

Very, Very Well Documented - iamelgringo
http://thedailywtf.com/Articles/Very,_Very_Well_Documented.aspx

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a-priori
Civil aviation projects are not much better.

I once worked for a sub-contractor on a contract to develop the software for a
pair of cockpit display units (Honeywell's DU-875/DU-885 units). We had a
large amount of documentation -- at least a half metre or so -- before we even
left the design phase. And this was just for the application software. The
operating system and hardware had a couple times that amount. I wouldn't be
surprised if the entire system amounted to at least 4-5 metres of docs upon
completion.

This was legitimate documentation; we didn't BS, we were just very very
detailed. The standard (DO-178B) specifies how detailed you need to be, not
how much you need to produce.

In fact, as I recall, I spent most my time maintaining documentation.

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fgb
That reminds me of when I worked as a consultant with a company that did a lot
of military contracts. I had to start on a project right away but couldn't
work with sensitive data until my security clearance came through. So I did
what any programmer would do, I made up a bunch of data to test the code. The
software would produce reports which had to have to have the word SECRET
clearly visible on the first page. The funny part was, I wound up producing
several boxes full of bogus reports which had to be treated as secret. So they
had to be stored and destroyed according to military specs.

~~~
bayareaguy
I had a friend who did admin stuff for a research group at what was once known
as ford aerospace. He told me once that his boss always hated anything SECRET
because they then had to install more locked cabinets in order to keep it
secure for several years.

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noonespecial
Why humans really need artificial intelligence: To read thru all of that
nonsense and produce the 7 page summary that the actual relevant information
could be contained in.

If you think engineering produces pointless paper for the sake thereof, you
should see law!

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edw519
Your tax dollars at work.

