The problem is, someone who doesn't know what the Onion is will beleive this. Just like the Chinese did in 2000 when the Onion had an article about the Senate okaying a 2 billion dollar project to make the US Capitol's dome open like a sports arena. It's fake news people. Funny, but comepletely made up. Page3 usually has an unfilled section that they just stick a random phrase in. My favorite was the "...and there was an amazing amount of blood..." repeated over and over.
Wow, I'm honored that you bothered to read both of my (score: 1) rated posts. Me personally, I skim, I don't have time to read 350 posts, so I get to miss out on the redundancy quite often.
Lets say that In '97 Joe Schmoe Software, run by Lil'man Joe Schmoe created a dial based interface for scrolling through lists, he also created an easy sorting system similar to the one the iPod uses.
In '98 Joe patents his invention
In '99 Joe shows his invention to Apple to try and market it. Apple says no thanks.
In 2001 Apple releases the iPod using a system that is a slightly refined clone of Joe's.
In 2002 Joe sues Apple for copy write infringement
Patents are the only way Lil'Joe can get money for his device. But they can quickly get ugly, as we're seeing now, with defencive patents, where people patent the crap out of every posible aspect of some process so that they don't have to worry about someone else trying to patent it later and sueing them.
One of my first VB5/Access apps was a CD tracking system that let me browse my collection via Artist/Album/Song/Genre. Maybe I can dig that thing out to claim prior art. But even then, I got the idea from an intro to VB5 book.
-Rick
The CNN article claims the Ozone has stopped depleting and the layer is getting thicker in places. The BBC article claims that the "vortex of doom" over Antartica is preventing fresh Ozone from entering. So the rest of the ozone could become 10 miles thick and we could theoreticly still have a hole above Antartica.
-Rick
I never said I was against agile software development. I am against shunting users/customers. Expecially ones that have enough at stake with the software to come up with a list of requirements and concerns.
And the problems I have run into have almost entirely been due to poor management. Not due to one style of development or another, just poor management in general, or in specific situation that have consistantly caused delays. There are the occasional technical issues, but where a bad technical decision can take a day or two to correct, a bad managerial or design decision can take weeks to correct.
Nice write up! I agree with you completely, there are situations where short deployment cycles and rapid turn over work well. but it is very situation dependant. I also agree the proper design is the fundamental requirement of either Lean/Extreme, rapid, or standard development. We can expect processes to change, to need refinement, and to be outright abandoned and recreated. A solid modular framework can help that a LOT. If you have the time and money to sink into developing a solid vehicle for your customer's content (data/business processes) you can really streamline the entire change management process.
True enough, I had one of those 200 page documentor bosses before. And it didn't help any. Primarily becuase it was too much information in no useful layout.
This project, we have some useful information in a well formated layout. It's wonderful when I can open a folder and goto the specific module I'm working on, see the original requirements, notes, and update requirements, sample output, etc. Unfortunatly, not all of the folders are full or accurate. But if we had that documentation in place when we started the module level coding, it could have saved us a lot of hassle.
Also the framework is a huge point. There was no wheres near enough thought put into the actual system that managed the module. I was trying to get bits and pieces implimented in our first 4 month phase on this project. Moving processes to worker threads, getting the interfaces to work through inheritance, standardizing the module functionality, improving the data models. We managed to the the app to work at a level that would be considered 'acceptable', but the maintenance is a pain. Now that we have most of the modules tuned up, and most of the code documentation done (nDoc is my friend!) we get to turn the lose compilation of code that is running the app into the foundation of a portal system so we can continue to add new modules with less work. Should be a great system when it's done, I just wish we could have done a lot of the design and requirements before deploying.
And will cost $500k in the long run. Those questions, concerns, requirements, etc should have all been recorded. The future user who just got smacked down for expressing his/her concerns will likely develop a less then positive view of the IT department, and be significantly less likely to partake in future design meetings where those requirements and concerns will become much more imporant.
I have been dragged through numerous develop now, design later! projects, and each one of them has gone over schedule. I'm still trying to clean up this current project that I got hired into. The users were still bringing us new requirements for the invoicing system 2 months after it went live. Not to mention the actual framework that the app was built off of was a hodge podge of misc code. Finally we are getting things standardized and working on a solidified portal and framework system. Poor planing, a complete lack of requirements gathering, a complete absence of a clear unified design, and many other poor initial lead and management decisions have us still working on corrective maintenance for an app that was released six months ago. All for the sake of developing and releasing the first version in 4 months. No thanks, I'd take 4 months of design and huge emails up front in exchange of 8 months corrective maintenance any day.
