Are you a perfectionist?
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
Wait till you have to do a web project where the client is a design company and require pixel-perfect-perfection (say that fast 100 times). I have since done some coding in the most un-perfect way just to release my frustration after that project. I think a good rule to follow is "aim for 100%, expect 80%". It may sound non-hard-core to the hard-core croud but it is realistic. Perfection is unatainable and trying to reach it (in anything you do, coding, design, love, life, sex, happiness) costs you more than the goal is worth. On a practical note read MSF (Microsoft Solutions Framework), they have a good graph of a project production time. The closer you come to 100% the steeper the "work" gradient is, it never reaches 100% either. Bottom line: It is not rude, just unrealistic. regards, Paul Watson Cape Town, South Africa e: paulmwatson@email.com w: vergen.org
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
Well I hope I'm a perfectionist :-) I think software should behave the way a 'reasonable user' would expect. I also think software should cope gracefully with the unexpected. How do we define a 'reasonable user'? Buggered if I know :-) I use the 'hallway' approach - grab someone walking along the hallway at the office and ask em... Graceful? Good software has NO excuse for crashing. If it encounters a situation it can't handle it should (possibly) warn the user that it can't do what was asked - and then just NOT try. (I'm reminded of the joke about the guy at the doctor - doc doc it hurts when I do this - well just don't DO that :-)). Better is if the software can determine ahead of time that an operation is not possible and not allow the user to even try it... Visuals? Well, if controls in a dialog don't line up how do I feel? I feel that the dialog designer didn't care - and if she didn't care then what else is wrong? It's not like lining up controls is all that hard. Tab order? Yes it DOES matter that a dialog works in the way a reasonable user would expect. Hit the tab key and focus SHOULD move to the next control visually. David - I hope you're the rule :-) Rob Manderson http://www.mindprobes.net
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
If you are developing apps for the mass market then there is no such thing as being to "perfect". People have come to believe that your program is only skin deep. Take for example that the average end user interface or perception of your code is at the GUI level. They don't know the underlying source, and the probably wouldn't care that you used double-recoursive alogorithms with a whole bunch of inline assmebly calls, why?!?! Because they don't see it. Average end users only care about the way your programs engine is presented to them via the GUI. They will base their entire perception and opinion of your program based on what they see and interact with take for example MP3 players some MP3 players just interface with the winmm.dll, but because they have a skinnable and well displayed GUI people love them and pay upwards of $15-20 to get them. There are also some programs that I worked with in the past that are great command line programs, but today's user doesn't care, developers then write front end GUI's to them and guess who the user credits not the person who actually develop the engine, but the fronted end designer, look at WinDup compared to Ethreal (sniffer utilities). And people are more critical of software now than ever before, with the plethora of news artilces reading "Software shipped to consumers in beta format". Don't get me wrong it was probably the whimisical wishing of the marketing department that made them do this, because most developers don't want to ship unless it is super perfect. But there is this thing called revenue and in order to stay in business you need to generate this, so that is why you get the early ship dates and buggy programs. But if you have the time, and no marketing department to pressure you, by all means develop to 100% of the programs features and GUI you will get 100% customer satisfaction. btw, I'm a sit down and code by the seat of your pants type of developer :-) Planning who needs that, just sit and write code :-D (That's probably why I started with an MP3 player and ended up with a text processor Sam C ---- Systems Manager Hospitality Marketing Associates
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
Does this make me the rule, or an exception? How does that matter when you are taking efforts to follow a perfect rule, namely, do your job the best way you can? ------- Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed. (Francis Bacon) Nature, to be apprehended, must be obeyed. (Ayn Rand)
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Seeing as a whole host of debates have started up over the past day (sorry about starting all that again guys ;)) then I finally got round to asking a question that's been on the back of my mind for a long time now: Are you a perfectionist? When ever I'm working on a visual aspect of a program (the UI, message boxes, etc) I will always spend hours tweaking stuff like drawing code, etc, so that is is pixel perfect (even though nobody will ever notice). I also make a big point of keeping all my - and others - comments up to date and in context. This, again, is probably not necessary, but it just makes me feel better to know that everyting is perfect. Does this make me the rule, or an exception? David Wulff dwulff@battleaxesoftware.com
If you're coding by yourself and there's no one really waiting for you, then that would be okay if you yourself feel that its necessary. However, if you're working with a team, then you need to consider what is the "added value" to that if I worked on it. Will it be worth it for the time and effort added? And by saying "worth it", I mean will it make many of your users a lot more happy, or just one or two. And will it contribute to the bottom line? Many developers are perfectionists by nature due to the detailed nature of this line of work. In some instances being a perfectionist is a good thing (e.g. if you're working on a nuclear reactor control system), but for the majority of applications time to market is an important criteria that can make or break a business. If your competition beats you to releasing a product then they've got the upper hand in the market momentum and you're going to have to play catch up which is difficult in certain markets.