Requirement Gathering

  • Thread starter Thread starter Larry Bud
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Larry Bud

I've worked at a disfunctional company for more than a year. Somehow
we manage to make money (niche market, for sure).

The problem we have is a culture around here that tries to push out
software as fast as possible, with little or no requirement gathering
and testing. It's like an assembly line of projects, many of which
end up turning into "fires" after they go live because of the half-
assed development effort. But hey, it was done "on time". It's a
joke.

We've got a VP of IT who doesn't understand software development at
all, and most of the existing developers have been at this small
company for years with no formal environment in which to program.

So needless to say, documentation is non-existant, requirement
gathering is at a VERY high level, and the only testing is done by the
developer.

I realize this is a aspnet framework forum, but I figured it would be
as good as any to pick the minds of other developers. Has anyone ever
been in a situtation like this, and what did you do, if anything, to
try and steer the culture?
 
Larry Bud said:
I've worked at a disfunctional company for more than a year. Somehow
we manage to make money (niche market, for sure).

The problem we have is a culture around here that tries to push out
software as fast as possible, with little or no requirement gathering
and testing. It's like an assembly line of projects, many of which
end up turning into "fires" after they go live because of the half-
assed development effort. But hey, it was done "on time". It's a
joke.

We've got a VP of IT who doesn't understand software development at
all, and most of the existing developers have been at this small
company for years with no formal environment in which to program.

So needless to say, documentation is non-existant, requirement
gathering is at a VERY high level, and the only testing is done by the
developer.

I realize this is a aspnet framework forum, but I figured it would be
as good as any to pick the minds of other developers. Has anyone ever
been in a situtation like this, and what did you do, if anything, to
try and steer the culture?
Click to expand...

I almost did a burnout for trying to make my points in a company with
similar methods.

My first guess would be to test the openmindness of the decision makers to
let the development team do their work their way (After all, they are the
professionals). If they don't believe in the team (because they're not from
the same background, and they think analysis is a waste of time), then all
your efforts will be worthless and you'll crawl against the wave.

It seems they already tasted the "effectiveness" of the methodology in place
because they delivered projects of time and they managed to stay in
business. I think they don't see the benefits of spending more money on
analysis that will further cut the already thin profit.

If you ask, it's because you care and you're not well. My 2 cents? Get out
of there, they don't deserve you. I did quit and it's the best thing I ever
did. I now work for the eBusiness part of the biggest communication agency
in Canada and they want me to lead a team in the neir future.

Mike
 
sloan said:
My $.02 worth:


If the culture is possibly changable, investigate:

Scrum / Agile
(Read some stuff by Bob Galen http://www.rgalen.com/about.html )

UnitTesting
http://www.pragprog.com/titles/utc2/pragmatic-unit-testing-in-c-with-nunit

Grab a copy of
http://www.pragmaticprogrammer.com/the-pragmatic-programmer
(Check ebay for used copies)

========================================
If the culture/VP is unmovable, find another job if you can.
Click to expand...

The best way I have found to "fight" this is to not fight.

1. Prepare concrete examples of how the problem manifests itself at your
company.
2. Don't make it personal.
3. If possible give figures to illustrate how the problem affects the
bottom line
4. Show how easy doing the job correctly is compared to doing it wrong
5. If possible provide a current customers comments that are the result
of the problem

LS
 
"Larry Bud" <[email protected]> a crit dans le message de (e-mail address removed)...










I almost did a burnout for trying to make my points in a company with
similar methods.

My first guess would be to test the openmindness of the decision makers to
let the development team do their work their way (After all, they are the
professionals). If they don't believe in the team (because they're not from
the same background, and they think analysis is a waste of time), then all
your efforts will be worthless and you'll crawl against the wave.
Click to expand...

What really frustrating is that they SAY they want to change, they SAY
they want to gather specs properly, test properly, etc, but when it
comes time to do it, they revert back to their old ways.

They sure talk a good game, though!
 
Man I experienced the exact same thing... It's like old memories coming back
:)

It's even more frustrating that they show willingness when at the end they
do nothing about it.

Good luck !
 
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