Home > Articles

Wasting Money

This chapter is from the book

What Does "Done" Look Like?

After we have a specific description of what the finished software will be, we can compare our creation with it and really know when the product is done.

There are two types of descriptions. We can create a very complete and detailed physical description of the actual product, or we can describe the reaction we'd like the end user to have. In building architecture, for example, blueprints fill the first requirement. When planning a movie or creating a new restaurant, however, we focus our description on the feelings we'd like our clients to experience. For software-based products, we must necessarily use a blend of the two.

Unfortunately, most software products never have a description. Instead, all they have is a shopping list of features. A shopping bag filled with flour, sugar, milk, and eggs is not the same thing as a cake. It's only a cake when all the steps of the recipe have been followed, and the result looks, smells, and tastes substantially like the known characteristics of a cake.

Having the proper ingredients but lacking any knowledge of cakes or how to bake, the ersatz cook will putter endlessly in the kitchen with only indeterminate results. If we demand that the cake be ready by 6 o'clock, the conscientious cook will certainly bring us a platter at the appointed hour. But will the concoction be a cake? All we know is that it is on time, but its success will be a mystery.

Figure 3.1Figure 3.1

In most conventional construction jobs, we know we're done because we have a clear understanding of what a "done" job looks like. We know that the building is completed because it looks and works just like the blueprints say it should look and work. If the deadline for construction is June 1, the arrival of June doesn't necessarily mean that the building is done. The relative completeness of the building can only be measured by examining the actual building in comparison to the plans.

Without blueprints, software builders don't really have a firm grasp on what makes the product "done," so they pick a likely date for completion, and when that day arrives they declare it done. It is June 1; therefore, the product is completed. "Ship it!" they say, and the deadline becomes the sole definition of project completion.

The programmers and businesspeople are neither stupid nor foolish, so the product won't be in complete denial of reality. It will have a robust set of features, it will run well, and it won't crash. The product will work reasonably well when operated by people who care deeply that it works well. It might even have been subjected to usability testing, in which strangers are asked to operate it under the scrutiny of usability professionals1. But, although these precautions are only reasonable, they are insufficient to answer the fundamental question: Will it succeed?

1 Usability professionals are not interaction designers. I discuss this difference in detail in Chapter 12, "Desperately Seeking Usability."

Parkinson's Law

Managers know that software development follows Parkinson's Law: Work will expand to fill the time allotted to it. If you are in the software business, perhaps you are familiar with a corollary to Parkinson called the Ninety-Ninety Rule, attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs: "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time." This self-deprecating rule says that when the engineers have written 90% of the code, they still don't know where they are! Management knows full well that the programmers won't hit their stated ship dates, regardless of what dates it specifies. The developers work best under pressure, and management uses the delivery date as the pressure-delivery vehicle.

In the 1980s and 1990s, Royal Farros was the vice president of development for T/Maker, a small but influential software company. He says, "A lot of us set deadlines that we knew were impossible, enough so to qualify for one of those Parkinson's Law corollaries. 'The time it will take to finish a programming project is twice as long as the time you've allotted for it.' I had a strong belief that if you set a deadline for, say, six months, it would take a year. So, if you had to have something in two years, set the deadline for one year. Bonehead sandbagging, but it always worked."

When software entrepreneur Ridgely Evers was with Intuit, working on the creation of QuickBooks, he experienced the same problem. "The first release of QuickBooks was supposed to be a nine-month project. We were correct in estimating that the development period would be the same as a gestation period, but we picked the wrong species: It took almost two-and-a-half years, the gestation period for the elephant."

Software architect Scott McGregor points out that Gresham's Law—that bad currency drives out good—is also relevant here. If there are two currencies, people will hoard the good one and try to spend the bad one. Eventually, only the bad currency circulates. Similarly, bad schedule estimates drive out good ones. If everybody makes bogus but rosy predictions, the one manager giving realistic but longer estimates will appear to be a heel-dragger and will be pressured to revise his estimates downward.

Some development projects have deadlines that are unreasonable by virtue of their arbitrariness. Most rational managers still choose deadlines that, while reachable, are only reachable by virtue of extreme sacrifice. Sort of like the pilot saying, "We're gonna make Chicago on time, but only if we jettison all our baggage!" I've seen product managers sacrifice not only design, but testing, function, features, integration, documentation, and reality. Most product managers that I have worked with would rather ship a failure on time than risk going late.

