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Part of the problem is that software project decision makers view software projects as far more mutable than physical engineering projects. In a billion dollar

Part of the problem is that software project decision makers view software projects as far more mutable than physical engineering projects. In a billion dollar construction project, everyone understands that if you want to change the design or significantly expand the scope halfway through, you're going to have a heck of a lot of increased costs & time. In software, it's very common to add scope or major design changes at any stage without understanding that the same cost and time increases will apply. For example saying 90% through the project: -Software: "we need a 2-way interface added between the complex software we're building and some other complex software" -Building: "We need an enclosed concourse built between our new building and the next building over across the street." It is obvious in the later case that there will be a lot of extra time & cost. While in the former, higher level decision makers on a software project don't understand the comparable difficulties.

RNCTX 5y ago
They do understand, they just want to not-pay. If construction companies figured out they could outsource labor to countries with far lower currency values and thereby not-pay for extra labor, they'd do the same.... oh wait...
- ineedasername 5y ago
  They do understand Not in my experience, which may not generalize. Your experience and my experience together won't really give a complete picture. What I experience is this: Even on small projects I've had people say, "okay, can you just add this one thing in the next day or two?" And they don't understand until I walk them through in detail how that one thing is nearly as complex as the initial project, so they have to choose how important it is, and if it's important do they want to wait to release the whole thing or do a release in stages. Of course my experience is not necessarily going to represent the whole. Also when outside consulting groups are involved, I often see predatory behavior: they often agree to do any change asked for and don't bother to explain the costs and time involved until a deadline is missed and the budget is running out. At which point they say "the changes you requested have pushed us over the deadline and the extra time is going to cost $X".

RNCTX 5y ago

They do understand, they just want to not-pay. If construction companies figured out they could outsource labor to countries with far lower currency values and thereby not-pay for extra labor, they'd do the same.... oh wait...

ineedasername 5y ago
They do understand Not in my experience, which may not generalize. Your experience and my experience together won't really give a complete picture. What I experience is this: Even on small projects I've had people say, "okay, can you just add this one thing in the next day or two?" And they don't understand until I walk them through in detail how that one thing is nearly as complex as the initial project, so they have to choose how important it is, and if it's important do they want to wait to release the whole thing or do a release in stages. Of course my experience is not necessarily going to represent the whole. Also when outside consulting groups are involved, I often see predatory behavior: they often agree to do any change asked for and don't bother to explain the costs and time involved until a deadline is missed and the budget is running out. At which point they say "the changes you requested have pushed us over the deadline and the extra time is going to cost $X".