Software Development Analogy....?
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Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
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Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
BlackDice wrote:
I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Kind of like a house with a lot more plumbing. :-D
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
Great analogy, you get my 5 :-D
I get all the news I need from the weather report - Paul Simon (from "The Only Living Boy in New York")
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Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
BlackDice wrote:
I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Reasonably accurate all in all. Although, being a "graphics guy" sometimes the graphics is in the architecture itself, not the paint-job ... in others it is not. Again, like your example it depends on the product. Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it. I am the entire process. It would be like going to a contracter and saying I need a house to do ... this with. I examine their process, work with their people, talk about what they want and need and when, and come up wth an architectural design based on their preferred environment. But the underlying architecture holds a lot of the graphics before the painting. What good does drawing a line-of-sight rendering if you don't calculate it well also. The foundation needs to support the graphics or the paint-job looks like... well... just a paint-job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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BlackDice wrote:
I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Kind of like a house with a lot more plumbing. :-D
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesJimmyRopes wrote:
like a house with a lot more plumbing
...and alot more electrical, too.
"It's only that urgent if you have to pee.." - Dave Kreskowiak
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BlackDice wrote:
I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Reasonably accurate all in all. Although, being a "graphics guy" sometimes the graphics is in the architecture itself, not the paint-job ... in others it is not. Again, like your example it depends on the product. Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it. I am the entire process. It would be like going to a contracter and saying I need a house to do ... this with. I examine their process, work with their people, talk about what they want and need and when, and come up wth an architectural design based on their preferred environment. But the underlying architecture holds a lot of the graphics before the painting. What good does drawing a line-of-sight rendering if you don't calculate it well also. The foundation needs to support the graphics or the paint-job looks like... well... just a paint-job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
El Corazon wrote:
Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it.
The proverbial existential house that separates modern logic from classical Aristotelian logic. :cool:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
Good one, although as a web dev i do all of that, and i compare the project to a car...i can build all of the visuals, but that would just be an empty shell until the techincal side is complete. Or i can do the back end first, and then the web site would feel like it's the chasis with no seats along with the engine and the multitude of hoses - functional but not comfortable. Roswell
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA -
BlackDice wrote:
I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Reasonably accurate all in all. Although, being a "graphics guy" sometimes the graphics is in the architecture itself, not the paint-job ... in others it is not. Again, like your example it depends on the product. Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it. I am the entire process. It would be like going to a contracter and saying I need a house to do ... this with. I examine their process, work with their people, talk about what they want and need and when, and come up wth an architectural design based on their preferred environment. But the underlying architecture holds a lot of the graphics before the painting. What good does drawing a line-of-sight rendering if you don't calculate it well also. The foundation needs to support the graphics or the paint-job looks like... well... just a paint-job.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
El Corazon wrote:
Although, being a "graphics guy" sometimes the graphics is in the architecture itself, not the paint-job ... in others it is not. Again, like your example it depends on the product. Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it. I am the entire process. It would be like going to a contracter and saying I need a house to do ... this with. I examine their process, work with their people, talk about what they want and need and when, and come up wth an architectural design based on their preferred environment. But the underlying architecture holds a lot of the graphics before the painting. What good does drawing a line-of-sight rendering if you don't calculate it well also. The foundation needs to support the graphics or the paint-job looks like... well... just a paint-job.
Yeah, a lot of people don't understand that it's the same way with a well-written web site. That i don't draw it in Photoshop and it's done...that instead i have to write the markup that represents each part of the visual. UI design/programming is a job in itself, and it requires some thinking as to how to design the interface that will be the most efficient and comfortable to the user. But whan the UI feels good and becomes second nature to the user, they don't even notice it. They only do when something gets in the way.:rolleyes: Roswell
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CA -
JimmyRopes wrote:
like a house with a lot more plumbing
...and alot more electrical, too.
"It's only that urgent if you have to pee.." - Dave Kreskowiak
Paul Conrad wrote:
...and alot more electrical, too.
Yeah I thought of that but only mentioned plumbing because that is what first came to mind while I was reading his post before I got to his analogy. In a more general sense, electrical, hydrological and mechanical are all analogous in that they are all described by the same set of equations. resistance = resistance = friction respectively. capacitor = actuator = spring. etc.
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
El Corazon wrote:
Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it.
The proverbial existential house that separates modern logic from classical Aristotelian logic. :cool:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesJimmyRopes wrote:
The proverbial existential house that separates modern logic from classical Aristotelian logic.
I like that! :-D:-D
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Paul Conrad wrote:
...and alot more electrical, too.
