Via O'Reilly's WebLogs: George Bush as programming project leader

Via O'Reilly's WebLogs... George Bush as programming project leader

Excerpt:

Last night, while watching the first of the Kerry/Bush debates, I was struck by what a terrible programming project leader President Bush would make.

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I certainly know that that approach doesn't work on programming projects. If there's one thing that seasoned programmers know, it's that projects never go as planned, and course correction is critical. Even worse, the programmers in the trenches know how the project is going, and aren't inspired when things carry on as if nothing is wrong. For a project leader to act as if there are no problems is insulting to those doing the work.

Interesting analogy. Makes me think about W's assertion, last night, and on other occasions, that the reason we're having problems with the insurgency in Iraq right now is that we weren't expecting to win the initial conflict so quickly and easily. Reminds me of a software development project... I'm sure you've seen ones like this... where the prototype is done so quickly and looks so doggone good that it gets put into production, at which point it fails because it doesn't scale. Whose fault is that? It's the fault of the CEO who insists that the team launch the project without proper planning or sufficient resources in the first place, doesn't listen when told that there is hard work to do and a long road ahead in order to do the job right. It's the fault of the CEO who doesn't understand complexity and nuance, who just wants quick wins.