this should get modded up. Spreadsheets say "if it takes 1 person 3 months, then with 3 people it will take 1 month". But spreadsheets cannot account for change (loss) in velocity because of the time needed to coordinate 3 people. Spreadsheets says "if it takes 1 person at $2000 3 months, then with 3 people at $500 each a month, it will cost less and be done in 1 month". But spreadsheets cannot account for experience that may change design decisions which affect total cost. I think this mentality is more prevalent in larger companies. In startups (or with startup new product), bottom line is quick out the door and as low cost as possible. Unfortunately, the spreadsheets cannot account for the higher maintenance costs long term because of decisions made in a rush to get it done. The spreadsheets says it costs $X 5 yrs ago so why is it now costing $10X.... I am dealing with this every day. True story: I was asked to estimate some work by a big MBA executive type. I put my team together and we provided and estimate. He said it was too high we needed to review it. We did. We pared it down a little ( 10%). He said that was too high. He already told the customer X. We are factoring in fixing problem areas, and missed or misunderstood requirements, and time for unit testing and time for integration testing. In otherwords we are trying to factor in those intangibles. Experience has little value (above a certain amount) unless you can make it measurable in spreadsheet. I think the person that can solve for these intangibles and make them tangible and measurable will become very rich.

Sorry I couldn't resist. Let the flame wars begin

this article justifies my reasoning to give up on apple products. they make great products but when its comes to solving problems, you're pretty much screwed. I've had similar situations. Other than hardware reset of the devices (and losing content), I've received no help from apple.

Welcome to corporate America. Through hot topic social issues, legal issues like work place harassment laws, DMCA and copyright liabilities, even corporate liability for criminal actions of employees on company property (primarily drug law enforcement), corporate America has assumed every employee is a potential liability. Congress has exempted corporations from liability if the company can prove they did "their due diligence". Oh the wonderful land of the free, unless you have a have job, rent or own anything, or have a bank account.

I started on a similar project using silverlight as the technology. I got bored with it. Nice to see someone make it working :)

its all about money. For Green Mountain, they don't like other competitors using their technology without getting a piece of the pie. And for the consumer, it will be about money too. If Keurig 2.0 with its "DRM" is more expensive, then I doubt it will fly.

Its a rhetorical question....although I wish it wasn't

Voluntary is having a sign "$50 for a cheek swab, next right". Involuntary is police directing you to testing area. Period.

Your signature pretty much explains it :D

I hope that Amazon idea takes off. Its green, economically sound idea. I think we need to get over the idea that drones are bad. They can be used in bad ways, and we should create a framework that defines good uses for drones. For lack of better words, a bill of rights about drone uses.

you need to do some searching on the internet. and maybe wake up. :) I mean that in all light warmheartedness. It's happening.

see my post below....chaching chaching. its about $ and nothing else.

Sadly, you're right. Its that stupid management mantra that if they can't see you, you must not be working. I call it lazy manager syndrome.

Experience doesn't count for much in this industry. To the bean counters (aka the types that fund and managing projects), you will get more done with 2 programmers paid $25/hr than with 1 programmer paid $50/hr. It's the proverbial problem: you can't make a baby in 1 month with 9 women. But the bean counters don't see it that way. Their spreadsheets equates man hours to productivity and nothing else factors in.

Part of the problem is its practically impossible to adequately measure cause and effect: aka "this decision lead to +/- quality, +/- hours to implement the next feature."

Its ok for the police to monitor (and I don't just mean warranted use of gps tracking) the every day activities of normal citizens but its not ok for the police to monitor themselves. mmmmm.

Let's not forget that other parts of this same legal system (specifically our court system) has said it is ok for private employers to violate the rights of their employees by doing all kinds of monitoring.

Sorry, I can't help but to be cynical.