Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!ut-sally!utah-cs!defun.utah.edu!shebs
From: shebs%defun.utah.edu.uucp@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley T. Shebs)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: A Cynic's Guide, part 1
Message-ID: <5335@utah-cs.UUCP>
Date: 9 Mar 88 17:05:36 GMT
References: <5313@utah-cs.UUCP> <302@buckaroo.SW.MCC.COM> <5321@utah-cs.UUCP> <1692@desint.UUCP>
Sender: news@utah-cs.UUCP
Reply-To: shebs%defun.utah.edu.UUCP@utah-cs.UUCP (Stanley T. Shebs)
Distribution: na
Organization: PASS Research Group
Lines: 36

In article <1692@desint.UUCP> geoff@desint.UUCP (Geoff Kuenning) writes:

>> Heh-heh, there are a few computer companies where I'd like to don my Rambo
>> outfit and put a few HE rounds through certain people (they know who they
>> are).
>
>Unfortunately, that's the problem:  they DON'T know who they are.  How
>many incompetent people do you know who will admit to incompetence?

"Incompetence" has several possible meanings.  It might, for instance,
mean that the individual is simply ignorant, perhaps even too ignorant
to realize it.  Education, not punishment, is appropriate; if any punishment
is to be handed out, it should be to the managers that give ignorant persons
too much responsibility.  Another sort of incompetent is one who knows
what should be done, but chooses to take shortcuts.  Lots of punishment,
the more the better; there's ample legal precedent for this sort of thing.
Then there's the person with good intentions but botched results.  Handslaps
and transfers to less responsible positions are the right answer.

(note that my initials are "SS" - it's a good thing I'm not a manager! :-) )

>As an
>example, I could (but won't) cite a certain person who, having driven away
>one company's customers, later went on to a more responsible position with
>a much larger firm, where he today is happily convincing many people that
>his employer is completely incompetent, at least with the software he is
>involved in.

Why not name names?  If you have facts to relate, then your moral duty is
to publicize them.  Of course, this is in the same category as whistle
blowing, so I understand if you maybe want to line up another job first!
Perhaps ACM or IEEE could make themselves useful for a change and set up
something to support software whistleblowers...

							stan shebs
							shebs@cs.utah.edu