function point analysis was just an example of a standard method. what
> I think this is a very interesting and very revealing exchange.
>
>
> On Dec 21, 2007 9:57 PM, <
paola.dimaio@...> wrote:
> > HI Liam
> >
> > I think the skills validation idea may be serious, following whatever
> > approach suggested below is also an option (whatever works for you).
> > If someone could help me determine whether a developer has the best
> > possible skill to do the job, would save me money and time
> > because someone who knows their stuff can solve a problem real quickly,
> >
> >
>
> I do feel that this should be possible in some way.
>
> >
> >
> > >
> > > 1. Is this roughly the process you use for finding job candidates?
> >
> > Nope- my IT skills are 'high level' (means I do not get anywhere near
> > implementation)
> > so I roughly outline the user functionality and coarse artchitectural
> > layout, then ask
> > around who could do it within my budget could they make of it - then
> > leave the rest to the devs
>
> This is, essentially, the waterfall approach... the approach to software
> development that the US Department of Defense blamed for an 80% failure rate
> in software projects: get all the requirements up front and have at it.
>
> The reason this fails is that the objectives are of a minimum complexity
> such that at least 40% of the requirements will change before the project
> ends.
>
> This has led to the ever widening adoption of iterative and incremental
> approaches, and more recently centering on agile approaches to software
> development: divide the project up into recognizable milestones, build
> frequently, and most importantly, major client involvement in test driven
> development so that the client is responsible for tests which can prove the
> required functionality is present in bite sized chunks, which is different
> "than doing coarse architectural layout and leaving the rest to the devs"
>
>
> > Being drupal developers on average a creative and adventurous bunch, I
> > have gone through an entire range of experiences
> >
>
> With this method, you will fail every time, even with Einstein
>
> >
> > >From well wishers, students, would be coders, geeks from all walks of
> > life, experienced programmers who want to charge me 60 dollars per
> > hour but cant tell me for sure how long its going to take them to do
> > the job,
>
> They are one hundred per cent right: they are being asked to work with a
> method that is imprecise. And there is no proper feasibility study, vision
> document, function point analysis, or even their equivalent on a coffee bar
> paper napkin. There is no clear presentation of the requirements, nor any
> attempt to do so, nor is there any clear statement of the criteria according
> to which the work is done (test driven development).
>
> It is not that you do an occasional project. You evidently do many projects
> frequently. So you are refusing to make the necessary investment in either a
> functional analyst who can speak to the "devs" (shades of Brave New World)
> or else in an interactive, pro-active participation in the project yourself
> (even though you do suggest such below).
>
> > to people who give me unreasonable time estimates
> > and very few, only very few were capable of delivering the optimal
> > configuration within a time/money constraint: say, do the job within
> > 2-3 days, which is what I calculate based on a rough function point
> > analysis type of estimate
>
> A function point analysis gives just that: points. You have to consider
> human communication (shoved down some kind of formalization funnel) as well
> as the team productivity (high level of confidence and trust based on past
> experience) to get the to 2-3 days.
>
> >
> >
> > I had to wait for 3 years to find someone who could migrate
> > content-wire,com and even then I took a leap.
>
> Right, as I have been suspecting, it is not that you have the occasional
> "brochure" site, your needs have a certain level of complexity. As well as
> the obvious question of whether or not the objectives are socially useful.
>
> > Really good consultants
> > were busy and only considered jobs r 3k up -
>
>
> That would be because really good consultants understand the complexity of
> what they are being asked to do.
>
> So, if the objectives are socially useful, you should be able to raise the
> funds to get the job done, if it is worth doing.
>
> >
> > I had guys quoting me up to 22 thousand euros for the migration
> > (krreeeeeeiiiiks)
> > Friends who offered to do it for free but that could not work within
> > my time frame requirements
>
>
>
> >
> > all sorts.
> >
>
> Yeah, diversity is a bummer.