I actually just got a market survey from CodeMasters about this very subject. They are doing market research on a CoC/Lovecraft based video game. It'd be a shame if this patent get's in the way of it.
You've established what certs don't do. They don't garuntee knowledge of a subject.
But the do do 2 things.(err, grammer police, please help!)
1) Show that a person has enough desire to study/pay for a test, or drop a substantial amount of money on the topic for training. That shows some level of dedication.
2) Looks good on paper. When you send your resume in for that perfect job, along with the other 600+ resumes the HR people get, they need to quickly widdle the list down. Toss the poor formats right away. Toss anything that doesn't ahve a college degree next. Toss anything with out work experience. So they get it down to a list of 40 or so. What makes you stick out at that time? multiple years of related experience, extra training, certs, education, etc. Out of those 400+ resumes, only 3 are going to get a 1st run interview. If they all bomb another 3 may be called in. But all in all you need to get your resume in that top five, and certs can definately help.
Of the last two jobs I've had, one as a VB 6 developer with 5 years experience went into the fray against 600 resumes(Post.com bust). My current job as a.Net developer went in against over 250.
For every thing you say for Unix admins being "better", I can find a skilled windows admin who has pulled of equally impressive feets. This is not a competetion, it's saying that if you take the creme-de-la-creme(sp?) of each, due to market supply and demand the *nix admin will cost more.
-Rick
That's a load of hookie. There are good Windows admins and good *nix admins. There are also bad Windows admins and bad *nix admins. But if you take 2 equally trained, experienced, and skilled admins, one windows, the other *nix, the *nix can command a higher premium because they are rare. Has nothing to do with skill.
"as unix people tend to be a little better at what they do."
That's a load of hookie. There are good Windows admins and good *nix admins. There are also bad Windows admins and bad *nix admins. But if you take 2 equally trained, experienced, and skilled admins, one windows, the other *nix, the *nix can command a higher premium because they are rare. Has nothing to do with skill.
"Linux works better in some situations, Windows in others, etc."
Agreed! But...
"In such environments, next to no maintenance has been required."
Who is patching the servers? Who is updating the settings when the customer needs to change something? How much does it cost to bring a *Nix admin in when something breaks (hardware or software)? How long will the system be down for if something breaks?
TCO takes a lot more into account then anedotal evidence from the install process.
That's like trying to budget your personal expenses a year at a time
No, it's like planning your corporate budget one year at a time. Which is quite common in the private sector and an absolute truth in the government.
TCO is not intended to be used by end users, it is for businesses to look at costs as spread out over the life to the goods/services.
Sensetive: lists of SSNs, peoples phone numbers, etc. shred the paper, password protection, light building security
Secret: Reporting information, non-combat comunication centers, etc. shred paper, lock down computers and network but have external connection, no unauthorized location access.
Top-Secret: Detailed reporting, strategic info, etc. Don't print if you don't need to, locked down PCs, locked down network, likely no external access/email/etc.
For secret info, I never saw anything to hard core. We had some great network techs in Quantico (just prior to the NMCI 4066/4067 consultant replacment), they had a well locked down network, but still allowed internet access and email. But they could, and did, track all of your online activities, read your emails, mirror your hard drive, and shut you down from across the globe. Any specific secret locations like com-vaults had key code or rfid doors.
(Anecdotal network security story from the military, optional reading:)
I had a network support budy in Okinowa who used an external (geocities) site to hold links to internal files for updates and software. Worked good for his updating work at off site locations. One day his user account was locked, 3 gents from the MITNOC showed up with a copy of his hard drive and a log of his internet/email activity over the last 3 months. Turned out some script kiddies found his site and started hammering the firewalls trying to get the software.
-Rick
[quote]Bar Camp is a play on the word "foobar," a common programming variable.[/quote]
Unfortunatly, the word is FUBAR, it is an acronym for F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition. Foo, as of my understanding, is the digital adaptation of Fu, as in Kung Fu. A programmer with great Foo is a skilled master.
Slashdot Mirror
I still have to go with the Daily Show and Jon Stewart as the best news source.
-Rick
The problem is, someone who doesn't know what the Onion is will beleive this. Just like the Chinese did in 2000 when the Onion had an article about the Senate okaying a 2 billion dollar project to make the US Capitol's dome open like a sports arena. It's fake news people. Funny, but comepletely made up. Page3 usually has an unfilled section that they just stick a random phrase in. My favorite was the "...and there was an amazing amount of blood..." repeated over and over.
-Rick
Wow, I'm honored that you bothered to read both of my (score: 1) rated posts. Me personally, I skim, I don't have time to read 350 posts, so I get to miss out on the redundancy quite often.
