

The Iceberg Secret, Revealed - bootload
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000356.html

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bootload
_"... You know how an iceberg is 90% underwater? Well, most software is like
that too -- there's a pretty user interface that takes about 10% of the work,
and then 90% of the programming work is under the covers. And if you take into
account the fact that about half of your time is spent fixing bugs, the UI
only takes 5% of the work. And if you limit yourself to the visual part of the
UI, the pixels, what you would see in PowerPoint, now we're talking less than
1%. That's not the secret. The secret is that People Who Aren't Programmers Do
Not Understand This. ..."_

An old article but important to understand.

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diN0bot
the assumptions that people make when looking at a product, programmers or
not, are probably valid (anecdotal evidence from OP and myself).

this is obviously a big issue, but how come people can't just talk about it.
are there managers who really wouldn't listen to the state of things and plan
accordingly?

i have a sense that improving communication would solve a lot of the
misunderstandings, especially if there are negative or counter productive
attitudes present.

everyone has assumptions. they effect more than this particular situation,
too....if you let them.

~~~
RiderOfGiraffes
> are there managers who really wouldn't listen to the state of things and
> plan accordingly?

Listening to something someone says, and having your own perceptions, are
completely different. I think you are being too rational. People are not
rational. Programmers are always too optimistic about how much work there is
to do and how much has been done, and managers always thing that what they see
is all there is.

I agree with the article, and I think simply talking about it doesn't solve
the problem. You're right that communication is the key. What the article is
proposing is to wrap that communication into the prototypes and
demonstrations.

Glossy, pixel-perfect demonstrations are, in their own way, lies.