The Product That Never Ships

This preference is often due to every software development manager's deepest fear: that after having become late, the product will never ship at all. Stories of products never shipping are not apocryphal. The project goes late, first by one year, then two years, then is euthanized in its third year by a vengeful upper management or board of directors. This explains the rabid adherence to deadlines, even at the expense of a viable product.

For example, in the late 1990s, at the much-publicized start-up company Worlds, Inc., many intelligent, capable people worked on the creation of a virtual, online world where people's avatars could wander about and engage other avatars in real-time conversation. The product was never fully defined or described, and after tens of millions of investment capital was spent, the directors mercifully pulled the plug.

In the early 1990s, another start-up company, Nomadic Computing, spent about $15 million creating a new product for mobile businesspeople. Unfortunately, no one at the company was quite sure what its product was. They knew their market, and most of the program's functions, but weren't clear on their users' goals. Like mad sculptors chipping away at a huge block of marble hoping to discover a statue inside, the developers wrote immense quantities of useless code that was all eventually thrown away, along with money, time, reputations, and careers. The saddest waste, though, was the lost opportunity for creating software that really was wanted.

Even Microsoft isn't immune from such wild goose chases. Its first attempt at creating a database product in the late 1980s consumed many person-years of effort before Bill Gates mercifully shut it down. Its premature death sent a shock wave through the development community. Its successor, Access, was a completely new effort, staffed and managed by all new people.

InformIT Promotional Mailings & Special Offers

I would like to receive exclusive offers and hear about products from InformIT and its family of brands. I can unsubscribe at any time.

Overview


Pearson Education, Inc., 221 River Street, Hoboken, New Jersey 07030, (Pearson) presents this site to provide information about products and services that can be purchased through this site.

This privacy notice provides an overview of our commitment to privacy and describes how we collect, protect, use and share personal information collected through this site. Please note that other Pearson websites and online products and services have their own separate privacy policies.

Collection and Use of Information


To conduct business and deliver products and services, Pearson collects and uses personal information in several ways in connection with this site, including:

Questions and Inquiries

For inquiries and questions, we collect the inquiry or question, together with name, contact details (email address, phone number and mailing address) and any other additional information voluntarily submitted to us through a Contact Us form or an email. We use this information to address the inquiry and respond to the question.

Online Store

For orders and purchases placed through our online store on this site, we collect order details, name, institution name and address (if applicable), email address, phone number, shipping and billing addresses, credit/debit card information, shipping options and any instructions. We use this information to complete transactions, fulfill orders, communicate with individuals placing orders or visiting the online store, and for related purposes.

Surveys

Pearson may offer opportunities to provide feedback or participate in surveys, including surveys evaluating Pearson products, services or sites. Participation is voluntary. Pearson collects information requested in the survey questions and uses the information to evaluate, support, maintain and improve products, services or sites, develop new products and services, conduct educational research and for other purposes specified in the survey.

Contests and Drawings

Occasionally, we may sponsor a contest or drawing. Participation is optional. Pearson collects name, contact information and other information specified on the entry form for the contest or drawing to conduct the contest or drawing. Pearson may collect additional personal information from the winners of a contest or drawing in order to award the prize and for tax reporting purposes, as required by law.

Newsletters

If you have elected to receive email newsletters or promotional mailings and special offers but want to unsubscribe, simply email information@informit.com.

Service Announcements

On rare occasions it is necessary to send out a strictly service related announcement. For instance, if our service is temporarily suspended for maintenance we might send users an email. Generally, users may not opt-out of these communications, though they can deactivate their account information. However, these communications are not promotional in nature.

Customer Service

We communicate with users on a regular basis to provide requested services and in regard to issues relating to their account we reply via email or phone in accordance with the users' wishes when a user submits their information through our Contact Us form.

Other Collection and Use of Information


Application and System Logs

Pearson automatically collects log data to help ensure the delivery, availability and security of this site. Log data may include technical information about how a user or visitor connected to this site, such as browser type, type of computer/device, operating system, internet service provider and IP address. We use this information for support purposes and to monitor the health of the site, identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents and appropriately scale computing resources.

