Re: The Quick and the Bad

[Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- jci -dot- com]

>A very common saying is "Fast, Good, Cheap. Pick Two".

That's another one of the signs I made for my cube. Trouble is, in the
years since I made it I've begun to doubt it.

Oh, it's true enough on a simplistic level. But the real problem with it is
it discourages someone from asking three essential questions:

1) What is "Fast"?
2) What is "Good"?
3) What is "Cheap"?

You see, it's quite possible for someone to achieve all three points of the
triangle, if the definitions of those three terms are set properly.

The triangle-based metality behind the sign discourages us from wondering
if the perimeter of the triangle isn't a fixed distance; if the perimeter
is fixed, then yes, shortening one leg requires lengthening another.

But it's only fixed in a perfect process. In imperfect processes, it's
quite possible to shorten all three legs of the triangle, making it better,
faster, and cheaper than it was before. (Echoes of Nasa'a slogan only
coincidental.)

True, all too often pointy-haired bosses define cheap, fast and good in
impossible terms. But the fact they do shouldn't distract us from the goal
of improving all three legs of the triangle. Neither the point location nor
the angle nor the area of the triangle is fixed, except in the presence of
perfection. You *can* shorten time, do better, and cost less.

But it ain't easy. And that's where the defense of buggy software someone
pointed to yesterday comes in. We set the locations of all three points in
the triangle ourselves, using whatever criteria we find to be important.

But, since it's our choice, we don't have any business sloughing off the
consequences of making that choice. That's where I disagree with the
defense of buggy software. I keep hearing it asserted that customers won't
pay for quality. But since I haven't seen much quality offered, at least in
the software marketplace, I don't see any evidence for that assertion.
Personally, I think it's a cop-out fostered by companies too lazy, too
cowardly, or too incompetent to try the idea of quality.

<Massaging his rheumatoid back, the old man slides the battered soapbox
back under his desk, thinking once again that youth is wasted on the
young.>


Have fun,
Arlen
Chief Managing Director In Charge, Department of Redundancy Department
DNRC 224

Arlen -dot- P -dot- Walker -at- JCI -dot- Com
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