-Rick
Lets say that In '97 Joe Schmoe Software, run by Lil'man Joe Schmoe created a dial based interface for scrolling through lists, he also created an easy sorting system similar to the one the iPod uses.
In '98 Joe patents his invention
In '99 Joe shows his invention to Apple to try and market it. Apple says no thanks.
In 2001 Apple releases the iPod using a system that is a slightly refined clone of Joe's.
In 2002 Joe sues Apple for copy write infringement
Patents are the only way Lil'Joe can get money for his device. But they can quickly get ugly, as we're seeing now, with defencive patents, where people patent the crap out of every posible aspect of some process so that they don't have to worry about someone else trying to patent it later and sueing them.
-Rick
I want to patent the process of appling for a patent for the pure intent of generating profit.
-Rick
One of my first VB5/Access apps was a CD tracking system that let me browse my collection via Artist/Album/Song/Genre. Maybe I can dig that thing out to claim prior art. But even then, I got the idea from an intro to VB5 book. -Rick
The CNN article claims the Ozone has stopped depleting and the layer is getting thicker in places. The BBC article claims that the "vortex of doom" over Antartica is preventing fresh Ozone from entering. So the rest of the ozone could become 10 miles thick and we could theoreticly still have a hole above Antartica. -Rick
Microsoft funds a study that shows it's systems have the lowest TCO.
IBM funds a study that shows Linux is cheaper then it's competitors.
Next month Sun will release yet another TCO report showing Unix to be the best bargin.
-Rick
I never said I was against agile software development. I am against shunting users/customers. Expecially ones that have enough at stake with the software to come up with a list of requirements and concerns.
And the problems I have run into have almost entirely been due to poor management. Not due to one style of development or another, just poor management in general, or in specific situation that have consistantly caused delays. There are the occasional technical issues, but where a bad technical decision can take a day or two to correct, a bad managerial or design decision can take weeks to correct.
-Rick
Nice write up! I agree with you completely, there are situations where short deployment cycles and rapid turn over work well. but it is very situation dependant. I also agree the proper design is the fundamental requirement of either Lean/Extreme, rapid, or standard development. We can expect processes to change, to need refinement, and to be outright abandoned and recreated. A solid modular framework can help that a LOT. If you have the time and money to sink into developing a solid vehicle for your customer's content (data/business processes) you can really streamline the entire change management process.
-Rick
True enough, I had one of those 200 page documentor bosses before. And it didn't help any. Primarily becuase it was too much information in no useful layout.
This project, we have some useful information in a well formated layout. It's wonderful when I can open a folder and goto the specific module I'm working on, see the original requirements, notes, and update requirements, sample output, etc. Unfortunatly, not all of the folders are full or accurate. But if we had that documentation in place when we started the module level coding, it could have saved us a lot of hassle.
Also the framework is a huge point. There was no wheres near enough thought put into the actual system that managed the module. I was trying to get bits and pieces implimented in our first 4 month phase on this project. Moving processes to worker threads, getting the interfaces to work through inheritance, standardizing the module functionality, improving the data models. We managed to the the app to work at a level that would be considered 'acceptable', but the maintenance is a pain. Now that we have most of the modules tuned up, and most of the code documentation done (nDoc is my friend!) we get to turn the lose compilation of code that is running the app into the foundation of a portal system so we can continue to add new modules with less work. Should be a great system when it's done, I just wish we could have done a lot of the design and requirements before deploying.
-Rick
And will cost $500k in the long run. Those questions, concerns, requirements, etc should have all been recorded. The future user who just got smacked down for expressing his/her concerns will likely develop a less then positive view of the IT department, and be significantly less likely to partake in future design meetings where those requirements and concerns will become much more imporant.
I have been dragged through numerous develop now, design later! projects, and each one of them has gone over schedule. I'm still trying to clean up this current project that I got hired into. The users were still bringing us new requirements for the invoicing system 2 months after it went live. Not to mention the actual framework that the app was built off of was a hodge podge of misc code. Finally we are getting things standardized and working on a solidified portal and framework system. Poor planing, a complete lack of requirements gathering, a complete absence of a clear unified design, and many other poor initial lead and management decisions have us still working on corrective maintenance for an app that was released six months ago. All for the sake of developing and releasing the first version in 4 months. No thanks, I'd take 4 months of design and huge emails up front in exchange of 8 months corrective maintenance any day.
-Rick
I actually just got a market survey from CodeMasters about this very subject. They are doing market research on a CoC/Lovecraft based video game. It'd be a shame if this patent get's in the way of it.
