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Quality is the conformance to requirements. If you (the client) wanted a quick and cheap solution then A is for you. If you wanted a robust and you are willing

Quality is the conformance to requirements. If you (the client) wanted a quick and cheap solution then A is for you. If you wanted a robust and you are willing to pay the premium to get the B, you're in luck! Mega big banks in the USA suffer from tech debt A LOT. The number one reason for operation disruptions is software errors, and with a large difference to reasons 2-3-4. An additional point could be that large USA banks have a higher (imho) ratio of sociopaths in their ranks. Perhaps the sociopaths lost the ability to whip their minions, and the minions started working under normal/human speeds 40h a week instead of 60-70h per week that is the typical expected work while under the influence of a sociopathic boss. Also lets not forget that JP Morgan CEO is THIS guy: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/apr/11/jp-morgan-ceo-cant-explain-how-one-of-his-low-paid-employees-should-budget-her-salary-video https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2019/apr/11/jp-mor... I think that, although imperfect metric, the bottom line will speak of performance. I take it that there are multiple criteria that affect the bottom line, but the management of JPM cannot be trusted, again, sorry for repeating, is not the most decent in the planet. Edit: apologies for the rant-y beat down of the mega-big US banks, but yeah.. not sorry really.

xorcist 6y ago
One thing that has stuck with the after many years of working with IT is that the big projects with resources to spare, the few that really gives you time to do the work properly for once, are often the one that ends up with the most tech debt. It is completely contrary to my own feeling that debt is created by external pressure to deliver too fast. I can see why that would create perverse incentives should a project manager make a similar observation. Great art breaks constraints, but there is this symbiotic relationship where art is nothing without constraints. I'm starting to think there are similarities with other creative endeavours too, which I absolutely consider programming to be. Not sure where I wanted to go with this, just reflecting on your rant with one of my own.
- Schiendelman 6y ago
  What I’ve found over the last 20 years: Tech debt scales with amount of code written, regardless of other factors. If you write the minimum amount to validate the business need, you have minimum debt. :)
stevesimmons 6y ago
You are conflating very different issues. So yes, it does come across as a rant. My perspective, as someone who worked for JPMorgan in technology for 8 years, and for several other banks, is that JPMorgan is way above most other banks in the quality of their systems and their dev teams. Likewise the top management. Jamie Dimon is very impressive. You don't get to stay CEO of a bank with 250,000 employees for more than 20 years without being seriously good at it, very consistently.
- deleted 6y ago
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xorcist 6y ago

One thing that has stuck with the after many years of working with IT is that the big projects with resources to spare, the few that really gives you time to do the work properly for once, are often the one that ends up with the most tech debt. It is completely contrary to my own feeling that debt is created by external pressure to deliver too fast. I can see why that would create perverse incentives should a project manager make a similar observation. Great art breaks constraints, but there is this symbiotic relationship where art is nothing without constraints. I'm starting to think there are similarities with other creative endeavours too, which I absolutely consider programming to be. Not sure where I wanted to go with this, just reflecting on your rant with one of my own.

Schiendelman 6y ago
What I’ve found over the last 20 years: Tech debt scales with amount of code written, regardless of other factors. If you write the minimum amount to validate the business need, you have minimum debt. :)

stevesimmons 6y ago

You are conflating very different issues. So yes, it does come across as a rant. My perspective, as someone who worked for JPMorgan in technology for 8 years, and for several other banks, is that JPMorgan is way above most other banks in the quality of their systems and their dev teams. Likewise the top management. Jamie Dimon is very impressive. You don't get to stay CEO of a bank with 250,000 employees for more than 20 years without being seriously good at it, very consistently.

deleted 6y ago
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