On Thu, 01 Apr 2010 12:48:37 -0700, Richard Clark
wrote:

On Thu, 1 Apr 2010 10:56:44 -0700, "Joel Koltner"
wrote:

Software projects by "professionals" are quit all the time -- there's some
shockingly low percentage of software projects that are ever actually finished
(like, 25%). Even for hardware projects, at least for awhile Tektronix
seemed to be quitting upwards of a quarter of all the projects they'd start.

Usually a problem of poor specification.

That is why we have "project Charters" The "Charter" describes the
project goals and how to determine when those goals have been met.

Any change in goals, or how to determine they have been met means
going back and rewriting the charter and then having all involved
reauthorized it.

My standard replay when some one asked if we could do something with a
project was "is it in the charter?". If not they had the option of
getting the heads of all the involved departments and often "sites" to
review the project charger. That usually minimized attempts to expand
projects beyond their original design. It also give all involved the
desire to put everything on the table at the beginning. :-))

You cannot design what is
not described. Frequently, success is in the mind of the beholder:
"Oh! I forgot to mention you need to....(gestures made here). You
know what I mean."

Yup, "did you include it in the charter?":-))

In other words, professionalism that fails to rise above rank amateur.

I really don't see it in that light. To me there is no higher rank
than amateur. A professional can just be a "grunt", or they can be
some one with goals, or rather "goal oriented".

73

Roger (K8RI)


My amateur designs are far more complete and robust than professional
ones, but they are not commercial. They would take too long the first
time (but they always could have been done in the time it had actually
taken to get to shipping).

Tracy Kidder's "Soul of a New Machine" proved how little so-called
professional effort is needed to do a professional job right. I work
with a lot of inventors/entrepreneurs whose idea-to-shipping time is
measured in the single digits of weeks.

73's
Richard Clark, KB7QHC