4 ms·
That's a bit naive. Or rather it's just naive. The underlying problem that leads to crunch periods is not of planning or accurate estimation. The problem is wi
by eps 13y ago
That's a bit naive. Or rather it's just naive.
The underlying problem that leads to crunch periods is not of planning or accurate estimation. The problem is with the psychology. I'll give you a week to implement something that involves a tiny fraction of research or variance, and you can bet that a lot of people will spend 90% of their time allowance investigating this part and then squeezing the actual grunt work into remaining 10%. So of course it will lead to the crunch! All because the grunt work and known solutions are boring and take the fun out of programming, so any decent programmer will tackle any chance for some research and exploration.
That said, relying on overtime as an available resource during the planning phase - yes, this is bad and it leads to unhealthy work environment. Just ask EA.
- Nilzor 13y agoWasn't gonna upvote until you finished with "Just ask EA"
- ChristianMarks 13y agoWho is EA? Nothing rings a bell--except for "Elephant Ass."
- thenomad 13y agoElectronic Arts, computer games company famous for misuse of overtime.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- smoyer 13y agoElectronic Arts
- ChristianMarks 13y agoI see a connoisseur of Samuel Beckett assigned me one downvote. My interpretation of 'EA' was likely close to the mark. And a further downvote by a namesake.
- unwind 13y agoThat'd be Electronic Arts, who earned a bit of ... unsigned publicity thanks to the blog of "ea_spouse" (http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html http://ea-spouse.livejournal.com/274.html) back in 2004, for instance.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- ChristianMarks 13y agoMany thanks. I must stick with my interpretation, as the association is now indelible as it is accurate.
- Tyrannosaurs 13y ago"any decent programmer will tackle any chance for some research and exploration" Doesn't that depend on your definition of "decent"? I'd question whether putting research and exploration over a known, workable solution with the end result that you miss an otherwise reasonable deadline, isn't necessarily "decent" behavior. Learning, investigation and curiosity are good and vital but if the job you're paid to do is to deliver software on time the trade off between that and delivery should be consciously weighed and communicated, not just assumed that the fun thing wins. (Incidentally, I'm not agreeing that this is the only reason that deadlines are missed - it's one reason but the list elsewhere in this thread contains a lot of truth too, particularly the bit about imposed deadlines which is 100% the case on the project I'm on now).