in reply to Make it good

While all of these are nice to have, it is critical to remember that the only criterion of business software is the first one - Make it Work. 2/3 of all software projects fail. I would hazard that the main reason this happens is they forget the first rule.

OpenSource, incidentally, tends to avoid this problem with the "Release Early, Release Often" mantra.

Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

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Re^2: Make it good
by DrHyde (Prior) on Oct 18, 2004 at 16:39 UTC
    Well, there's also "deliver it on time" and "deliver it within budget". Following the other guidelines helps in achieving all three business criteria.
[reply]
      Does it matter if I deliver something on-time and under-budget if it doesn't work? This implies that there is a definite ordering to the rules.

      Being right, does not endow the right to be rude; politeness costs nothing.
      Being unknowing, is not the same as being stupid.
      Expressing a contrary opinion, whether to the individual or the group, is more often a sign of deeper thought than of cantankerous belligerence.
      Do not mistake your goals as the only goals; your opinion as the only opinion; your confidence as correctness. Saying you know better is not the same as explaining you know better.

[reply]

        Does it matter if, at the deadline, I'm hopelessly over budget and it still doesn't work yet? Or, at the end of the budget, I'm going to get it to work at the deadline, continuing the same course through money? Either way, you're still likely looking at a project getting killed. Just as likely as your scenario, I think, because given more time and budget, you might be able to take the deliverable and make it work.

        If there is a business ordering to this, it's not transparently obvious to me. Different managers/corporations would treat each of the three failures (working, deadline, budget) differently. radiantmatrix's other goals aren't even on the same page as these three, but the ordering between these three is blurry to me.

[reply]

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