The Value of Code

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The Value of Code

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Marcia J SSCertifiable Points: 5649 More actions · Answer 1

GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
I know what you mean Steve, but I lose patience for business people who do not know what they want. You and I are technologists. We deliver solutions to business problems. If a business expert, like a finance or accounting person, does not specify the problem to us, I am sometimes at a loss about what to do next. I am a businessman myself, but come on, I am the technologist, not the finance guy. Sometimes they want the solution on a silver platter. I prefer that they know their own needs and specify them properly to me. When I am running the whole show, I have to ask: what do I need you for?

Like this e-mail that I got the day before Thanksgiving from someone who knew I was going to be off for a week in this time period: "We need a comprehensive encounter tracking report for 2014 HEDIS. We will need this by mid-December."

You want something comprehensive and all I get is a one-line spec. Don't think so.

GeorgeCopeland SSCertifiable Points: 6997 More actions · Answer 2

marcia.j.wilson (12/2/2014)
Like this e-mail that I got the day before Thanksgiving from someone who knew I was going to be off for a week in this time period: "We need a comprehensive encounter tracking report for 2014 HEDIS. We will need this by mid-December."
You want something comprehensive and all I get is a one-line spec. Don't think so.

Lol and they specify your delivery date without an estimate. Nobody does that to accounting or manufacturing, why do they think it is ok to do it to IT?

Marcia J SSCertifiable Points: 5649 More actions · Answer 3

GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
marcia.j.wilson (12/2/2014)
Like this e-mail that I got the day before Thanksgiving from someone who knew I was going to be off for a week in this time period: "We need a comprehensive encounter tracking report for 2014 HEDIS. We will need this by mid-December."
You want something comprehensive and all I get is a one-line spec. Don't think so.
Lol and they specify your delivery date without an estimate. Nobody does that to accounting or manufacturing, why do they think it is ok to do it to IT?

Both my boss and his boss looked at the e-mail and had the same reaction I did. Without more specs, we're not going forward. Chances that this (whatever this may turn out to be) will be done by mid-December are slimmer than a Jim Dandy.

Matt Miller (4) SSC Guru Points: 124210 More actions · Answer 4

marcia.j.wilson (12/2/2014)
GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
marcia.j.wilson (12/2/2014)
Like this e-mail that I got the day before Thanksgiving from someone who knew I was going to be off for a week in this time period: "We need a comprehensive encounter tracking report for 2014 HEDIS. We will need this by mid-December."
You want something comprehensive and all I get is a one-line spec. Don't think so.
Lol and they specify your delivery date without an estimate. Nobody does that to accounting or manufacturing, why do they think it is ok to do it to IT?
Both my boss and his boss looked at the e-mail and had the same reaction I did. Without more specs, we're not going forward. Chances that this (whatever this may turn out to be) will be done by mid-December are slimmer than a Jim Dandy.

True - at very least they should purchase the 600-odd page spefification manual for you first, :hehe:

Even with the manual - that's a rather massive undertaking to perform in 12 days. I hope you got some sleep in November.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your lack of planning does not constitute an emergency on my part...unless you're my manager...or a director and above...or a really loud-spoken end-user..All right - what was my emergency again?

Doctor Who 2 SSCrazy Eights Points: 8194 More actions · Answer 5

Megistal (12/2/2014)
I had that in mind while reading this morning article:
Not exactly right on the article but I guess you understand the point, whatever the situation.
(Image taken from : https://www.sqlservercentral/Forums/Uploads/Images/1640908-1.jpg)

I like that chart.

Rod

GeorgeCopeland SSCertifiable Points: 6997 More actions · Answer 6

Matt Miller (#4) (12/2/2014)
True - at very least they should purchase the 600-odd page spefification manual for you first, :hehe:

There is not much that I can do for you if you don't know what you need. If you want me to make an educated guess, I can do that, but like I said, then what do I need you for?

Marcia J SSCertifiable Points: 5649 More actions · Answer 7

GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
Matt Miller (#4) (12/2/2014)
True - at very least they should purchase the 600-odd page spefification manual for you first, :hehe:
There is not much that I can do for you if you don't know what you need. If you want me to make an educated guess, I can do that, but like I said, then what do I need you for?

Fortunately, people above me are going to push back on this. The person that submitted the request probably really has no idea what's needed, but there probably are other people in her organization that can put together a reasonable request.

Gary Varga SSC Guru Points: 82166 More actions · Answer 8

marcia.j.wilson (12/2/2014)
GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
Matt Miller (#4) (12/2/2014)
True - at very least they should purchase the 600-odd page spefification manual for you first, :hehe:
There is not much that I can do for you if you don't know what you need. If you want me to make an educated guess, I can do that, but like I said, then what do I need you for?
Fortunately, people above me are going to push back on this. The person that submitted the request probably really has no idea what's needed, but there probably are other people in her organization that can put together a reasonable request.

Sometimes when I have seen this occur it is due to the sender of the email being demanded to produce something that they have never heard of by someone their hierarchical superior and are just panicking and trying to offload.

Gaz

-- Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen...they're everywhere!!!

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 9

GeorgeCopeland (12/2/2014)
I know what you mean Steve, but I lose patience for business people who do not know what they want. You and I are technologists. We deliver solutions to business problems. If a business expert, like a finance or accounting person, does not specify the problem to us, I am sometimes at a loss about what to do next. I am a businessman myself, but come on, I am the technologist, not the finance guy. Sometimes they want the solution on a silver platter. I prefer that they know their own needs and specify them properly to me. When I am running the whole show, I have to ask: what do I need you for?

I can see your frustration, but really I think that business people aren't brilliant at everything, but they can do things in business. The problem is they don't know how to look forward, or see the potential in what software can do to the way they work, or view their industry. It's not that we provide the solution (as in idea), but that we help them brainstorm and spark a new way of looking at things.

I've seen this work well in the past where business people just don't know enough stats or ways to analyze data. They intuitively do some things, but miss others. We can help them bring some consistency, but with more flexibility, or more experimentation in ways to use data.

Steve Jones - SSC Editor SSC Guru Points: 736212 More actions · Answer 10

Miles Neale (12/2/2014)
I work at one of the government agencies that do optimize their work and tries in every way to get it right. We over the past decades continued to align our IT efforts to the Business Drivers and requirements of the people we serve. Government use to just do whatever they did, but the public has taken much more of an interest in the outcomes and process of internal IT.
Government has started to move towards a more transparent model where data is made public in a machine-readable format and is open and usable to all. The road is tough at times and there are changes in the paradigms that have solidified around the bureaucratic institutionalism that has paralyzed much of the flow of data and information for years, but the thaw is starting and there are inroads to more information.
I agree, we need to continue to move technology forward as rapidly as our business and IT professionals can agree on it, and the business can afford it.

Some do it very well. Al Gore did some work here in the 90s, getting parts of government to really rethink their model. One was the DMV near my city and they really transformed things. However, on a whole, I think government (along with plenty of companies) gets stuck in routine, not looking to be efficient.

akljfhnlaflkj SSC Guru Points: 76202 More actions · Answer 11

call.copse (12/2/2014)
Sorry if you've all read this one, think it may have been posted before, but it is relevant to this editorial.
http://blog.cleancoder.com/uncle-bob/2014/11/15/WeRuleTheWorld.html
Do we rule the world? Well, kind of, but not really while we still want pay cheques I guess.

Thanks.