>> > kdepim devs are just making a simple classic mistake that's >> > been made over and over and over again. Developers do not learn from >> > history, every time this mistake is made the team doing it thinks >> > *they* will be different. >> >> What is that classic mistake? Is it the shark jumping thing? > > No, the mistake is the mistakes that are always made on the second > big project. You'd have to read "The Mythical ManMonth" to truly do it > justice (it's a really good book for developers btw), but in a nutshell > it goes like this: > > For your first big project, you will proceed very slowly and carefully > and not take on too much, as you know you know nothing. You will > probably make a project that does one thing and does a decent job of it. > > Enter the second project. Buoyed by the success of the first, most devs > will try and build something that is waaaaaaaaaay beyond their > capabilities - I mean, how hard can it be right? It will over-reach, be > unbuildable and timeframe estimates will be bat-shit crazy insane. > > The attrition rate of second big projects is rather large. > > Enter the third project. Humbled by the experience of the second and > still feeling quietly (and realistically) confident by the first, most > devs will settle down to something useful, of wide scope and still > achievable. > > This same rule seems to apply to almost every project a bunch of humans > could tackle.
Brilliant explanation. Thank you for taking the time to write this out. - Grant
