Archive for: January 2009

Picture this:

A person wants to buy a car, so they go to a dealer that provides a way to order a car to specifications.

The person makes selections from a number of options

• Car model
• Car color
• Specific Tires
• Interior options
• Sound system options
• and many others

And gets a car delivered  to the specifications.  The person looks at the car and is pleased that it looks like everything is to specifications.

The person gets in the car and says

• The steering wheel is too low.  Instructions are given to adjust the steering wheel.
• The seat is too close.  Instructions are given to move the seat up and back.
• The sound is too loud.  Instructions are given to adjust the sound system.

And then the person says

• The roof is too low.  Please raise it up a couple of inches.
• It is at this point that things fall apart.
• Perhaps instructions are given to lower the seat to no avail.
• Perhaps explanations are offered as to why roofs are not flexible.

The issue of course, is that certain assumptions are made about cars that are general knowledge.

• We know we can add a steering wheel cover with little impact.
• We know we can usually add a CD player with little impact.
• We also know that if we want to ignition moved to the other side of the steering wheel because we are left handed, that is probably a major alteration.
• We know that the roof of the car cannot be raised or lowered.

The same is not true for software.

When someone comes to a software developer, there is not a clear understanding of what features are easily modified or added, and which ones are not.

• Those of us who have developed software know very well the experience of asking many questions about what the system requirements are, developing a sytem to those requirements, and then being asked why the system does not do a certain functionality that was never discussed.
• If we are lucky, the functionality is as easy as adjusting the seats.
• If we are not lucky, we have to argue why it is so hard to raise the roof a couple of inches.

I am spending more time twittering than blogging these days.

• On Twitter, the post size is 140 characters, so it is conducive to posting a quick thought.
• Even though it is irregular, the Twitter responses are usually quicker than blog post comments.
• Blogs are certainly conversations, but they are more deliberate.  Twitter is like chatting at a party where you drift in and out of conversations.
• I use TweetDeck to access Twitter.
• TweetDeck allows you to establish subsets of all the people that you follow.  I have subsets for friends and family and a subset I call Uptweet (upbeat) for people that post positive and joyous posts.  It provides lots of little inspirational thoughts during the day.