>
> >
> > I am lucky to have found a consultant who did the job well enough,
> > but I still have no way of knowing if we have the optimal
> > configuration and if everything is installed properly, just that they
> > did their best, the site is up and good enough, and have been always
> > prompt and professional in their work.
>
> That is because you take it upon yourself to know this, yet have not written
> a single black box acceptance test which was handed to the consultant
> previous to starting work on iterations.
>
> If you can do function point analysis (for those that don't know, it can be
> roughly defined as a very useful, implementation transparent method of
> estimating complexity and hence time and costs upon flows of data and the
> complexity of that data into and out of the system) then you can bloody well
> write black box acceptance tests!!! Including load tests. Then you would
> know. Of course, testing is expensive (either in yours or someone's time or
> else in money), isn't it. Do you figure that in when you come up with your
> 2-3 days estimates?
>
> >
> >
> > Note: I am not talking much new development! Just roll out a decent
> > drupal website with minimal customization and ad hoc config, which
> > should be doable within 6-8 hours of work at the most.
>
> If it were that simple you wouldn't be doing function point analysis. Also,
> there is no one-to-one relationship in any framework between requirements
> and implementation. Given a functional requirement, or feature, there is no
> way of knowing what architectural impact and risk is involved unless a
> (shudder) "dev" tells you first. For free, of course, I suppose.
>
> (anti flame atmosphere note: Paola, I hope you do not take any of these
> critiques personally; it is just sooooo fascinating to see all the "failure"
> signs so clearly spread out, and it does affect the day to day lives of
> consultants)
>
> >
> >
> >
> > > 2. Does it work well?
> > Well - its very time consuming and risky, but I think a more standard
> > process can be evolved from that - maybe as a combination of the
> > proposed approaches
> >
> >
>
> Well, there you are. But not for "certification". Actually, for
> certification of the client! Because, what is going on with this social
> software stuff, is that the client must, must, must participate in the
> development. In order to get a job really done, the one-way vertical
> hierarchical "here's your job, do it" master-slave relationship has to be
> broken, not only because it is unjust, but because it cannot get the job
> done. And for success to be broken, there must be complicity to break down
> the master-slave relationship, even within the limitations of the capitalist
> system. Of course, people do not have to agree with my politics at all, and
> that is a "different subject". But projects fail the more vertical they are,
> and corporations know that. It is just that most of them are powerless (or
> else too powerful: too many people with privileges) to change that, most of
> them spend 22 billion dollars on a proprietary operating system (Vista) only
> for the Financial Times to suggest that no-one install it.
>
> >
> >
> >
> > > 3. Would it really help if someone did it for you?
> > Yes! If you provide me a drupal geek validation service, I ll pay you a
> fee
> > to help me select the right geek for the job
>
> You will fail even with Einstein. You, the client must geek it up to get the
> job done. Or else have a friend on your side you can do it for you. Or else
> find the right geek who can get someone to proxy for you.
>
> >
> > Note: the right geek for the job for me is one that can work with me
> > on messenger,
>
> Now here is a glimpse at a possible solution... but it must have method.
>
>
> > charges me a honest fee (say, not more than what I earn
> > per hour/day working as a lecturer)
>
> well, now it is you saying that without socialism we cannot have efficiency,
> without socialism we cannot have anything but anarchy of production and war.
> you may be right. The thing is, part of this whole problem is the way added
> value is "calculated" within the confines of the current crisis of
> capitalism, the huge waves of speculation, the bubbles growing, then
> bursting (geeks washing dishes in San Francisco to pay their mortgages
> 'cause they can't move) ... this objective of yours, for a world in which
> people are qualified to do what they do and in which everyone receives
> decent wages, no-one earns that much more than others.... I agree with you.
