of training, what do you think the
> state of software would look like today?

Exactly like it does . . . I *really* believe that most people want to 
do a great job.  Most coders I know care about the quality of their 
work and go far beyond the call of duty to do well.  The problem I see 
that needs to be addressed is that well-intentioned coders are put in 
the position of *not* being able to do a good job.  This takes many 
forms but, in the end, they are not given the time to "do it right."  
It is not that the coders are happy with having to shove crap out the 
door, it's that they don't have an option.  The business owners of the 
project/product are the ones that are pushing, and they're not being 
held accountable for delivering crap.  *They* don't care, and the only 
thing *their* managers care about is product/system availability and 
sales numbers.  They don't have a clue what's going on in the pits, nor 
what affect their decisions have on the morale of the coders . . . or 
the quality of the deliverable.  And again, *they* *don't* *care*.

I'm going to stop now.  This is headed for another rant . . . :P
- -- 
George Capehart

PGP Key ID 63F0F642 at http://pgp.mit.edu

"Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug."
 -- Mark Knofler

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