Avoiding documentation bottlenecks while maintaining quality? (take II)

[Geoff Hart]

Ned Bedinger notes: <<Your 2001 article for the STC mag reminds me of  
the kid who is looking for a lost coin where the light is better,  
instead of where it was lost. :-)>>

Well, the difference is that the kid who looks in the light still  
finds more coins. (Speaking as a kid who found a lot of wandering  
coins...) Why waste time poking about in the shadows?

<<Eschew obfuscation. Endorse the quality triangle.>>

_I'd_ wear that slogan on a t-shirt, and hang it right next to my  
"beatings will continue until morale improves" shirt. <g> But at  
work, I find it's misleading to give the quality triangle too much  
credibility. When you buy into a dogma, you make it real. When you  
treat it as something that can be subverted, you can make things  
change for the better. Of course, maybe the theory's crap and I was  
just unusually brilliant in some way entirely unrelated to the  
theory? <g>

The larger point (presumably that a toxic and foolish work culture  
won't be changed in this way) is certainly correct. A lot of these  
cultures prefer to wallow in mediocrity (or worse) rather than being  
willing to risk any change. I've left a couple such situations in the  
past. You can't win 'em all, fine words notwithstanding.


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-- Geoff Hart
ghart at videotron.ca / geoffhart at mac.com
www.geoff-hart.com
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