Hitting the Wall
Let's say you were tasked with building a wall in a house. Your boss/spouse/whatever simply told you, 'It has to be solid, and span from point A to point B.'
You could go about this in one of many ways. Most likely, you'd lay out the frame, using studs every few feet. You'd lay out the drywall on both sides, seal it, test it, the whole nine yards. You might watch the DIY channel for tips. You may even find a friend who worked in construction to look it over first. Heck, you could take a page out of the three pigs' book and use brick and mortar. But either way, it would be a pretty good wall.
Of course, if you didn't want to go through all that work, you could just lean a few cheap pieces of plaster, prop it with a 2x4 on one side and use Scotch tape to fill in any cracks. After all, it meets the specs you were given, and who the fuck cares what happens to it after that? You were told to build a wall and you built a wall. Job complete.
So where am I going with this?
Well, this is an allegory into the IT world. As a programmer, you're tasked with building a product using a set of specifications. You could build the first wall, which is solid from all sides, can take some punishment, hold some pictures, and maybe even include a doorway someday (This is called "capability for future enhancements").
Or you could throw together a piece of shit, call it a product and charge people an obscene amount of money for your crappy handywork, since all you cared about was hitting the deadline under budget.
My company tends to purchase from the latter of those groups, for some reason. This is what makes my job so difficult. Without getting into the gory details, I have to write code that works with lousy products. And it sucks. So if I seem to be a little slow with posting, please be patient. It's only a matter of time before the whole damn wall comes crumbling down.
posted by BJC @ 9:05 AM
Your thoughts (12 so far)
12 Comments:
Yes, but unfortunately the metaphorical version of duct tape doesn't have the same 'fix everything' properties of the real version.
It feels like Looney Tunes sometimes where you plug a hole with one finger only to have water spurt out from a new one.
You always get what you pay for, whether it be crap or something worth while...Anything done in a shitty way is going to bite someone in the ass
See that's the thing, Michelle, you don't always get what you pay for. In this case, the company shelled out a ton of cash for an 'enterprise solution' (or whatever they're calling those things these days), but it's built like shit. If we had gotten what we paid for, I'd have fewer gray hairs.
Wow, OK so I have my first shameless self-promotion comment. Thanks, buddy. Might want to run spell-check on those Bloodhound Gang lyrics next time. Very original.
You seem to be a funny guy !
Sorry for the promotion junk post
I ll never do it again !
Nice to met you
I have no idea what just happened.
When you buy a car, you can look under the hood, kick the tires, even take it on a test drive.
But with software, all you can do is sit back and watch a product demo. Which, oddly enough, is given by the company who made the software (and thus knows how not to break it for a half hour).
And don't worry Tommy, I think my audience (i.e. Alison, Michelle and Scott) have already found their way over to your blog, so it's not a very flagrant self-promotion violation. I'll allow it.
Sorry, that should have read "my more vocal and commenting audience"
yeppers that's me....vocal
that's too bad that in the IT world you don't get what you pay for...I have always gone for quality and service first and don't mind paying for the best that my money can buy
So, how long HAVE you been working for Microsoft, Brad?
(Ordinarily, I would include an LOL or a smiley face here as the disclaimer to preclude people from saying out loud "I didn't know Brad worked at Microsoft!," but I know how you feel about such things.)
*Morris Workman
www.mesquedia.com
workmanchronicles.blogspot.com
(By the way...does the above signature constitute shameless self promotion? Or is it okay as long as I don't include the prefix "check out my cool site at" in the second or third line?)
Morris,
Sorry, no MS for me, but I do work for a giant company, albeit a non-profit one.
And don't worry, I would have called you on the self-promotion bit if I thought it was a violation. Luckily, you meet two stringent requirements that exclude you from the 'no self-promoting' rule: 1)I really enjoy reading your blog, and 2)Your comments are on-topic, or at least what counts as on-topic in the blogging world.
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