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FW: Another question I've had for years... and Re: Enchanted Development Organizations Was: Re: Expectations too high?
Subject:FW: Another question I've had for years... and Re: Enchanted Development Organizations Was: Re: Expectations too high? From:"Partridge, Robert" <Robert -dot- Partridge -at- au -dot- unisys -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 23 Sep 2004 12:59:21 +1000
I think the problem probably does only relate to software. By it's nature it is invisible to the eye. You can't pick it up and play with it. You can't immediately see all its features. Even hacking into it you sometimes can't find everything, and even when you do, you may not be able to immediately determine what it does. You rely on developers telling you the features, testing it yourself, specifications, schematics, flowcharts and other sources to infer what the software really does.
In hardware (white goods and consumer electronics) I found that the getting of information is much much easier. The item to be documented is often right there in your hands and needs no further instruction. You get what you see. And generally, a TV's a TV's a TV. Even across different manufacturers, there are very few differences between the way you connect and tune them.
Rob
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Gene Kim-Eng wrote:
I wonder if it's just a coincidence that these sorts of complaints
always seem to come from writers who work in development
environments where the end product is software or other IP?
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