Sunday, May 21, 2006

 

Upgrading Software is Like Replacing Tires

There was a person who wanted to have new tires installed on his truck. The old tires still worked but they caused issues unseen by the typical person on the street and could potentially cause a huge disaster that may or may not affect said person. It was true also that those tires and the truck had not caused trouble for a very long time (over 175 days). But on a rainy Friday night the new improved tires were installed. A few days pass and things are fine. While carrying on normal day to day task the truck was loaded with bricks. You see, the bricks were needed soon so the truck was loaded fairly heavily and headed toward home. Almost to his destination, the driver notices the new blacktop in the road causing bumps that the truck could handle without problem. All of a sudden, YIKES, a HUGE pot hole!! The driver swerved to avoid the pothole the road crew forgot to patch. Just as the driver regained control of the truck and load a thirty point buck came crashing through the passenger window causing the truck to land in the ditch toppling the slightly above average load of bricks. Fortunately, no one was hurt, even the deer managed to run off into the wilderness, leaving the poor driver to clean up the mess.
This setback, although devastating initially, did not deter the driver from trying to get home. He began picking up the bricks, most could be salvaged a few were crushed and would need to be replaced. The people passing by were concerned but were unable to help. The people waiting for the bricks felt they deserved extra time to complete the construction even though they had more than enough time to complete it but chose to wait until the last minute. The builders were busy during work hours, but some refused to do work while the foreman was planning future workdays. After reloading the truck the driver had trouble getting out of the ditch. You see, it was a very busy time on the road and no one really wanted to give him the time needed to get back on the road safely. He pushed on, and although was able to get going, lost a few brick on the way and damaged a universal joint on his truck. Later that evening, he repaired the u-joint, went back and cleaned up what he could and then headed.
Keep in mind the window is still broken and that will need to be repaired in the future. The broken window really was not caused by upgrading the tires on the truck. The truck is useable and it shouldn’t, by itself, cause another crash.

Comments:
I agree Dennis - a great analogy. Additionally, I wonder if we have projects built without ensuring all riders are on board - so they understand when issues arrive what the possible good and bad scenarios may be.
 
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