Re: bad software blamed for bad quarter / are programmers obsolete?

[Peter Morris]

The problems with software development these days as I see them are

01: Hiring crap coders. Some companies seem as though they like to fill
seats or something and will hire someone with very poor skills.

02: Unrealistic deadlines. People rarely seem to plan for the unexpected
these days. They seem to give an estimate of how long something should take
if everything goes to plan, which never happens.

03: Coders not speaking out or being ignored. In relation to #02 the coders
either keep quiet in case they look like they can't do their job, or they
speak out and the project manager keeps quiet in case they look like they
can't do their job.

04: No standards. There are lots of standards around these days for
developing good software, but either programmers don't know of them or
management decide they are a waste of time and wont let them use them.

When outsourcing to other countries you have the additional complications of
cultural differences (we once had a Turkish company deliver a system with
only 1 line for addresses, they claim this is how Turkish addresses look. I
suspect they lied), time zone differences making communications a lot less
effective, and the fact that you probably have no idea or control over what
kind of standards they work to.

What constantly amazes me though is how a software project can possibly cost
millions. Unbelievable!

Pete

[raylopez99]

On Aug 27, 3:50*am, "Peter Morris" <[e-mail]:

The problems with software development these days as I see them are

01: Hiring crap coders. *Some companies seem as though they like to fill
seats or something and will hire someone with very poor skills.

But perhaps your standards are too high Peter?

>
02: Unrealistic deadlines. *People rarely seem to plan for the unexpected
these days. *They seem to give an estimate of how long something shouldtake
if everything goes to plan, which never happens.

The Mythical Man Month by Brooks I believe--and the rule that the more
people you add to a project, the slower the rate of growth for
completing the project (but hopefully though not the time to complete
the project, otherwise it's better not to add the extra people).

>
03: Coders not speaking out or being ignored. *In relation to #02 the coders
either keep quiet in case they look like they can't do their job, or they
speak out and the project manager keeps quiet in case they look like they
can't do their job.

Yes, but this only means coding has become an insecure job. One
reason I got out of engineering and into business.

04: No standards. *There are lots of standards around these days for
developing good software, but either programmers don't know of them or
management decide they are a waste of time and wont let them use them.

Yes, this is known in the parlance as a "Level 1" organization I
believe, with Level 3 being the one with the highest standards (CASE
development tools, and people spending time initially thinking about
the architecture rather than just jumping in and coding).

When outsourcing to other countries you have the additional complicationsof
cultural differences (we once had a Turkish company deliver a system with
only 1 line for addresses, they claim this is how Turkish addresses look.*I
suspect they lied), time zone differences making communications a lot less
effective, and the fact that you probably have no idea or control over what
kind of standards they work to.

Yes, but having visited Turkey, which is next door to where I'm
posting from, they might not be kidding--some places in Turkey don't
even have an address--you just send a letter to the village postmaster
and he'll hand deliver it to the right farmhouse. As for time zones,
the best one was Sydney for me--when I emailed a Californian colleague
it was something like 18 hours behind.

>
What constantly amazes me though is how a software project can possibly cost
millions. *Unbelievable!

Or not, as you point out yourself in this thread.

RL