Development thoughts for the day.

I am often amazed at how development is similar to other things in our world.  For example, I love golf and working out at the gym.  Developing software is very similar to each of these other items. 

I have often said that with golf, it is not a question of how good are your good shots, its a question of how bad are your bad shots.  In golf, consistency is very important.  Developing code is very similar.  You can do a bunch of really good development full of good ideas, but you can screw all that up by implmenting a bad algorithm in the wrong spot.  For example, implementing a bubble-sort is ok, but you should know how many records are going to be passed into that bubble sort before you start.  If you are going to sort 10 records, a bubble-sort is fine.  If you need to sort a million records, a bubble-sort is not the algorithm to use.

With working out, it is important to keep trying.  I have heard the term “sticktoativeness” used in the gym.  Keep at it and good things tend to happen.  The same thing is true with development.  Keep working on your algorithms and coding and good things tend to happen.

One place where the similarities don't hold up is in real estate development.  My father is in real estate development.  He is always asking why can't we provide a set price for any work.  Well, we can, but it is hard to figure out what the customer wants in anything beyond general terms because even the customer doesn't know what they want.  One example is doors.  In typical residencial development, doors are either 7 feet or 8 feet in height.  In my world, I have found that the customer typically wants one part of the door to be 7 feet and one part to be 8 feet.  Sometimes there is a straight line between the two.  Sometimes there is a step function half way between.  Now, how should you price that one out?

Wally