2008.08.05 |  Todd Olson |  Software Development

You can’t handle the truth

Are you working on your Jack Nicholson? I hear far too many comments like this. Apparently others do as well.

"What will my customer think if they realize we only spend 50% of our day developing and spend the rest in email and other tools?" -- a common question from service providers

"You're better than average," I typically respond.

In the past 30 days here's the breakdown of tool usage in our development community:

  1. Web Browsers: 47%
  2. IDE/Editors: 16%
  3. Email: 14%
  4. Office: 9%
  5. IM: 6%
  6. ...rest...

So if your developers are spending a majority of their time outside of a development environment, they are normal.

True Transparency

True transparency is a scary concept especially when it's contrary to the status quo. Right now customers have very little visibility into the software development process. They've been living with "trust us -- it's 75% complete" for a very long time. Sometimes this is correct -- some times it is grossly inaccurate. Regardless, it is the way things are often done.

Maybe I'm naive, but I feel that customers / business folks can handle the truth. Of course, the truth needs to be accompanied with explanations and examples. I also believe that the truth could improve predictability in projects and vastly improve relationships.

Concern about customers learning the true is simply due to the lack of education. A key part of education is having the facts and metrics to back up assertions. Developers ( and development teams ) complain about scope creep all the time. It's definitely the top complaint I hear. Do the development teams ever graphically illustrate the time waste in scope creep? Do they have spreadsheets with the time ( and $$ ) lost? Sadly, they rarely do. Most would rather simply complain at the water cooler.

The Truth Hurts

I searched online on why it's hard to tell the truth and found a nice thread on it. However, in software development the truth doesn't necessarily hurt anyone, but I agree that folks often don't want to hear it. They want their software 2 weeks early, under-budget and bug-free.

Alas, this is usually unrealistic, so it's better to start telling the truth to appropriately set expectations which will lead to far less disappointment for everyone.

3 Comments

ankur_gupta10 ( 2008.7.08 11:31 pm )

Very few people have the professionalism and grit to digest the truth and works towards future. Most are so engrossed in present and the past, that future does not get time.

In the indian context, the main problem is that slave mentality, even after almost 60 yrs of independence, people find it hard to speak their minds to managers or clients. Worst case is where managers dont want to reason but just want a YES.

You said–the truth needs to be accompanied with explanations and examples.—but is anybody listening?

When i talked about 6sa with teams, the developers liked it and got the idea, but sadly the managers were afraid to implement it,,,the fear of the unknown, that might become known…..6sa gives that picture and metrics which most in the Dev team want the management to see, but management does not want to see/believe in that picture, as it brings to light some hard indisputable facts.

Todd Olson ( 2008.8.08 3:13 pm )

The key is finding the person willing to listen. Every organization has someone responsible ( really responsible ) for an initiative — the person’s whose neck is on the line. Find that person because they have an obligation to know the truth.

Guns Don’t Kill Outsourcing Relationships » 6th Sense Analytics ( 2008.13.08 9:48 pm )

[...] Ted NewardInterview with Michael NygardDon’t Stop for Gas… We’re Already Late!You can’t handle the truthNew Video: Google Spreadsheets gets 6th Sense [...]

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