Why M$ Vista is late

[mdlbear]

This blog entry by a Microsoft insider goes partway toward explaining just what's broken about Microsoft's development process. Good summary, minus the annoying boldface-every-other-word typography, here at the Inq.

After months of hearing of how a certain influential team in Windows was going to cause the Vista release to slip, I, full of abstract self-righteous misgivings as a stockholder, had at last the chance to speak with two of the team's key managers, asking them how they could be so, please-excuse-the-term, I-don't-mean-its-value-laden-connotation, ignorant as to proper estimation of software schedules. Turns out they're actually great project managers. They knew months in advance that the schedule would never work. So they told their VP. And he, possibly influenced by one too many instances where engineering re-routes power to the warp core, thus completing the heretofore impossible six-hour task in a mere three, summarily sent the managers back to "figure out how to make it work." The managers re-estimated, nipped and tucked, liposuctioned, did everything short of a lobotomy -- and still did not have a schedule that fit. The VP was not pleased. "You're smart people. Find a way!" This went back and forth for weeks, whereupon the intrepid managers finally understood how to get past the dilemma. They simply stopped telling the truth. "Sure, everything fits. We cut and cut, and here we are. Vista by August or bust. You got it, boss."

Every once in a while, Truth still pipes up in meetings. When this happens, more often than not, Truth is simply bent over an authoritative knee and soundly spanked into silence.

Nicely put, but I don't think he really grasps the whole problem. This is shown by his assertion that Vista is "the largest concerted software project in human history. The types of software management issues being dealt with by Windows leaders are hard problems, problems that no other company has solved successfully." He's wrong on the first count -- Debian is bigger -- and probably on the second as well. In any case, communities such as the Linux and Apache communities solve those problems spectacularly well on a regular basis.

Comments

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

Hey, that's why I bought my new computer NOW. It will be at least a year before I trust Vista, and my old beast was having serious age problems.

I'm thinking of giving it to Moose and telling him to strip the hard drive and turn it into a Linux beast. The PIII should run linux just fine. :)

[randwolf.livejournal.com]

Omigawd. The Mythical Man Month is still relevant. Maybe it has something to do with being an evil empire.

[mdlbear]

That works.

I'm not sure I'm ever going to be able to trust Vista -- not because of the inevitable bugs, but because of the privacy and security issues that it looks like it's going to have. Vista looks like it's going to push a lot of people over the edge into Mac or Linux, and the new Mac laptops are delicious.

[mdlbear]

Of course -- I think he or one of the comments cites it. Not that having read it is going to help them much. Once a monolythic system reaches a certain size there's just no way to make it work no matter how many people you put on the project.

[lisa-marli.livejournal.com]

I may not have the option :(. Sooner or later I'll need something that will only run on Vista. Luckily it took them a number of years to finally decide to call on something that was only in XP, so hopefully I'll have a number of years. And if it is as bad as some say, even my software companies may switch to linux.

Hope, hope, Hope.

Remember, I install the OS that runs my software. It may not be the best OS, but there are some programs that only run on... Yeah, that one. *sigh*

[brunnhilde.livejournal.com]

The Mythical Man-Month is one of my all-time favorite books. Only the language is dated - the core concepts remain fresh as ever.

The key word is "monolithic".

As for Vista - kicking and screaming is the only way I'll end up in its embrace, based upon my understanding of it today. It could change, but why hold my breath with Linux and delicious Macs out there?

[mdlbear]

That's the usual reason -- you'll notice that I have several XP machines in the house. Luckily, many software companies consider the Mac a legitimate platform, in spite of the fact that Linux passed it several years ago. And now that you can have a dual- or triple-boot Mac, that alternative is looking more and more attractive.

[mdlbear]

Sorry about the spelling oops. Black core duo Mac laptop -- what's not to drool over?

[mroblivious.livejournal.com]

I heard a lecture once from a guy who used to work at M$oft. He was talking about project estimation, and made a point along the lines of...

"So you have the engineers estimate something, and it comes up too big. What are you going to do? You could always replace the engineers, but would you necissarily get someone who can do it faster? Unlikely. More likely you'll just get someone who can lie better."

[jilara.livejournal.com]

Wow, I didn't know they had our VP...

[mdlbear]

Yup. So instead you keep pressuring the engineering team until you train they to lie better. At that point, they know the schedule they just sign up to is impossible, so they don't give a damn anymore. Next time they don't waste their time, they just find out what ludicrous date you need and agree to it.

[mdlbear]

The Dilbert principle -- everybody thinks he's one of their coworkers.