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> Firstly you you are still assuming the same gross exaggeration of novelty I disagree. Even when you're doing mundane everyday stuff you have done a thousand

by Aaargh20318 8y ago

> Firstly you you are still assuming the same gross exaggeration of novelty I disagree. Even when you're doing mundane everyday stuff you have done a thousand times before, one trivial variation may throw of your estimate completely. Maybe an edge-case in this specific project triggers a bug in a 3rd party's library, and you're losing weeks waiting for the 3rd party to roll out the fix (been there, done that). You just don't know in advance > you can do analysis and planning at a much higher level of abstraction than development Of course, but then you'll get an inaccurate estimate. > Waterfall gave the impression that planning and analysis is costly by insisting it should be carried down to the lowest levels of abstraction That's only necessary if you want an accurate estimate. I think accurate estimates are pipe dreams.

mannykannot 8y ago
There is a false dichotomy here between knowing everything and knowing nothing, between perfection and utter chaos. You may only have experienced the latter, but there are places where people know pretty much what they are doing, most of the time.
- AuthorizedCust 8y ago
  > ...there are places where people know pretty much what they are doing, most of the time. It's called spec programming, where you have programmers slinging code against precise specifications. Common in ERP and regulatory or business compliance-driven code. On the other hand, you have development. That is where you're attacking the less defined problems. Sure, we know the tools in our toolset, how to apply them, and time it takes to apply each tool. Problem is, the time to figure out the series of tools needed and their precise applications burns enormous time, time that could have been spent towards a MVP.
  - mannykannot 8y ago
    > Problem is, the time to figure out the series of tools needed and their precise applications burns enormous time. In the use of the adjectives 'precise' and 'enormous', you are just repeating the same false dichotomy in a slightly different form, by ignoring (or not understanding) my point about the use of abstraction in analytical thinking. The people who are most successful in what you distinguish as development understand a good deal more about what they are working on than spec programmers need to, and they are not, as you imply, groping around in the dark for a solution - that's what spec programmers do when faced with a development problem.

mannykannot 8y ago

There is a false dichotomy here between knowing everything and knowing nothing, between perfection and utter chaos. You may only have experienced the latter, but there are places where people know pretty much what they are doing, most of the time.

AuthorizedCust 8y ago
> ...there are places where people know pretty much what they are doing, most of the time. It's called spec programming, where you have programmers slinging code against precise specifications. Common in ERP and regulatory or business compliance-driven code. On the other hand, you have development. That is where you're attacking the less defined problems. Sure, we know the tools in our toolset, how to apply them, and time it takes to apply each tool. Problem is, the time to figure out the series of tools needed and their precise applications burns enormous time, time that could have been spent towards a MVP.
- mannykannot 8y ago
  > Problem is, the time to figure out the series of tools needed and their precise applications burns enormous time. In the use of the adjectives 'precise' and 'enormous', you are just repeating the same false dichotomy in a slightly different form, by ignoring (or not understanding) my point about the use of abstraction in analytical thinking. The people who are most successful in what you distinguish as development understand a good deal more about what they are working on than spec programmers need to, and they are not, as you imply, groping around in the dark for a solution - that's what spec programmers do when faced with a development problem.