[thelist] General Statement - There's Bugs in Everything

[Luther, Ron]

Rob Smith asked:

>>"There's bugs in everything." 
>>why?


Hi Rob,


Cool question.

I'd point first to 'lack of knowledge' (which is a little more general 
than vague or imprecise specs) ... sometimes you just don't know the 
business process or the "special cases" well enough to 'do things 
right the first time'.

I'd also like to second Joel's 'good enough' comment. I'm kinda picky 
- but I run into a lot of people who think '90$ is good enough'.

Finally, I'd like to add another (possible new can of worms) to the 
mix ... I find that very very few people actually know how to test 
stuff thoroughly. Which, I guess, is understandable because it requires 
a lot of creative thinking (and a lot of elbow grease)! Oh, and I 
suppose it requires more than a healthy dose of mistrust and paranoia. 
It's hard to challenge common sense. ("Why should I look for things 
that shipped before they were ordered? That couldn't possibly happen! 
.... wellllll .... how about because we're not looking at what happened 
- we're looking at what the data says happened ... that's the difference.)


Thanks,

RonL.
(Who this morning [like waaaay too many mornings] had to slap several 
groups upside the head because I found serious flaws in things they 
had 'checked out as okay' .... Grrrrrr!)