Getting it down to One Thing
Submitted by doc on Sat, 11/05/2005 - 01:13.
David Newberger says "Scope Creep"...
can doom a project before it even starts. We all know this but do we pay attention to this? it may be that some do and some don’t as usual but I bet more don’t worry about it then do worry about it. With the project I am working on right now I have the words plastered all over the place to remind me to try and avoid it. Some of the creep that has entered the process has been good and others that have entered are not suited for the project at this time. The ones that are not suited for the project usually get weeded out in one of the design meeting but that still means that it got into the system in the first place. The fact that it got into the design in the first place is not a problem if it is removed before it gets to far along, however there is an under lying problem that some may not see and that is the time someone put into the thought of the item in question.
I'm not a developer, but I can I dentify with the issue. There's always a temptation to do more, to say more, about more subjects at once.
I've always thought that if you can say (or do, or create something that does) one thing well, that single purpose will have a powerful editing effect. Scope-broadening either does or doesn't go with that one thing. More often than not, More Stuff doesn't go.
Right now I'm amazed at how many new products and services that I don't understand are flooding into in the Web space.
Take Microsoft's new "Windows Live" and "Office Live", for example. What are they? I have no idea, because the one thing either of them does is clear as mud. I'm glad Mary Jo Foley and other folks who care are around to help make sense of the mess but... I have no idea. (And since I purposefully avoid Windows, I'm especially flummoxed. Yet, I'm told that as a non-Windows Web-native kinda guy, I'm in the target group for whatever it is that Microsoft is offering here.)
Of course, Microsoft's scope is gallactic to begin with. Narrowing down probably doesn't come easy. Still, they need to do it.
Meanwhile Flickr is so killer because it's basically one thing: a photo album. It's album-y nature makes sense of the rest of the stuff that goes with it: the photo sets, the uploaders, the public/private distinctions, the tagging, the groups and communities... All have analagous activities in familiar physical photo album creating, annotating, sharing and storing.
Does this ring true for you developer types out there?
LsMpyajasuaC
Very good site!
Scope Creep
When I took Systems Analysis and Design the instructor was a former employee of Oracle. He told us what happens when creep sets in. He worked on a project for a furniture manufacturer who was migrating to Oracle. The bosses were intrigued by every new thing that came out and always wanted to add it to the project. A 14 to 16 month migration turned into 2.5 years and several million dollars. The company filed for bankruptcy and the project was cancled.
If strict guidlines are set in the design phase (this is what we need and is all we will pay for, no exceptions for what we want) and enforced to the end, this won't happen. A good salesman and a boss or board who fall for everything presented will fail.
I live in High Point, NC the furniture capital of the world. The buyers for every furniture store, chain, or shop were here for 10 days last month for our bi-annual zoo known the the International Home Furnishings Market, they will be back in April. I will not name the company, but it is local, and is doing much better now with new leadership.
Scope Creep
Happens in many occupations in life. I program PLC's (programmable logic controllers) for control of industrial equipment. If the initial design wasn't set up correctly initially the point is reached where to add even the most simple additional function then whole project comes to a standstill. If the inital concept is too narrow the wall is hit sooner than with a more broad initial concept. Sometime this is a good thing - it does one thing and does it very well. But if it needs to do two things it hits the wall... Sometimes the best thing to do is start with a brand new concept and use the experience the previous time around to help create that new concept.
Sounds a lot like System Design and System Analysis from junior senior year in college...
Pete Cook