3 ms·

"Mythical man-months" aside, Apple really has no excuse for putting out such low quality software, considering their resources.

madeofpalk 11y ago
Mythical man-month isn't even an excuse - Apple software isn't running late. Well at least, the cycle is well known and it should be easy to add more people from the beginning before it gets too late.
- javert 11y ago
  Actually, this raises an interesting issue. You truly can't speed up software dev by adding more people (beyond a certain point)---it's not just on late projects that it is true. But you can do that on testing. If you want to run 1,000 tests 10 times each, to drive down the possible rate of errors to near zero, you just need to have 10,000 people run one test each. So basically, you can make the entire process take only as long as the longest single test.
  - Joeri 11y ago
    Ah, but you still need to design the tests, which requires knowing the exact design and behavior of the software, which is subject to late change due to tester feedback. So there is a lot of critical path forming at the end of a software dev cycle which more people cannot pull you out of. The mythical man month reminds us that 9 women can't make a baby in one month. Adding people to a project bound by a critical path can only make it later. And the more you care about design and UX in your initial release, the more you will see that sort of thing.
    - javert 11y ago
      That's true. However, it doesn't really negate my point, it complements it. In this case, Apple could have a "test" that is: install the new OS under test on a machine, and see if performance degrades on other machines on the same network. You could have 10 people test it with 10 different networks. It's expensive, but Apple could heat their HQ by burning cash if they wanted. Admittedly, some things will still get through due to tests that you would only think to do in hindsight. But once you have the test, they won't get through again.
  - madeofpalk 11y ago
    Mythical man month says that adding more people to an already late project only makes it even later. It explicitly says that if you start with more people, you can do it quicker (to an extent - after all, 9 women can't make a baby in one month)

madeofpalk 11y ago

Mythical man-month isn't even an excuse - Apple software isn't running late. Well at least, the cycle is well known and it should be easy to add more people from the beginning before it gets too late.

javert 11y ago
Actually, this raises an interesting issue. You truly can't speed up software dev by adding more people (beyond a certain point)---it's not just on late projects that it is true. But you can do that on testing. If you want to run 1,000 tests 10 times each, to drive down the possible rate of errors to near zero, you just need to have 10,000 people run one test each. So basically, you can make the entire process take only as long as the longest single test.
- Joeri 11y ago
  Ah, but you still need to design the tests, which requires knowing the exact design and behavior of the software, which is subject to late change due to tester feedback. So there is a lot of critical path forming at the end of a software dev cycle which more people cannot pull you out of. The mythical man month reminds us that 9 women can't make a baby in one month. Adding people to a project bound by a critical path can only make it later. And the more you care about design and UX in your initial release, the more you will see that sort of thing.
  - javert 11y ago
    That's true. However, it doesn't really negate my point, it complements it. In this case, Apple could have a "test" that is: install the new OS under test on a machine, and see if performance degrades on other machines on the same network. You could have 10 people test it with 10 different networks. It's expensive, but Apple could heat their HQ by burning cash if they wanted. Admittedly, some things will still get through due to tests that you would only think to do in hindsight. But once you have the test, they won't get through again.
- madeofpalk 11y ago
  Mythical man month says that adding more people to an already late project only makes it even later. It explicitly says that if you start with more people, you can do it quicker (to an extent - after all, 9 women can't make a baby in one month)