I'm in New Zealand, and am watching the unfolding events over the Internet. I feel sick in the stomach at what I've seen and the senselessness of it.
My greatest condolences to all those familys and friends who have lost loved ones, and my prayers and wishes of support for those who don't know yet. I don't have the words to tell you how much compassion I feel towards the people involved - those who have died, survivors, loved ones and emergency providers who have to pick up the pieces.
I believe that people the world over are equally as shocked and supportive as I am.
I can only hope that justice and cool heads will prevail in the events to come; that those responsible will receive their punishment; and that further innocent people are not hurt.
You don't have to accept poor quality or leave your job. What you need is a strategy to drive an increase in quality.
There is a trilogy of dimensions at the core of the issue: cost, time and quality. Every organisation needs to balance these. The management of your organisation, like most I have worked in, don't understand the quality issue in relation to software because it is more subjective than the other two dimensions and therefore it doesn't get the emphasis it deserves.
From the little I know about your situation, here is my take on what you need to do:
You need to understand the impact that the reduced quality has. Is this manifested by significant complaints from the user community; is it manifested by users switching to an alternative product:? Understanding this is important because it will become the business driver for the change you want. If you can't demonstrate that the reduced quality has an impact that matters, you won't be able to influence anyone.
Find other people in your organisation that believe that quality is also a core issue, and preferably not just from the software development team. e.g. Documentors, help desk staff, testers. Most importantly, if you can find articulate users who can reiterate your claim of poor quality, this is good.
You need to identify tangible steps that will increase the quality. You can't just say you need more time to develop because this doesn't demonstrate that the quality will improve; you might just spend more time making nicer interfaces. You need to say things like: we need to add an additional 1 hour of stress testing for every 3 hours of programming; we need to add a step in the project plan for users to acceptance test the product and allow 2 days (for arguments sake) for changes as a result of this; (insert you ideas here!)
You need to make a business case to your management. This doesn't need to be a fancy piece of work, but it does need a punchy argument so that the management will look at it and reach the conclusion that the quality issue is having an impact on the organisation. The angle you need to take will vary on your organisation and the people you are trying to influence. In a small business, the management are probably more focussed on basic objectives (e.g. profit, revenue). Larger organisations may include more complex factors such as market positioning, compliance to standards or legal requirements etc.
But the basic form of the business case is:
This is the problem and it's impact [on whatever matters, usually $]
Here are steps that will rectify the problem and the costs for these steps
Here is how we will measure that the steps have increased the quality
Here is the business benefit that will be achieved (and here is the kudos you'll get from your peers/clients)
Another way of saying the same thing is:
The only way to get the change you want is to influence the people who make the decisions on how much resource (money, people) are involved on something.
You need to prove to these people that quality is important and your product doesn't have enough of it.
If the quality is improved, it has the effect of improving of whatever is important to them.
If you have other people who have the same focus as you, pool your talents and resources together.
If you want this change and it's important to you (which it sounds like), then you need to put in some work to make the change. Don't make an ultimatum because it's an employer's market - they can just take you up on it and that won't help anyone, especially you.
Remember, anyone can be influenced if you can show them that what you want makes it better for them too.
I hope this is in any way helpful. I have had similar battles myself and still do, but life is always slowly improving!
In my position, as a product manager and software developer, my employer offers flex time with no specific times I need to be in. Additionally I can choose to work where I want, so I work at home sometimes, sometimes even at the public library if I wish not to be interupted at all.
The reason this is permitted (in my case at least) is because my employers know that with my work ethic I will be in the office when I need to be and will deliver the results that are required, and they don't care what conditions these things are delivered under.
E-mail is an important communication tool that replaces quite alot of verbal discussion, with the benefit that these things are in writing. A laptop, cellphone and home phone line for dial-up are supplied and these are sufficient for most of the work I do.
The benefits to me of this scheme are:
1. I can spend daytime hours with my young children (3 and 7 months); they are accustomed to me being involved for limited periods during the day.
2. I can assist my wife with the difficult job of managing 2 young energetic children (e.g. I can take my 3 year old to pre-school classes). It was also essential when both our children were first born, since this was a difficult time and it permitted load sharing.
3. My employer still gets the things they want.
4. I probably get a more concentrated work period than most office-workers: I attend very few meetings (we tend not to have many meetings; e-mail is a preferred way of getting things across and having discussions etc.
It is not all eutopia, however. Like any busy person with many responsibilities, there is no easy way to balance out all the things that need to be done during the day. So I still find that many days I don't get a long enough burst of work (especially when I'm developing), and many days when work pressures are eating into a fairly stressful domestic life. I know, however, that it would not be any easier to manage if was required to be in the office from 9-5 (or whatever).
Cheers.
Slashdot Mirror
I'm in New Zealand, and am watching the unfolding events over the Internet. I feel sick in the stomach at what I've seen and the senselessness of it.
My greatest condolences to all those familys and friends who have lost loved ones, and my prayers and wishes of support for those who don't know yet. I don't have the words to tell you how much compassion I feel towards the people involved - those who have died, survivors, loved ones and emergency providers who have to pick up the pieces.
I believe that people the world over are equally as shocked and supportive as I am.
I can only hope that justice and cool heads will prevail in the events to come; that those responsible will receive their punishment; and that further innocent people are not hurt.
There is a trilogy of dimensions at the core of the issue: cost, time and quality. Every organisation needs to balance these. The management of your organisation, like most I have worked in, don't understand the quality issue in relation to software because it is more subjective than the other two dimensions and therefore it doesn't get the emphasis it deserves.
From the little I know about your situation, here is my take on what you need to do:
But the basic form of the business case is:
Another way of saying the same thing is:
If you have other people who have the same focus as you, pool your talents and resources together.
If you want this change and it's important to you (which it sounds like), then you need to put in some work to make the change. Don't make an ultimatum because it's an employer's market - they can just take you up on it and that won't help anyone, especially you.
Remember, anyone can be influenced if you can show them that what you want makes it better for them too.
I hope this is in any way helpful. I have had similar battles myself and still do, but life is always slowly improving!
Mark
In my position, as a product manager and software developer, my employer offers flex time with no specific times I need to be in. Additionally I can choose to work where I want, so I work at home sometimes, sometimes even at the public library if I wish not to be interupted at all. The reason this is permitted (in my case at least) is because my employers know that with my work ethic I will be in the office when I need to be and will deliver the results that are required, and they don't care what conditions these things are delivered under. E-mail is an important communication tool that replaces quite alot of verbal discussion, with the benefit that these things are in writing. A laptop, cellphone and home phone line for dial-up are supplied and these are sufficient for most of the work I do. The benefits to me of this scheme are: 1. I can spend daytime hours with my young children (3 and 7 months); they are accustomed to me being involved for limited periods during the day. 2. I can assist my wife with the difficult job of managing 2 young energetic children (e.g. I can take my 3 year old to pre-school classes). It was also essential when both our children were first born, since this was a difficult time and it permitted load sharing. 3. My employer still gets the things they want. 4. I probably get a more concentrated work period than most office-workers: I attend very few meetings (we tend not to have many meetings; e-mail is a preferred way of getting things across and having discussions etc. It is not all eutopia, however. Like any busy person with many responsibilities, there is no easy way to balance out all the things that need to be done during the day. So I still find that many days I don't get a long enough burst of work (especially when I'm developing), and many days when work pressures are eating into a fairly stressful domestic life. I know, however, that it would not be any easier to manage if was required to be in the office from 9-5 (or whatever). Cheers.