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It’s nuanced. Artistic things can have deadlines more easily because you can simply decide what constitutes good enough. Functional things have to work...or t

It’s nuanced. Artistic things can have deadlines more easily because you can simply decide what constitutes good enough. Functional things have to work...or they aren’t shipping. They can decide good enough on refinements and UX...as long as it works. It that sense, there are very few real deadlines around functional things. If it doesn’t work, it’s not shipping yet...meaning it’s not really a deadline.

dahfizz 8y ago
Deadlines are also a way to manage resources and priorities. If something doesn't work, knowing when that thing needs to work by helps you determine if it's worth it to add more people or pay extra overtime, etc.
karmakaze 8y ago
[Pet peeve: nuanced is overused.] Not really, choose feature specs or choose a date, not both. Even non-artistic things can have dates, just look at Ubuntu (and now Java) releases.
- brightball 8y ago
  And when Ubuntu has a date, if something isn't ready by that date it doesn't go into the release. Simple as that.
- ergothus 8y ago
  > [Pet peeve: nuanced is overused.] I'm used to seeing (and feeling) the inverse: people are far too likely to sum everything up into a simple, but too often wrong, explanation (he says with irony) Care to explain your reasoning for why it is overused?
  - karmakaze 8y ago
    I agree that too often sweeping statements are made and there are cases where finer details matter, and... I see it as a form of one upsmanship, like wine tasting when the term is used. Other times, it's used to suggest that there's some detective work going on when the case is not so subtle or sometimes even incorrect. Or maybe I just have a narrower definition of subtle. I also prefer to use the term for analogue things rather than discrete ones. No matter how small a discrete case is clear cut.
  - tvh 8y ago
    I agree with you. Nuance is something you don't see acknowledged and used sufficiently. Everything is made to be black or white when it's mostly grey all of the time. At the same time, constantly staying in nuances prevents you from moving forward, so there's that.
lazyasciiart 8y ago
That’s not really true. Define “works” if I’m adding the ability to export a document. Is .txt enough or would my users actually want an image? Or a pdf? Or at least .csv? Maybe .txt would satisfy the power users but just upset the less computer savvy ones? Is it better than nothing?
- brightball 8y ago
  If you have a release deadline for a quarter and PDF export is supposed to be part of the release, if the export does not work will you ship the feature? You're either going to "hold the release" or you're going to release without the feature...because shipping with the broken feature will only create a huge support burden and a negative perception of your product.
omnimus 8y ago
Well i don't think it is easier with the Artistic things. For exactly those reasons you mentioned never know when the work is done. It's also hard to estimate how long stuff will take and people fall asleep meaning you might be less intensive in your work than you should be because you have no idea you are behind schedule.

dahfizz 8y ago

Deadlines are also a way to manage resources and priorities. If something doesn't work, knowing when that thing needs to work by helps you determine if it's worth it to add more people or pay extra overtime, etc.

karmakaze 8y ago

[Pet peeve: nuanced is overused.] Not really, choose feature specs or choose a date, not both. Even non-artistic things can have dates, just look at Ubuntu (and now Java) releases.

brightball 8y ago
And when Ubuntu has a date, if something isn't ready by that date it doesn't go into the release. Simple as that.
ergothus 8y ago
> [Pet peeve: nuanced is overused.] I'm used to seeing (and feeling) the inverse: people are far too likely to sum everything up into a simple, but too often wrong, explanation (he says with irony) Care to explain your reasoning for why it is overused?
- karmakaze 8y ago
  I agree that too often sweeping statements are made and there are cases where finer details matter, and... I see it as a form of one upsmanship, like wine tasting when the term is used. Other times, it's used to suggest that there's some detective work going on when the case is not so subtle or sometimes even incorrect. Or maybe I just have a narrower definition of subtle. I also prefer to use the term for analogue things rather than discrete ones. No matter how small a discrete case is clear cut.
- tvh 8y ago
  I agree with you. Nuance is something you don't see acknowledged and used sufficiently. Everything is made to be black or white when it's mostly grey all of the time. At the same time, constantly staying in nuances prevents you from moving forward, so there's that.

lazyasciiart 8y ago

That’s not really true. Define “works” if I’m adding the ability to export a document. Is .txt enough or would my users actually want an image? Or a pdf? Or at least .csv? Maybe .txt would satisfy the power users but just upset the less computer savvy ones? Is it better than nothing?

brightball 8y ago
If you have a release deadline for a quarter and PDF export is supposed to be part of the release, if the export does not work will you ship the feature? You're either going to "hold the release" or you're going to release without the feature...because shipping with the broken feature will only create a huge support burden and a negative perception of your product.

omnimus 8y ago

Well i don't think it is easier with the Artistic things. For exactly those reasons you mentioned never know when the work is done. It's also hard to estimate how long stuff will take and people fall asleep meaning you might be less intensive in your work than you should be because you have no idea you are behind schedule.