

Getting the "ship it" idea into developers stubborn minds: some links - ppolsinelli
http://licorize.com/users/ppolsinelli/shipping

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wccrawford
The 'shipping' problem isn't caused by programmers. It's caused by architects.
Or lack thereof.

Management asks for a product, sometimes even hires someone to design that
product. The programmers are then tasked to code that product, including all
the features asked for and code them without bugs or flaws. Then they are
given an artificial deadline.

When the deadline approaches, they are then given different instructions...
They have to either code quickly (sloppily) and ignore the flaws/bugs, or
leave out features because it's no longer possible to meet the deadline and do
their job properly.

They should -not- be making that decision. Management should be telling them
what features to code, letting them get them right, and then giving them more
features to code. Create the product incrementally, instead of waiting until
the end to force a deadline.

Yes, that sounds an awful lot like Agile, but there's no reason it can't be
done in Waterfall. It's a matter of proper planning and responsibility.

If your developers are saying they aren't ready to ship, it's because you've
asked too much of them. (Assuming they aren't incompetent, since you should
fire them if they are.)

No developer worth his salt wants to ship a product with bugs. To ask them to
do so is to ask them to violate their personal ethics. At least, for known
problems. Unknown problems will always exist due to the nature of the beast.

~~~
adamtj
You can't always give developers a list of features and wait until they think
it's done. Management should give developers a feature/bug list, developers
should then estimate the items on that list. Then management can pick a subset
of items for the next release. If there are features that really need to be
done and there isn't time, management can negotiate the scope or design of the
feature with developers (but never the estimates). Sometimes it's better to
ship a simpler feature now, than wait to ship a feature that's "right".

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scrrr
Why not just list everything in one html document? This is a bit annoying to
navigate.

~~~
ppolsinelli
Try this:

<http://licorize.com/users/ppolsinelli/shipping?list>

~~~
danio
That just shows an empty white box for me (FF 3.6).

The right arrow button to look at the different links has poor
discoverability. The first link is shown twice on the main page, and there's
no real indication that there are any more links. [edit: slowness was caused
by twitter being open in another tab!]

Licorize is an interesting idea, but I feel needs more work before being
unleashed on the general public.

~~~
drtse4
Don't know why but refreshing fixed this issue for me.

Btw, it's the 2nd or 3rd time i see a link to something on licorize but every
time i feel its interface it's a bit hard to "get" and a little confusing (it
could be me). What about removing the image list at the bottom (it ruins the
layout imho), making the page preview clickable and use more identifiable
icons? My €0.02.

~~~
ppolsinelli
We are working on the layout of Licorize booklets - updates will be online
soon, including hand picking which images to show.

