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crdoconnor | 6 years ago

Correct, it aims for mediocrity. If the customer requested 50 McDonald's hamburger, is it a cultural problem that you're not delivering one steak?

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falcolas|6 years ago

It's funny that you mention a McDonald's hamburger, since there's actually a lot of standards that their hamburger has to live up to. They have just simplified the creation of a hamburger to the point where teenagers can make them properly with minimal supervision.

Software development is not at that point. Sometimes we put three pickles on instead of two. Sometimes we forget the pickles. Sometimes we spread ketchup all over the outside of the bun. Sometimes we forget to cook the meat. And we don't aim for a good hamburger, we just aim to get something remotely hamburger shaped out the door to the customer.

crdoconnor|6 years ago

The point, however, is that the customer/regulator dictates quality standards, not the person assembling the burger.

Whereas apparently many software engineers do not take their cue from customers since they strive for some impossible "no bug policy" (or some other such rubbish).