Doug Ross @ Journal

No, I am Doug Ross

I received this email a few days ago:

from doug ross to doug ross,

dude...please work on your representation of a doug
ross. you are totally off base w/ how i am portrayed.
i'm slightly dorky but you have taken it to another
level. chill be cool. be doug ross. thank you.

another doug ross.

My response:

When you search for Doug Ross on Google... who do you come up with?

When you need a hard-core hacker for those tough-to-crack problems, who do you
go to?

When you need a "Doug Ross" with 18" guns, who do you ask for?

That's right... me. All other Doug Rosses I'm aware of use me as a role model.

:-)

--doug

Perfectionism vs. Good Enough

Assume for a minute that some definitions exist:

good enough: The fuzzy range of software goodness which your customers are willing to accept your product and pay the negotiated price.

perfectionism: The software goodness required by which your best developer would showcase her software in a trade journal.

So... Is there not room for both? I mean a healthy software environment should consist of a tension between perfectionism and good enough...

My response:

It's "prioritization", not "perfection". The trait I look for, aside from technical ability and communications skills, is simply the ability to prioritize.

Nothing is ever perfect. Of those facets of our jobs that demand attention, which should be dealt with first? THAT, my friends, is prioritization. And very few folks I've come across have that ability.

When you have 30 days to ship a product, the developer who can figure out which tasks _must_ be accomplished to ship in 30 days... and spec out the tasks in the right order... is worth his or her weight in gold.

It all comes down to getting working software in the hands of users. Prioritization, IMO, is the key.

perfectionism vs. good enough