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  4. Sutton's Zeroth Law

Sutton's Zeroth Law

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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!

      Richard DeemingR 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

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        O Offline
        Oscar0
        wrote on last edited by
        #4

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

        Richard DeemingR 1 Reply Last reply
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        • O Oscar0

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

          Richard DeemingR Offline
          Richard DeemingR 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

          "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!

            Richard DeemingR Offline
            Richard DeemingR 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

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

            T M 2 Replies Last reply
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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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              • Richard DeemingR 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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                  • Richard DeemingR 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!

                      J 1 Reply Last reply
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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[^]

                        L M S 3 Replies 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[^]

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                          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
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                            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[^]

                            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[^]

                              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...)

                              L 1 Reply Last reply
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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.

                                        1 Reply Last reply
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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

                                          0 Offline
                                          0 Offline
                                          0bx
                                          wrote on last edited by
                                          #21

                                          Not so sure about that. If either N or Q are 0, then c = 0. Knowing this and assuming c is a constant, then t = lim(x->inf), or lim(x->-inf).

                                          .

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