August 29, 2008

The Art and Craft of Programming

From Kevin Pang
Top 10 Things That Annoy Programmers
Here is #8
8. Scope creepFrom Wikipedia:
Scope creep (also called focus creep, requirement creep, feature creep, and sometimes kitchen sink syndrome) in project management refers to uncontrolled changes in a project's scope. This phenomenon can occur when the scope of a project is not properly defined, documented, or controlled. It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.
Scope creep turns relatively simple requests into horribly complex and time consuming monsters. It only takes a few innocent keystrokes by the requirements guy for scope creep to happen:
  • Version 1: Show a map of the location
  • Version 2: Show a 3D map of the location
  • Version 3: Show a 3D map of the location that the user can fly through
Argh! What used to be a 30 minute task just turned into a massively complex system that could take hundreds of man hours. Even worse, most of the time scope creep happens during development, which requires rewriting, refactoring, and sometimes throwing out code that was developed just days prior.
And for #1?
1. Their own code, 6 months later
Heh. So true... Posted by DaveH at August 29, 2008 6:10 PM
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