Yeah I thought of that but only mentioned plumbing because that is what first came to mind while I was reading his post before I got to his analogy. In a more general sense, electrical, hydrological and mechanical are all analogous in that they are all described by the same set of equations. resistance = resistance = friction respectively. capacitor = actuator = spring. etc.
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesJimmyRopes wrote:
electrical, hydrological and mechanical are all analogous
That's just to name a few to keep the analogy simple :rolleyes:
"Any sort of work in VB6 is bound to provide several WTF moments." - Christian Graus
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El Corazon wrote:
Although, being a "graphics guy" sometimes the graphics is in the architecture itself, not the paint-job ... in others it is not. Again, like your example it depends on the product. Given I visualize data, people don't know how to visualize or even what to do with it. I am the entire process. It would be like going to a contracter and saying I need a house to do ... this with. I examine their process, work with their people, talk about what they want and need and when, and come up wth an architectural design based on their preferred environment. But the underlying architecture holds a lot of the graphics before the painting. What good does drawing a line-of-sight rendering if you don't calculate it well also. The foundation needs to support the graphics or the paint-job looks like... well... just a paint-job.
Yeah, a lot of people don't understand that it's the same way with a well-written web site. That i don't draw it in Photoshop and it's done...that instead i have to write the markup that represents each part of the visual. UI design/programming is a job in itself, and it requires some thinking as to how to design the interface that will be the most efficient and comfortable to the user. But whan the UI feels good and becomes second nature to the user, they don't even notice it. They only do when something gets in the way.:rolleyes: Roswell
"Angelinos -- excuse me. There will be civility today."
Antonio VillaRaigosa
City Mayor, Los Angeles, CARoswellNX wrote:
a lot of people don't understand
I get that perception from people often. I don't think people who do not have anything to do with software development/engineering/design have a real concrete idea of what is involved in producing a good product.
"Any sort of work in VB6 is bound to provide several WTF moments." - Christian Graus
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Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
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BlackDice wrote:
I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall.
Kind of like a house with a lot more plumbing. :-D
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopesCentral Services - we do the work, you do the pleasure! _Chorus:_Pleasure! :cool:
We are a big screwed up dysfunctional psychotic happy family - some more screwed up, others more happy, but everybody's psychotic joint venture definition of CP
My first real C# project | Linkify!|FoldWithUs! | sighist -
Just tell her it's too complex for her little mind and that's why you make twice as much as her.:-D
_____________________________________________ Flea Market! It's just like...it's just like...A MINI-MALL!
leckey wrote:
Just tell her it's too complex for her little mind
:omg::omg::omg: If I said something like that people would be looking for the "remove from the lounge" control. What am I saying, they are already looking for the "remove from the lounge" control. :doh:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
leckey wrote:
Just tell her it's too complex for her little mind
:omg::omg::omg: If I said something like that people would be looking for the "remove from the lounge" control. What am I saying, they are already looking for the "remove from the lounge" control. :doh:
Simply Elegant Designs JimmyRopes Designs
Think inside the box! ProActive Secure Systems
I'm on-line therefore I am. JimmyRopes -
Hi All, Recently, when for the billionth time I tried to explain what I do to a person that has no knowledge of what 'programming' is, I came up with an analogy. I'm sure if I Google it, I can probably find the same analogy already made by someone else.... so I won't. When telling a friend that I was waiting on the 'graphics guy' to finish with some background images for an app, she said, "Well isn't he doing all the work?" So far, this is the best explanation I can come up with for the 'complexity' of what I do... I told her that building an application is like building a house. The 'graphics guy' would be the painter, or even interior decorator in this case. However, writing a brand-new app is like building a house from top to bottom. The thing is, in the building of a house, you usually have different teams or individuals to work on certain parts of the house. While this is also true in programming, I had to explain that on this particular project I drew the blueprints, dug the hole, laid the foundation, then did the plumbing, electrical work, structural work and everything else before it was painted and furnished. I went on to add that this is because it was a pretty small app. I told her to realize that in larger apps, it would be a team essentially building a shopping mall. ???? Comments?
My Music | My Pics | My Articles BlackDice
I usually use this analogy, especially when customers ask for cost in the first five minutes of the first call. I often say that I need to know more details. If he is building a house and asks for a 4-bedroom home, I can't give a price because I don't know if he wants each bedroom with a jacuzzi and a 1000 sq ft. I use the analogy also to exemplify why changes in requirements at the middle are often expensive: if you want a window *there* but there's a big column that you cannot move... it will be expensive :)
Luis Alonso Ramos Intelectix Chihuahua, Mexico