Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site eosp1.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!princeton!astrovax!fisher!eosp1!robison From: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Newsgroups: net.philosophy Subject: There isn't any "there" here Message-ID: <1292@eosp1.UUCP> Date: Fri, 14-Dec-84 10:02:33 EST Article-I.D.: eosp1.1292 Posted: Fri Dec 14 10:02:33 1984 Date-Received: Sat, 15-Dec-84 02:00:52 EST Reply-To: robison@eosp1.UUCP (Tobias D. Robison) Organization: Exxon Office Systems, Princeton Lines: 47 Summary:I was really excited to discover that there was a net group on Philosophy. I subscribed to it, hoping to do some reading about, well, philosophy, ethics, morality, etc. But this group has the weirdest collection of memos?!?! Unlike net.general, which might be abolished because it has no identity, this group MUST have an identity. - It's not the same as net.abortion, because the stuff copied to this group is much less rational than what appears in net.abortion. - It's not the same as net.flame, becuase the stuff in this group is much more childish than what appears in net.flame. - It's not net. politics, because, well, it's even sillier, and less informed, than what appears in net.politics. Maybe it is net.misc.copytrash, since a great deal of what appears in here is copied to other groups. I'd like to start up a philosophical/ethics discussion. I'm going to apologize in advance that this issue is much less important than those that usually grace this group. On the other hand, maybe someone has something to say about it. The issue: - Given that, on the basis of almost universal experience, your client should never believe the (probably optimistic) software development schedules you announce, how should one go about communicating accurate schedule information, on those rare occasionas when one probably has accurate information to communicate? For starters, I've tried the obvious: - tell client when system will be ready. Client doesn't believe, gets ready months later. - tell client optimistic schedule you know to be false. Client draws obvious conclusions, comes to same real conclusion I have, but I can't know this for sure, and it doesn't feel ethical. - Toby Robison (not Robinson!) {allegra, decvax!ittvax, fisher, princeton}!eosp1!robison