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- Path: news.deltanet.com!ana1061
- From: fuz@deltanet.com (Scott Ellsworth)
- Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++
- Subject: Re: Difficulty hiring people with C++ experience.
- Date: 19 Jan 1996 20:02:13 GMT
- Organization: Delta Internet Services, Anaheim, CA
- Message-ID: <4dotc5$p81@news2.deltanet.com>
- References: <60118190238$71C7@lasernet.com>
- NNTP-Posting-Host: ana1061.deltanet.com
- X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #3
-
- In article <60118190238$71C7@lasernet.com>,
- Jonathan Wooldridge <jonathan_wooldridge@lasernet.com> wrote:
- >-=> Quoting Glenn Mandelkern to All <=-
- >
- > GM> I value the desire for high quality. Yet I have
- experienced times
- > GM> when quality is another substitute for a deadly word,
- perfectionism.
- [...]
- >Market savvy, as you so eloquently put it, can be an excuse as
- well.
- [...]
- >So from these real examples, I draw the conclusion that it is
- far better
- > to wait until the fruit is ripe, than to pick it green, and
- dye it.
-
- In both posts cited above, the operative words were _can_.
- To me, quality, defined as the product meeting the specification
- is an obsession, and I would want it to be for anyone I managed.
- I want the people on a project committed to producing what they
- are supposed to produce in the time scale we have created.
- Note the "we."
-
- On the other hand, I would want enough savvy to know when to
- argue for changing the spec. Sometimes, a feature is too
- expensive, and that is occasionally discovered after the
- design has been approved.
-
- In neither event do you want shoddy code, things rushed to
- market, or garbage on the scene. Neither do you want to
- have endless delays, frantic redesign, and ever receding
- schedules. Both are a result of focusing to an excessive
- extent on part of the picture.
-
- The first comes of focusing on getting the features in
- without getting them done. The second comes of focusing
- on finishing the features without asking why the features
- need to be in the product.
-
- I have found that this is a trainable skill, and that with
- time, experience, and a supportive environment, people can
- very easily understand how to react when the unexpected
- occurs. The proper reaction will vary with circumstance
- - sometimes you must delay shipping, and other times, you
- must drop features. Knowing when to do each of these is
- a skill that is worth cultivating.
-
- Scott
-
- Scott Ellsworth fuz@deltanet.com
- "When a great many people are unable to find work, unemployment
- results" - Calvin Coolidge, (Stanley Walker, City Editor, p. 131 (1934))
- "The barbarian is thwarted at the moat." - Scott Adams
-