Web Analytics

Pearson may use third party web trend analytical services, including Google Analytics, to collect visitor information, such as IP addresses, browser types, referring pages, pages visited and time spent on a particular site. While these analytical services collect and report information on an anonymous basis, they may use cookies to gather web trend information. The information gathered may enable Pearson (but not the third party web trend services) to link information with application and system log data. Pearson uses this information for system administration and to identify problems, improve service, detect unauthorized access and fraudulent activity, prevent and respond to security incidents, appropriately scale computing resources and otherwise support and deliver this site and its services.

Cookies and Related Technologies

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to personalize content, measure traffic patterns, control security, track use and access of information on this site, and provide interest-based messages and advertising. Users can manage and block the use of cookies through their browser. Disabling or blocking certain cookies may limit the functionality of this site.

Do Not Track

This site currently does not respond to Do Not Track signals.

Security


Pearson uses appropriate physical, administrative and technical security measures to protect personal information from unauthorized access, use and disclosure.

Children


This site is not directed to children under the age of 13.

Marketing


Pearson may send or direct marketing communications to users, provided that

  • Pearson will not use personal information collected or processed as a K-12 school service provider for the purpose of directed or targeted advertising.
  • Such marketing is consistent with applicable law and Pearson's legal obligations.
  • Pearson will not knowingly direct or send marketing communications to an individual who has expressed a preference not to receive marketing.
  • Where required by applicable law, express or implied consent to marketing exists and has not been withdrawn.

Pearson may provide personal information to a third party service provider on a restricted basis to provide marketing solely on behalf of Pearson or an affiliate or customer for whom Pearson is a service provider. Marketing preferences may be changed at any time.

Correcting/Updating Personal Information


If a user's personally identifiable information changes (such as your postal address or email address), we provide a way to correct or update that user's personal data provided to us. This can be done on the Account page. If a user no longer desires our service and desires to delete his or her account, please contact us at customer-service@informit.com and we will process the deletion of a user's account.

Choice/Opt-out


Users can always make an informed choice as to whether they should proceed with certain services offered by InformIT. If you choose to remove yourself from our mailing list(s) simply visit the following page and uncheck any communication you no longer want to receive: www.informit.com/u.aspx.

Sale of Personal Information


Pearson does not rent or sell personal information in exchange for any payment of money.

While Pearson does not sell personal information, as defined in Nevada law, Nevada residents may email a request for no sale of their personal information to NevadaDesignatedRequest@pearson.com.

Supplemental Privacy Statement for California Residents


California residents should read our Supplemental privacy statement for California residents in conjunction with this Privacy Notice. The Supplemental privacy statement for California residents explains Pearson's commitment to comply with California law and applies to personal information of California residents collected in connection with this site and the Services.

Sharing and Disclosure


Pearson may disclose personal information, as follows:

  • As required by law.
  • With the consent of the individual (or their parent, if the individual is a minor)
  • In response to a subpoena, court order or legal process, to the extent permitted or required by law
  • To protect the security and safety of individuals, data, assets and systems, consistent with applicable law
  • In connection the sale, joint venture or other transfer of some or all of its company or assets, subject to the provisions of this Privacy Notice
  • To investigate or address actual or suspected fraud or other illegal activities
  • To exercise its legal rights, including enforcement of the Terms of Use for this site or another contract
  • To affiliated Pearson companies and other companies and organizations who perform work for Pearson and are obligated to protect the privacy of personal information consistent with this Privacy Notice
  • To a school, organization, company or government agency, where Pearson collects or processes the personal information in a school setting or on behalf of such organization, company or government agency.

Links


This web site contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of such other sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects Personal Information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this web site.

Requests and Contact


Please contact us about this Privacy Notice or if you have any requests or questions relating to the privacy of your personal information.

Changes to this Privacy Notice


We may revise this Privacy Notice through an updated posting. We will identify the effective date of the revision in the posting. Often, updates are made to provide greater clarity or to comply with changes in regulatory requirements. If the updates involve material changes to the collection, protection, use or disclosure of Personal Information, Pearson will provide notice of the change through a conspicuous notice on this site or other appropriate way. Continued use of the site after the effective date of a posted revision evidences acceptance. Please contact us if you have questions or concerns about the Privacy Notice or any objection to any revisions.

Last Update: November 17, 2020