How to talk like a programmer
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From: Anonymous on 27 May 2010 08:44 In article <ad99939e-c727-44c2-8c90-049b8fb7a30f(a)r9g2000vbk.googlegroups.com>, Alistair Maclean <alistair.j.l.maclean(a)googlemail.com> 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. ? [snip] >As an old fogey I also have not heard of William Edwards Deming. Is >this a cultural thing? I'm not sure what you are calling 'culture', Mr Maclean; perhaps a peek into Wikipedia might supply a bit of data. (Next week - Frederick Winslow Taylor and the Theory of Scientific Management!) DD
From: Pete Dashwood on 27 May 2010 09:59 docdwarf(a)panix.com wrote: > 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. > Hmmm.... I'm now working from home, but the lawn still needs mowing... :-) Pete -- "I used to write COBOL...now I can do anything."
From: Anonymous on 27 May 2010 10:05 In article <867c5oFjdU1(a)mid.individual.net>, Pete Dashwood <dashwood(a)removethis.enternet.co.nz> wrote: >docdwarf(a)panix.com wrote: [snip] >> The company still exists onshore but the >> need to have lawns mowed for 1,000 people no longer exists. >> >Hmmm.... > >I'm now working from home, but the lawn still needs mowing... :-) Has the lawn communicated that need, Mr Dashwood, or have you interpreted the lawn's condition as generating that necessity? DD
From: Howard Brazee on 27 May 2010 12:33 On Thu, 27 May 2010 12:30:25 +0000 (UTC), docdwarf(a)panix.com () wrote: >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. No argument there. Still, it is much easier to come up with scenarios where a company finds having a physical building for its CEOs, sales staff, and/or retail stores in convenient locations than to have its IS staff here. For instance, if your business is a hospital or a school, it is likely that you will find more business success having the buildings close to the prospective customers. I'm not saying it's absolute, but I do believe this is more common than the reverse. -- "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
From: Howard Brazee on 27 May 2010 12:35
On Thu, 27 May 2010 03:54:45 -0700 (PDT), Alistair Maclean <alistair.j.l.maclean(a)googlemail.com> wrote: >On the internet, sales tax can be applied if the purchaser, vendor, >warehouse or web site is based/hosted in a geographic location where >sales tax (or VAT) is applicable. Perhaps the EU and USA governments >should start to collect income tax from employers for their off-shore >developers using local computers? :-) Perhaps. Various countries have laws requiring companies to hire locals in order to sell there. How companies convince these countries that they are good partners can vary. -- "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 |