How to talk like a programmer
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From: Alistair Maclean on 27 May 2010 06:55 On May 26, 7:48 pm, Howard Brazee <how...(a)brazee.net> wrote: > On Wed, 26 May 2010 17:52:16 +0000 (UTC), docdw...(a)panix.com () wrote: > >Just the other day I mentioned William Edwards Deming to a project > >leader... who had never heard of the fellow, of course. > > Sad that you can put "of course" in that above sentence. > > -- > "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, > than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace > to the legislature, and not to the executive department." > > - James Madison As an old fogey I also have not heard of William Edwards Deming. Is this a cultural thing?
From: Anonymous on 27 May 2010 08:30 In article <ogqqv5tdli7d6ojommr13ou7tabjsmv91e(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: >On 26 May 2010 17:30:30 GMT, billg999(a)cs.uofs.edu (Bill Gunshannon) >wrote: > >>> It is easier to move a company's IT offshore than its lawn mowing. >> >>I don't really believe that is true. What is true is that too many >>companies see so little reason for staying here they are willing to >>accept the rather sizable risk in off-shoring. > >I won't argue your second statement, but I see it as a non-sequitor to >mine. > >As long as the lawn is here, the mowing has to be here. When it is in a company's Best Economic Interests that there is no need for lawn to be 'here' then making sure a lawn is 'here' is acting against a company's Best Economic Interests... not the finest way to insure a long, happy career-path, or so I've seen. DD
From: Pete Dashwood on 27 May 2010 08:36 Alistair Maclean wrote: > On May 26, 7:48 pm, Howard Brazee <how...(a)brazee.net> wrote: >> On Wed, 26 May 2010 17:52:16 +0000 (UTC), docdw...(a)panix.com () >> wrote: >>> Just the other day I mentioned William Edwards Deming to a project >>> leader... who had never heard of the fellow, of course. >> >> Sad that you can put "of course" in that above sentence. >> >> -- >> "In no part of the constitution is more wisdom to be found, >> than in the clause which confides the question of war or peace >> to the legislature, and not to the executive department." >> >> - James Madison > > As an old fogey I also have not heard of William Edwards Deming. Is > this a cultural thing? It may be an American thing. I had never heard of him until I was briefly on an American site in the early 90s and was asked if I knew his work. I responded that I didn't and was given the loan of a book ("Out of the Crisis") which I found very interesting but not an "easy read" in the sense that Townsend's book and Lee Iacocca's books were. Doc's reference to him here made me revise his Bio. He seems to have been a kindly man. He certainly had some very progressive ideas and this led to a chain of events which had him helping the Japanese rebuild their war ravaged industries. He was highly respected in Japan and honored by them. Only in the latter part of his long life did he achieve recognition for his ideas in his homeland. Pete. -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: Anonymous on 27 May 2010 08:38 In article <4oqqv51fno0te3jf0q20b1712irj51pg02(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: >On Wed, 26 May 2010 17:44:02 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: > >>>It is easier to move a company's IT offshore than its lawn mowing. >> >>It is as easy to move a company's lawn mowing offshore as it is to move >>its headquarters, entire. > >I suppose there is a direct relationship between how much mowing is >done offshore and how much lawn is offshore, headquarters or retail or >branch offices, or whatever. > >By the time the company no longer exists on-shore then it should have >a different definition of "off-shore". Binary thinking, Mr Brazee... an Occupational Hazard of those who program, perhaps, but not always the Way the World can Work. For example: a company needs building-space (offices, bathrooms, cafeterias, parking-lots... and lawns) for 2,000 people, 1,000 of which are involved in Computer Operations (finding out what users want, developing specs, writing code, reviewing code, re-writing code, implementing into Prod, maintaining code for new laws/regulations/needs, running the hardware so the code can do what the users want... granted the numbers I chose are arbirtary but such things can be quantified.) Management determines that Great Savings can be made if the Computer Operations work is done in Eastern Lithuania. 1,000 jobs vanish... and along with them the need for the offices, bathrooms, cafeterias, parking-lots and lawns. The company still exists onshore but the need to have lawns mowed for 1,000 people no longer exists. DD
From: Anonymous on 27 May 2010 08:41
In article <l6rqv51g03cpkdfd3jo9uhfkd91542sd8g(a)4ax.com>, Howard Brazee <howard(a)brazee.net> wrote: >On Wed, 26 May 2010 17:52:16 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: > >>Just the other day I mentioned William Edwards Deming to a project >>leader... who had never heard of the fellow, of course. > >Sad that you can put "of course" in that above sentence. Sad is an emotional state... 'had never heard of the fellow' is a matter of fact; it, to me, is no more sad that pure water boils at 100C at sea-level. DD |