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[Betsy Shoolbred] Adding my step 4a, and this is my normal MO.
?:^)
> -----Original Message-----
> From: JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM [SMTP:JIMCHEVAL -at- AOL -dot- COM]
> Sent: Tuesday, September 01, 1998 3:32 PM
> To: TECHWR-L -at- LISTSERV -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU
> Subject: The Snowball Technique (Stone Soup)
>
> It just occured to me this morning that some of my fairly thick procedures
> on
> my current project have been created by a snowball effect. To whit:
>
> 1. Someone tells me 'we don't really have a procedure for that'.
> 2. I ask them what information DOES exist.
> 3. They give me a few lines of information.
> 4. I type those up.
[Betsy Shoolbred] 4a. Look at whatever screen graphics are
available or maybe get an alpha version of the procedure installed. From
what I can decipher, type up something that seems logical to me.
> 5. I give the typed up version to someone else in the process. who says,
> "Well, that's almost true - except that we also do the following." And
> adds/corrects lines.
> 6. I take it back to the first person who responds, usually by remembering
> yet
> something else.
> 7. After several iterations of this sort, I find myself with something
> like an
> actual first draft. Maybe I even see spots where a diagram would help.
> 8. A few drafts and diagrams later, WE HAVE A DOCUMENT!!!
>
> Lovers of folk tales will recognize a process much like that used by three
> soldiers to make a rich stew from a stone in a town where there was
> 'nothing
> at all to add to the pot'. A useful metaphor in many a situation.
>
> As it happens, though, the first image that came to mind today was that of
> a
> snowball, growing larger as it rolls down hill.
>
> Either way, it's a useful technique, especially in these ad hoc,
> high-growth
> situations.
>
> Jim Chevallier
> North Hollywood
>
> New!! Pictures of PARIS!! http://www.geocities.com/paris/1998
> TW page - http://members.aol.com/jimcheval/twone.htm
> Ego page - http://www.gis.net/~jimcheval
>
> From ??? -at- ??? Sun Jan 00 00:00:00 0000=
> =
>
>
