tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381129527146258002.post8579255721921963..comments2024-03-28T04:51:40.042-07:00Comments on Agile Otter Blog: The Fast Food Chicken DilemmaAgileotterhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10773578598860454277noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381129527146258002.post-12371076413084233202011-02-22T19:45:16.230-08:002011-02-22T19:45:16.230-08:00Regardless, the real point was that you don't ...Regardless, the real point was that you don't have enough time for cooking it the normal way, and you can't sent it out raw. What kinds of things would you do to have it ready (safely) sooner?Agileotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10773578598860454277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381129527146258002.post-76058309113125947072009-10-19T16:05:51.020-07:002009-10-19T16:05:51.020-07:00Another simiarity: you can tell when a chicken san...Another simiarity: you can tell when a chicken sandwich is "done", but you can't tell if the customer will *like* it.Agileotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10773578598860454277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381129527146258002.post-77342829026105670162009-10-07T07:56:18.613-07:002009-10-07T07:56:18.613-07:00Every analogy is weak, which is why "proof by...Every analogy is weak, which is why "proof by analogy" is a fallacy, yes? Still, let me give a little support to the valid parts of the analogy.<br /><br />It is partly about knowing when the software is "ready enough". We have the spectrum between "disastrously underdone" and "disastrously late". Faced with one disaster, we should not rush into the other.<br /><br />In incremental development, we frequently release things that are not fully-featured. In Agile we don't release code that is untested, has never had two sets of eyes, hasn't been demonstrated. Heck, we don't release that kind of crap to our internal testing department (when we have one) let alone a paying customer. This isn't to say the code is perfect, but the *known* defect count is surprisingly low.<br /><br />Another valid point is that the technical realities of programming or frying chicken are as real as the business problem, so one can not solve the business issues by shorting the technical issues. To wit: under-cooking the chicken is not an option. Period.<br /><br />Another valid point (should be pretty obvious pretty early in brainstorming solutions) is that without some kind of partnership between the people running the business and the people doing the work, little can be done. There are things that the cook can recommend to the management, and management can decide what they can afford and when.<br /><br />An insufficient system limits the success of all its participants. Blame and pressure are the marks of an insufficient system.<br /><br />A refutation of refutation: Most of the software I use is upgraded frequently, as windows is. I know yours is bundled with a machine that won't be upgraded any time soon, but most of the software I use every day is either a web app (upgraded at will) or has an auto-upgrader somewhere in there. I don't deny the existence of one-time purposes, but I think it's more rare these days and a mostly uninteresting case.Agileotterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10773578598860454277noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-381129527146258002.post-14057586815340407352009-10-06T19:07:36.749-07:002009-10-06T19:07:36.749-07:00Microsoft became what they are today by selling un...Microsoft became what they are today by selling unfinished software. ;-)<br /><br />Their current problem is that most of their customers believe that the current version is finished and they are no longer willing to buy the upgrades.<br /><br />Seriously however the chicken sandwich analogy has serious defects.<br /><br />* People eat three times a day. Many software purchases are one time deals that will not be repeated for many years if ever.<br /><br />* You can't send out patches, or upgrades to the chicken sandwich you sold three years ago.<br /><br />* You can tell when a chicken sandwich is "done", but no matter how well you test a software package there will always be choices that the development team made which some, or perhaps all customers down the road will regard as a bug.<br /><br />(An engineer who I regard as very wise once told me that no computer program is truly complete and finished until the last machine that can run it stops functioning.)Walter Moorenoreply@blogger.com