>
> But the real problem is, and this is why I even bother posting here at all
> (politics I can discuss in the actual struggle itself) is that we must get a
> method to work involving client geek complicity breaking all the vertical
> wall rules in order to get the job done (see
>
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/library/j-beck/ Working smarter, not
> harder, where there is the great quote "The project had serious problems --
> everything from the contractual arrangement, to exhausted people, to lowered
> voices."). And to get that job done within the confines of the crisis and
> anarchy of capitalist "production" (waves of hysterical speculation, by
> which Web 2.0 is partially fueled).
>
> > and that can set up a website in
> > the fastes possible way, abides to good coding and development
> > practices, and that does not get annoyed when I ask for tweaks and
> > improvements before writing off the task, etc -
> >
> >
>
> certification of the client is the only way to get this done. I always
> invest a huge amount in attempting (and not always succeeding) in training
> my clients as part of the work. Takes longer, but the objective you are
> putting forward there (and it is a laudable one) requires a social method.
>
>
> > Catching cheats (if the tasks were standard) would mostly consist of a
> > Google search, agreed that this wouldn't catch all of them though.
>
> We are all cheats if there is no method.
>
>
> > funny enough, I dont care about cheats at all - I have come across
> > guys who said they were cheating by scraping the code from somewhere
> > else. so what? as long as they acnowledge it, isnt this what os is
> > about? 'reuse'?
> > but still they need to be able to personalise whatever they scrape
> > elsewhere - and to bend it to fit the spec/requirement
>
> so it is you who are talking about method as the chief means to success;
>
> > I have come across very good geeks who did not have the faintest idea
> > about how to work
> > following even the remotest software engineering practice, and got all
> > upset when I asked them to make well sure they tested their work
> > themselves before getting me to check it out
>
> on the basis of tests you refuse to write
>
> here you are confusing black box integration tests with the unit tests the
> programmers should be doing. but even with the most super duper automated
> unit tests in the world with every bit of programming, if you don't write
> black box, detailed acceptance tests based on what you really want to happen
> (including non-functional constraints like response time, etc) then you will
> fail even with Einstein.
>
> >
> >
> > I had to to find all the obvious bugs myself very often, cause the
> > devs felt that their job was to roll out the code, not to test it
> > (whoa)
>
> What we have here is a breakdown in communication
>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > > Perhaps the best route is somewhere in-between standard tasks and
> > > contributions; some selection on the bug form to include it as a
> > > 'certification task', and a list of Drupal concepts involved in
> > > completing it. Then a View where examinees can select tasks to pick-up
> > > and complete.
> >
>
> again, Liam (I think it is) is unconsciously giving a PERFECT description of
> the agile approach to software development: take a user story, pick it up,
> complete it, run the tests all together...
>
> Liam says I am changing the subject, but the whole sweeping the dust under
> the carpet trying to funnel the stated problem into a certification program
> (which already exists and is working fine, in terms of transparent community
> participation, as Greg explains) is an exercise in futility. You are
> stating aims, which are reasonable aims, and then you are saying you will be
> helped by certification. I am saying that the method of development you are
> using is destined to guarantee a high failure rate. So I find it a
> fascinating discussion, which affects our daily lives as consultants, and
> which affects companies hoping to get it done with Drupal.
>
> I am working on a solution though, as people know, so I will advertise it
> here when I have time to release it.
>
> >
> >
> > whatever - it would be nice to be left in the cold when we need to
> > find a developer
> > and/or not to have to committ to a full time job or a get a bank loan
> > to set up a drupal website
> >
> > next best thing would be learn it myself, but that would be even more
> > risky in my case
> > :-)
> >
>
> you don't have to learn how to program; you do have to adopt a viable method
>
> Thanks a lot for listening,
>
>
> Victor Kane
>
http://awebfactory.com.ar>
> >
> >
> > what about some basic drupal development training for non geeks? I ll
> > take that course
> >
> >
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Paola Di Maio
> > School of IT
> > www.mfu.ac.th
> > *********************************************
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
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> >
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