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  4. Sutton's Zeroth Law

Sutton's Zeroth Law

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  • M Offline
    M Offline
    Member_5893260
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

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    • M Member_5893260

      Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

      T Offline
      T Offline
      TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      I thought 'c' would be the speed of light.

      If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
      You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein

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      • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

        I thought 'c' would be the speed of light.

        If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
        You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
        Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein

        M Offline
        M Offline
        Member_5893260
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        I like it. And since the speed of light is a constant, you're right!

        R 1 Reply Last reply
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        • T TheGreatAndPowerfulOz

          I thought 'c' would be the speed of light.

          If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
          You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
          Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein

          O Offline
          O Offline
          Oscar0
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          Somehow I was thinking that Number of Programmers and Code Quality would be inversely proportional.

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          • O Oscar0

            Somehow I was thinking that Number of Programmers and Code Quality would be inversely proportional.

            R Offline
            R Offline
            Richard Deeming
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            They are. If you re-write it a little, you get: Q = c·t/N Thus quality is proportional to time, and inversely proportional to the number of programmers.


            "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

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            • M Member_5893260

              I like it. And since the speed of light is a constant, you're right!

              R Offline
              R Offline
              Richard Deeming
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Dan Sutton wrote:

              And since the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant

              FTFY. :)


              "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

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              • M Member_5893260

                Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                J Offline
                J Offline
                Jorgen Andersson
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                Seems a bit incomplete to me, you need to add the number of managers, and the level of customer involvement AKA feature creep. :~

                Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                • R Richard Deeming

                  Dan Sutton wrote:

                  And since the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant

                  FTFY. :)


                  "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                  T Offline
                  T Offline
                  TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  Well, it's a constant in any medium. Just a different constant.

                  If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
                  You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
                  Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein

                  1 Reply Last reply
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                  • J Jorgen Andersson

                    Seems a bit incomplete to me, you need to add the number of managers, and the level of customer involvement AKA feature creep. :~

                    Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

                    T Offline
                    T Offline
                    TheGreatAndPowerfulOz
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    :thumbsup::thumbsup:

                    If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.-John Q. Adams
                    You must accept one of two basic premises: Either we are alone in the universe, or we are not alone in the universe. And either way, the implications are staggering.-Wernher von Braun
                    Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.-Albert Einstein

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • R Richard Deeming

                      Dan Sutton wrote:

                      And since the speed of light in a vacuum is a constant

                      FTFY. :)


                      "These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined." - Homer

                      M Offline
                      M Offline
                      Member_5893260
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      I thought about it... but that's not strictly true, anyway, if you consider the relativistic effects of high-density, high-mass objects: in fact, "the speed of light in a vacuum around a given mass is a constant" -- but that's not true, either, because the speed of light is the speed at which one can circumnavigate the universe once in a period of one universe lifetime... and since the universe is expanding, that value is changing constantly (along with the size of a meter, and so forth)... so effectively, the speed of light is a constant only because we want it to be.

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                      • J Jorgen Andersson

                        Seems a bit incomplete to me, you need to add the number of managers, and the level of customer involvement AKA feature creep. :~

                        Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

                        M Offline
                        M Offline
                        Member_5893260
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #11

                        I'll buy that. Change "programmers" to "people". LOL!

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                        • M Member_5893260

                          I'll buy that. Change "programmers" to "people". LOL!

                          J Offline
                          J Offline
                          Jorgen Andersson
                          wrote on last edited by
                          #12

                          I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                          Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                          • J Jorgen Andersson

                            I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                            Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

                            L Offline
                            L Offline
                            Lost User
                            wrote on last edited by
                            #13

                            Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

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                            • L Lost User

                              Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

                              J Offline
                              J Offline
                              Jorgen Andersson
                              wrote on last edited by
                              #14

                              Doubling the number of features doesn't just double the time needed as it's also adding complexity. Hmm, it's probably more like (f+1)2 when I think about it.

                              Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                              • J Jorgen Andersson

                                I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                                Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

                                M Offline
                                M Offline
                                Member_5893260
                                wrote on last edited by
                                #15

                                Brilliant! Although... since you don't want to affect N inversely with M, then I suggest: (N^(M(2f+1)))Q/t=c ...which, since M implies 2f+1, could theoretically be shortened to: (N^M)Q/t=c (or else, we could include a constant to state the probability of someone posting a thread like this...)

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                                • M Member_5893260

                                  Here's my zeroth law of software development, which I now share for your amusement: NQ/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                                  M Offline
                                  M Offline
                                  MacSpudster
                                  wrote on last edited by
                                  #16

                                  NQ/t=c is incorrect. It is: NQ/t=C^2 Where "C" = Change; as in "_________ in my pocket" from all of the "_________ requests"

                                  M 1 Reply Last reply
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                                  • M MacSpudster

                                    NQ/t=c is incorrect. It is: NQ/t=C^2 Where "C" = Change; as in "_________ in my pocket" from all of the "_________ requests"

                                    M Offline
                                    M Offline
                                    Member_5893260
                                    wrote on last edited by
                                    #17

                                    That's the spirit!

                                    1 Reply Last reply
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                                    • J Jorgen Andersson

                                      I was thinking more in the lines of: NQM(2f+1)/t=c, where: - N is the number of programmers on the project; - Q is the quality of the final product; - M is the number of managers on the project; - f is feature creep (in percents of the original number of features); - t is the time taken to develop the product; - c is a constant

                                      Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

                                      S Offline
                                      S Offline
                                      SoMad
                                      wrote on last edited by
                                      #18

                                      I think we are getting somewhere, but you also need to account for "New Technology" with a heavier factor than feature creep (e.g. "We are going to change our platform to be all in the Cloud"). Soren Madsen

                                      "When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty

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                                      • S SoMad

                                        I think we are getting somewhere, but you also need to account for "New Technology" with a heavier factor than feature creep (e.g. "We are going to change our platform to be all in the Cloud"). Soren Madsen

                                        "When you don't know what you're doing it's best to do it quickly" - Jase #DuckDynasty

                                        J Offline
                                        J Offline
                                        Jorgen Andersson
                                        wrote on last edited by
                                        #19

                                        Nah, a new technology is a whole load of features in one go, you just need to break them apart and the formula will still work.

                                        Wrong is evil and must be defeated. - Jeff Ello[^]

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                                        • L Lost User

                                          Why 2f+1 and not f+1 ?

                                          P Offline
                                          P Offline
                                          PIEBALDconsult
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #20

                                          learner'sbug wrote:

                                          not f+1 ?

                                          Because f+1 is a race with no passing.

                                          This space intentionally left blank.

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