Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Battlestar Galactica and Developing Software

For Christmas this year, my wife got me some really cool gifts. And a few days ago, I read an article that Joel linked to in his Dreaming in Code article. It got me to thinking, especially Joel's Yiddish to English analogy.

The two books, in particular, were very good. The meat of the books focuses on the creation and inspiration for the episodes, including the starting concepts (the episode Scar was initially just an idea: "the Red Baron episode") and their evolution into what I saw when I plunked my butt down on the couch with my wife and friends every Friday night.

There seemed to be a lot of vague ideas that went from brainstorming sessions, to screenwriters, to the producers, back to the screenwriters, to the producers, back to the screenwriters, to the producers, the director, back to the screenwriters (yes, I am repeating myself on purpose), and so on. And once a script was written, the actors would do take after take until the director was satisfied.

It got me to thinking about how many teams approach software specifications, estimates, and that oh-so-fuzzy factor I like to call "Client Satisfaction." This client can be the general public (if you do shrinkwrap software), the big multinational corporation that's going to send your consulting business into the stratosphere, or your professor grading your midterm project.

You start with an idea: We need an "inventory system." If you're like some custom-software consultants, at this point you send a fleet of analysts that "speak customer" to try to figure out how to translate "inventory system" into a 200-page specifications document.

Then, the document goes to the developers to estimate, of if you don't want to use that word as a verb, to give an estimate. Read that last word again. Estimate. Dictionary.com defines estimate as:

to form an approximate judgment or opinion regarding the worth, amount, size, weight, etc., of; calculate approximately

or

a statement of the approximate charge for work to be done, submitted by a person or business firm ready to undertake the work

Notice the key word in both definitions: approximate. We all know what that means (as I'm sure you knew what estimate meant, but I'm trying to illustrate something, so bear with me.)

Approximate. Why is it that an approximation in many software shops is treated like a prediction from Nostradamus, and not more like a "I hope it takes this long, but maybe not." If you're someone in charge of scheduling, please don't divide this by some number (usually 8, which is wrong), figure out which day of the week that falls on, and sign a contract with a client gauranteeing that it'll be done on that day. You'll be sorry.

In the past, I've been tasked with estimating very large pieces of software. There's been some with very well-written specification documents, and most of what has been asked of me is not difficult, at first glance. There's been others where it was just an idea.

Usually, when it comes down to giving the final "magic number" of hours, it's not that that number is balked at. It's that several times, scheduling based solely on that number of hours usually results in missed deadlines, frazzled developers, and perhaps most importantly, unsatisfied customers.

Why unsatisfied customers? In my experience, when I've developed larger applications, with a traditional BDUF pattern, the customer won't see a product until about 75% of development is done. By then, they've probably formed some more concrete ideas in their heads of what they want, and since they're (most likely) not developers, it may not be what you give them.

What does this have to do with TV? Many of the roles are analogous. Actors are developers - their performance can be thought of as the actual computer. Screenwriters function as a business analyst. The director is the client. (You could argue they're QA, and the client is the viewer. But it's my blog, so I'm making the analogies.)

There's lots and lots of revisions in this process. The client gets immediate feedback from the program's output, and if he doesn't like it, he asks the developer to try again, "with feeling."

This is something that many need to realize about developing software. The client has a fuzzy idea about what it is they want, and it's hard to nail that down in "specifications documents" or "business requirements." I'm not advocating throwing these documents out the window - well-written specs are invaluable to have. They need to evolve with feedback from the client - and it needs to be sooner, rather than later. And you better schedule that in too - because no client is ever satisfied with the first draft.

That's why good actors are paid lots of money - they start to instinctively know what it is their client wants and can give it to them with the least amount of iterations. I think that people who serve this role in the development world, like free electrons, or business analysts that are "good at dealing with people, can't you understand that?" are who you want on your team. They can get the satisfaction up high with the fewest iterations. They grok what the customer really wants.

So, remember this: clients don't know exactly what they want. They have an idea. Help them shape and mold that idea until they look at you give them and say "YES! That's what I've been after." Be sure to build that into your schedule too.

It would be nice if we could have a "satisfaction requirements" document, though. That's definitely the answer.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up!