Comment Re:What a complicated question! (Score 1) 748
I once arrived at a (fortunately) short project to find the specification /consisted/ of:
1) The project will use Microsoft Access, because the client has already bought enough copies of that.
2) The project will cost UKP 2000 or less.
3) The developer will not speak to the end users: they're too busy doing real work.
4) Whatever gets delivered gets vetted by the client management. Before any money is paid.
I did about 2Ks worth of what we guessed would be useful software and bailed. The users were /intransigent/ about not changing their working practices (which consisted of /RETYPING/ Word documents with minor changes in each draft), utterly unable to make decisions, and utterly unable to understand that there are some things Access is not a good choice for.
I have no idea what the hell happened at the end, I'm just glad I didn't stick around to find out.
It's not the first time a project has been like that, it's just an extreme case. And yet all these users are surprised by the software that results...
1) The project will use Microsoft Access, because the client has already bought enough copies of that.
2) The project will cost UKP 2000 or less.
3) The developer will not speak to the end users: they're too busy doing real work.
4) Whatever gets delivered gets vetted by the client management. Before any money is paid.
I did about 2Ks worth of what we guessed would be useful software and bailed. The users were
I have no idea what the hell happened at the end, I'm just glad I didn't stick around to find out.
It's not the first time a project has been like that, it's just an extreme case. And yet all these users are surprised by the software that results...
