Gerald Weinberg Quotes

There are so many good quotes by GeraldWeinberg...

• "If the software doesn't have to work, you can always meet any other requirement."
• "If you cannot manage yourself, you have no business managing others."
• "If they didn't hire you, don't solve their problem." (The Fourth Law of Consulting)
• "No matter how it looks, everyone is trying to be helpful."
• "No matter how it looks at first, it's always a people problem."
• "Design is the progressive elimination of ambiguity."
• "Things are the way they are because they got that way"
• "The document is nothing; the documenting is everything" (see http://www.dorsethouse.com/features/excerpts/exerpreface.html)

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The setup for the first quote (from ThePsychologyOfComputerProgramming) is that a sticky problem has just led to a project being canceled. Our hero has devised a solution that may save the day, and is presenting it to the members of the project team. We enter as they react:

"And how long does your program take?" he asked--emphasizing the possessive.

"That varies with the input," was the reply, "but on average, about ten seconds per card."

"Aha," was the triumphant reply. "But my program takes only one second per card."

The members of the audience--who had, after all, all contributed to the one-second version--seemed relieved. But our hero, who was rather young and naive, was not put down by this remark. Instead, he calmly observed, "But your program doesn't work. If the program doesn't have to work, I can write one that takes one millisecond per card--and that's faster than our card reader."

[from QualitySoftwareManagement] Weinberg's Zeroth Law of Software:

"If the software doesn't have to work, you can always meet any other requirement."

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The third quote was taken from footnote 2, page 89, of MoreSecretsOfConsulting where it is referenced to SecretsOfConsulting for the real source, so I don't know if this is a Weinberg-ism or a Law attributed there to someone else. I added it here because I burst out laughing when I read it. I had just recently read the RulesOfAcquisition? and The Fourth Law reminded of Ferengi attitude. --DougPhilips

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One of my favorites, from UnderstandingtheProfessionalProgrammer? (p. 209): "No programmer who continues to grow need fear the future." --DanielRead?

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