Jeff Rock

Think you’re tough? Try designing & developing production software. It’s like being in the Ironman except everyone is booing you.

Jeff Rock

Buzz Anderson:

So true.

Update: Since someone seems to have taken issue with this statement, let me add: I don’t think either Jeff or I intended it as a literal comparison of the relative difficulty of triathalons and software development. Shipping a complex app as a lone developer does require an awful lot of determination, often in the face of severe discouragement, and that’s all I was trying to say. If it would help, substitute the phrase “half marathon.”

Eventually I hope to write a bit about my experience developing Birdfeed in the last year, which, triathalon or not, was one of the harder things I’ve done.

Exactly. This was meant as more of a statement about the relative difficulty involved in creating something with limited resources. There’s not many head-nod or thumbs-up moments coming from anyone. It’s mostly hard work followed by being told that its not good or bad altogether (especially while your app goes through its’ ugly phase). Crashes abound and corners are rough for long periods of time. Your 4-hour class re-architecture feels great but is hard for testers to understand because it doesn’t result in a visible change. It can be a very discouraging ordeal. And even when it’s finally a shipped 1.0 you’ll have people that don’t appreciate what’s been created (read Marco’s blog if you’d like to see user comments at their worst).

All that said, I didn’t intend to insult anyones in-laws. But to those of you who were offended, relax. It might be time to seriously look into picking up a sense of humor.

Source: buzz