Soft Side of IT

Have you ever order some food & have a image of what it would be … but you got completely different?   For example: If you order a medium-well burger and imagined a juicy burger with steak like texture; When it arrives, you got a hybrid of sloppy joes & a burger from a big fast-food chain.

You essentially kind of got what you ordered, because it was up to spec, although it was not what you were hoping for. This happens quite a bit in IT; When a user request for an addition part/enhancement to a system.

Here is a common scenario for an enhancement process:
1. use request a change
2. user describe the change
3. Business/system analyst change those description into specifications list
4. Develop get list & figure what the user wants
5. Developer code to spec
6. User gets the change & say that’s not what I was looking for
7. Sent back with a ton of changes to the developer
… everyone is pissed off & think the other people are idiots

What might of went wrong?

• User could describe what they were looking for in word
• User described a solution, not the problem
• Business system analyst didn’t know what the user really wanted
• Business analyst didn’t emphesize which specs was important/key
• Developer didn’t know the business need or the reason for the enhancement
• Developer literally follow the specs word by word
• With good intentions, the developer added what they think might help the user

Any of this is a very common reason that a IT project often gets delayed & why outsourcing failed for so many. 

As I’m writing this, I ordered a spaghetti bolognese & I got one that smelled & kind of tased like old rags … irk & yet how timely?  =P