waterfall (was Re: REPOST: Re: Book "python programming patterns". anybody read this??)

[John Roth]

"Terry Reedy" <tjreedy at home.com> wrote in message
news:SmkZ7.353785$5A3.134640907 at news1.rdc2.pa.home.com...
> Perhaps relevant to this discussion, from this morning's (Friday 2002
> Jan 4) News Journal (Wilmington, Delaware, USA):
>
> "Gov. Ruth Ann Miner has scraped plans for a computerized accounting
> and purchasing system after four years of design costing $7.4
> million."  The article goes on to note that the system would have cost
> another $7 million to implement and $2 million a year to operate and
> would be obsolete from the day delivered because of already planned
> changes in the state's accounting procedures.
>
> It strikes me (and the Governor) as scandelous that so-called
> professionals would spend so much time endlessly designing and never
> produce anything that worked and was useful.
>
> Terry J. Reedy

Unfortunately, that's the way Government projects work. Until
someone convinces the people who control the purse strings
(congress, legislators) that you can't get good, repeatable results
without incremental delivery, the same messes will happen.

When you put out a bid for a project to be delivered in one
lump, 5 years down the road, it's going to fail. That's one of the
more guaranteed statements in this universe.

John Roth