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I had once a project on customer's factory...
First time I was there and saw that "standard", I had 2 weeks to make a modification and fixing some bugs.
1st day was a full day speaking with the mechanics of my direct customer and getting a good view of what has to be done.
2nd day was asking the maintenance guys of final customer about how the needed 3rd party tools worked and getting needed procedures to upgrade the stations.
3rd day I packed my laptop out, got the actual software, switched online and sit in front of the machine watching how it worked in production and how the program was reacting live.
3rd day in the afternoon my boss called me and asked me what I was doing, because the project manager of my direct customer had complained like "WTF is he doing here? 3 days gone and he (me) still did NOTHING and blah, blah, blah..."
4th day I start programming separated modules with debug items to see how some modifications would react in the production without changing the running code.
7th day I said the mechanics "OK, lets do the hardware changes". In the meanwhile, the project manager was already freaking out and got his complains to the president of the company I work, my boss was being pushed to remove me out of that project.
Day 12: I was done with the ToDo List I had and the final customer was so happy about the results, that he wanted me to modify other 2 stations.
Day 14: I went home having done all what I had to do plus some extra points being payed on a separated bill, because they weren't in the original contract.
Day 15: The project manager was forced by his own boss to write an email apologizing about the previous complains and saying thanks about the good job I had done
3 or 4 Months later, the final customer had some other modifications and they explicitelly spoke with the executive chiefs of my firm and told they wanted me to do them. 1 Year later another time.
Moral: It might seem a time waste to hold on and think on how to do it at the beginning. But good planned things, get through much smoother and faster than starting without having a clue and see what happens. Sometimes it is hard to make other people see it, but results speak for themselves.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Do some creative work is hard. Sometimes it is worth it - sometimes not. I have experienced that it is essential to know, whether some creativity is awarded, or someone wants (or deserves) "Quick and Dirty" job.
I have this week struggled to some OpenGL 2.0 stuff and now that I understand I will delete 2/3 of the code I have written in my sample app. So anybody will I see what I had written but know I understand OpenGL a bit 
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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There's so much productivity tools on the market today and new tools, frameworks and even languages are appearing almost daily.
But how the hell will we use them if we can't even get our specs straight?
It seems we're solving the wrong problems... 
It's an OO world.
public class SanderRossel : Lazy<Person>
{
public void DoWork()
{
throw new NotSupportedException();
}
}
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Making deadlines and ending up with a profit.
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."
<< please vote!! >>
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Software App/Product/Project is very funny things, What you mean by Deadlines (Do we follow them  )
Really, Software app development is bit "Rocket Science" 
see below points about software app
- Walking on water and developing software from a specification are easy if both are frozen
- Programs must be written for people to read, and only incidentally for machines to execute.
- Any simple problem can be made insoluble if enough meetings are held to discuss it.
- The software is not finished until the last user is dead.
- Why do we expect documentation to accurately describe the product when the documentation is finished first?"
- When you spend time to find & fix all the bugs in your project, you can't complete the project in your life time.
- We did execute about 10,000 test cases on it, and it was working fine until Monday.
- Software has following options but you allow to pick any two : Fast, good, cheap
- Your problem is another's solution; your solution will be his problem
- There is no "improve performance" checkbox in any software
What else to say
Find More .Net development tips at : .NET Tips
The only reason people get lost in thought is because it's unfamiliar territory.
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Well not all, but some of them are just bloody idiots!! 
Whether I think I can, or think I can't, I am always bloody right!
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Can't help it. Consider those "Gods gift to IT" as "Professional Hazards" 
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And estimating time lines.
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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You are absolutely right, but let me suggest you a formula to calculate time for development.
I ask my team how much it will take, everything they answer I multiply by 5 and pass over to CEO. He doubles it and add some for QA. From that those in charge of customer care create a proposition (with added day) and pass it (with cost attached) to the customer.
In most cases the development over before we get an answer from the customer (we have over 10 little gems that got developed in this way and the customer banned it)...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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What I actually experience is when I give my time estimate for a certain project. They will cut it and ask me to accomplish it sooner. So what's the use of my time estimate?
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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100% agree... Its always a case of (time it would take/2)
"Program testing can be used to show the presence of bugs, but never to show their absence."
<< please vote!! >>
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That is why you always at least double it from the start and never tell them you did...
So many details! (heavy sigh) So much confusion...
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I always do that and they always say, "that long?" 
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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I am always prepared with some of the details of what is needed to justify my estimate. Then they try to suggest skipping some crucial needs and I respond...
It is a never ending struggle. They always want it cheap and fast and you want to make sure it really works. You can spend an extra hour up front making it work correctly or 5 hours in customer support after release and 5 hours fixing it and updating.
So many details! (heavy sigh) So much confusion...
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Regarding it I always say:
"There are 3 options: Cheap, good and fast. You can only choose two of them, which ones?"
Because...
Cheap and fast = crappy
Cheap and good = slow
Fast and good = expensive
Until now, I have (95% of the time) got neutral or positive feedbacks for that question. At least I get what I want, that they think about and see it in a more realisitc way.
M.D.V. 
If something has a solution... Why do we have to worry about?. If it has no solution... For what reason do we have to worry about?
Help me to understand what I'm saying, and I'll explain it better to you
Rating helpful answers is nice, but saying thanks can be even nicer.
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Karen Mitchelle wrote: So what's the use of my time estimate?
Cutting, apparently. 
Same here, however. 
THESE PEOPLE REALLY BOTHER ME!! How can they know what you should do without knowing what you want done?!?!
-- C++ FQA Lite
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For staying in time you need feature sets. At most one or two which you can throw out with "Not yet implemented" 
Press F1 for help or google it.
Greetings from Germany
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All the other thing come just after it, and as a result of it...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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My biggest problem is, that I would like to write real code once again instead of pushimg data to and from a database or mistaking web pages for a UI.
The language is JavaScript. that of Mordor, which I will not utter here
I hold an A-7 computer expert classification, Commodore. I'm well acquainted with Dr. Daystrom's theories and discoveries. The basic design of all our ship's computers are JavaScript.
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