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From: rha@bunker.UUCP (The Minister of Myrth)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.c
Subject: Re: Programmers who "aren't allowed" to do things right
Message-ID: <2397@bunker.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 13-Jul-87 12:16:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: bunker.2397
Posted: Mon Jul 13 12:16:43 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 14-Jul-87 06:34:27 EDT
References: <598@nonvon.UUCP> <2365@bunker.UUCP> <1656@tekig4.TEK.COM>
Reply-To: rha@bunker.UUCP (The Minister of Myrth)
Organization: Uncle Bunky's Treehouse, an Olivetti company
Lines: 34

In article <1656@tekig4.TEK.COM> bradn@tekig4.UUCP (Bradford Needham) writes:

>It is the engineer's responsibility to give his manager his best guess at
>technical "reality": how long things are going to take; how risky a certain
>feature or method is; what tradeoffs exist between time-to-market, product
>features, and product quality.  Without this input, the manager is going to
>make unrealistic decisions.

>I agree that there has to be compromise between programming heaven (where there
>is plenty of time to thoroughly design, document, build, and test) and
>sales heaven (where products appear the moment a customer asks for them).
>Achieving a good compromise (a good-quality product in a timely manner)
>is the mark of a good engineer.

     Brad, I think that Gary, and others here at Bunker, exemplify what you
are talking about.  In other words, estimates which emanate from the Engineer
include all facets of the development process (including documentation).  In
addition, the Engineering Supervisors typically support these estimates.

     What Gary is talking about is that, by the time the various big cheeses
get their hands on the estimates and label them as "unacceptable" (although
NO functionality is disposable), what invariably gets killed, in the name of
"expedience" (we know this isn't true), is documentation.

     Therefore, I suggest to you that a "good engineer" may have all the right
intentions and informs all the right people, while it is only the "influential
engineer" who actually get to the ear drum of the decision makers.


-- 
                       {yale!,decvax!,philabs!}bunker!rha                    
                                  Bob Averack                           
                        Bunker Ramo, an Olivetti Company                      
               Two Enterprise Drive - Shelton, Connecticut 06484