[thelist] Re: A Different POV

[jay.blanchard at thermon.com]

<snip from one message>
Another common cause of not documenting is that it is not seen as a
sufficiently important business cost.
</snip>

But at what cost? It would be no surprise to anyone to find out that
tremendous cost is expended in trying to figure out the
programmer/developer did before them? As Ron pointed out, "The ability to
write and document sites/apps/code that your successor can maintain and
extend definitely has ROI implications". And as someone else once said, "If
you don't have time to do it right the first time, when are you going to
have time to do it over...and how much is it going to cost you?"

If it is not seen as a sufficiently important business cost it's because it
really hasn't come up yet. I have some stories that would curl your hair
and your budget.

<snip from another message>
my first programming job had to be completed in 24 hours. okay, it
was a bit basic, but i was told that i had to get the code done asap. which
meant no documentation. i think time to release is a key factor in whether
documentation gets done or not.
</snip>

Were you at least provided with a scope of work? A description of what the
application was supposed to do?

Why don't we consider web sites applications?

It was just pointed out to me there are a couple of funny documentation
items in this list;

http://www.dilbert.com/comics/dilbert/lotd/ShortList/ShortList_82.html

If you're bidding on new jobs, include time for documentation...your
clients will appreciate it.

Jay