-Rick
Can I quote you on that? "scattershot design by committee of blind idiots" that is awesome!
-Rick
You've established what certs don't do. They don't garuntee knowledge of a subject.
.com bust). My current job as a .Net developer went in against over 250.
But the do do 2 things.(err, grammer police, please help!)
1) Show that a person has enough desire to study/pay for a test, or drop a substantial amount of money on the topic for training. That shows some level of dedication.
2) Looks good on paper. When you send your resume in for that perfect job, along with the other 600+ resumes the HR people get, they need to quickly widdle the list down. Toss the poor formats right away. Toss anything that doesn't ahve a college degree next. Toss anything with out work experience. So they get it down to a list of 40 or so. What makes you stick out at that time? multiple years of related experience, extra training, certs, education, etc. Out of those 400+ resumes, only 3 are going to get a 1st run interview. If they all bomb another 3 may be called in. But all in all you need to get your resume in that top five, and certs can definately help.
Of the last two jobs I've had, one as a VB 6 developer with 5 years experience went into the fray against 600 resumes(Post
-Rick
For every thing you say for Unix admins being "better", I can find a skilled windows admin who has pulled of equally impressive feets. This is not a competetion, it's saying that if you take the creme-de-la-creme(sp?) of each, due to market supply and demand the *nix admin will cost more. -Rick
That's a load of hookie. There are good Windows admins and good *nix admins. There are also bad Windows admins and bad *nix admins. But if you take 2 equally trained, experienced, and skilled admins, one windows, the other *nix, the *nix can command a higher premium because they are rare. Has nothing to do with skill.
-Rick
"as unix people tend to be a little better at what they do."
That's a load of hookie. There are good Windows admins and good *nix admins. There are also bad Windows admins and bad *nix admins. But if you take 2 equally trained, experienced, and skilled admins, one windows, the other *nix, the *nix can command a higher premium because they are rare. Has nothing to do with skill.
-Rick
"Linux works better in some situations, Windows in others, etc."
Agreed! But...
"In such environments, next to no maintenance has been required."
Who is patching the servers? Who is updating the settings when the customer needs to change something? How much does it cost to bring a *Nix admin in when something breaks (hardware or software)? How long will the system be down for if something breaks?
TCO takes a lot more into account then anedotal evidence from the install process.
-Rick
That's like trying to budget your personal expenses a year at a time
No, it's like planning your corporate budget one year at a time. Which is quite common in the private sector and an absolute truth in the government.
TCO is not intended to be used by end users, it is for businesses to look at costs as spread out over the life to the goods/services.
-Rick
Skilled *nix admin (IE: certs, trained, 5 years experience, related degree) goes for $50k+ a year arround here.
Skilled Windows admin (IE: certs, trained, 5 years experience, related degree) can be had for under $40k a year.
Coughing up a one time $3k license for a server is a drop in the bucket when compared to $10k salary, taxes, and benis to be paid yearly.
-Rick
There are 3 basic levels of security in the DOD:
- Sensetive: lists of SSNs, peoples phone numbers, etc. shred the paper, password protection, light building security
- Secret: Reporting information, non-combat comunication centers, etc. shred paper, lock down computers and network but have external connection, no unauthorized location access.
- Top-Secret: Detailed reporting, strategic info, etc. Don't print if you don't need to, locked down PCs, locked down network, likely no external access/email/etc.
For secret info, I never saw anything to hard core. We had some great network techs in Quantico (just prior to the NMCI 4066/4067 consultant replacment), they had a well locked down network, but still allowed internet access and email. But they could, and did, track all of your online activities, read your emails, mirror your hard drive, and shut you down from across the globe. Any specific secret locations like com-vaults had key code or rfid doors.(Anecdotal network security story from the military, optional reading:)
I had a network support budy in Okinowa who used an external (geocities) site to hold links to internal files for updates and software. Worked good for his updating work at off site locations. One day his user account was locked, 3 gents from the MITNOC showed up with a copy of his hard drive and a log of his internet/email activity over the last 3 months. Turned out some script kiddies found his site and started hammering the firewalls trying to get the software. -Rick
DRMs are already here, but they suck. They could be the corner stone of totally Ubiquitous computing and media access. -Rick
[quote]Bar Camp is a play on the word "foobar," a common programming variable.[/quote]
Unfortunatly, the word is FUBAR, it is an acronym for F*cked Up Beyond All Recognition. Foo, as of my understanding, is the digital adaptation of Fu, as in Kung Fu. A programmer with great Foo is a skilled master.
-Rick
My bust, That's what I get for not proof reading ;)
-Rick