Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cica!iuvax!purdue!haven!mimsy!prometheus!media!ka3ovk!jando!spiff!spiff!gar From: gar@spiff.UUCP (Gordon Runkle) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: some advice to a software engineer Message-ID: Date: 22 Sep 90 01:47:45 GMT References: <3213@mindlink.UUCP> Sender: gar@spiff.uucp (Gordon Runkle) Organization: Runkle Research: Arlington, VA Lines: 43 In article <3213@mindlink.UUCP> a1157@mindlink.UUCP (Reece Markowsky) writes: >>>> Josef Moellers Writes: >>< ... >. Only a very strong person can withstand this pressure. >>Even if You say to yourself: "Better late than bad", Your neigbour will >>deliver junk in time and win the contract. Nobody will ever find out >>what YOU might have delivered a week later. HE will state that the >>repairs he'll have to make to the product are "necessary" or whatever. >>Look at the stuff around and You see what I mean. > I feel this is a very SHORT TERM out look on what is important in the design >of quality software. If the "neighbour" is the type of developer that is >willing to deliver "junk" to gain contracts, in the short run he may very well >win these. However, when the dues are to be paid (maintenance, long-term >reputation etc)... that Junk-Dealer will lose. In the Real World (tm), yes, the Junk-Dealer would get a well-deserved reputation for inferior work, and go out of business. A lot of us, however, do not work in the Real World. We work in the strange and mystical land of Government Contracts. Past performance on other contracts is not a valid consideration in the awarding of new contracts. So the Junk-Dealer can deliver junk to Uncle Sam that is over-deadline, over-budget, and semi-functional. They can milk the government for "follow-on" work or "maintenance", which really means trying (sort of) to get the damn thing to work to spec. Then they turn around and win another contract anyway (as long as they can claim to do it cheaper than the competition). They can keep this up until the government runs out of money. And the government won't run out of money until they've picked every single one of us clean. I've seen this happen too many times to believe that companies here in Sodom-on-the-Potomac (or the government itself, for that matter) really care about doing the job right. -- -=gordon=- -- Gordon A. Runkle, Runkle Research UUCP: uunet!men2a!spiff!gar INTERNET: men2a!spiff!gar@uunet.uu.net, gar%spiff%men2a@uunet.uu.net PH: 703-522-0825 OR 202-566-4382 "UNIX was never designed to keep people from doing stupid things, because that policy would also keep them from doing clever things." (Doug Gwyn)