Andrew’s Third Law of Software Development

Posted on 11/24/2017 by Andrew Reynolds

Bugs detected in a software system can be corrected in these four ways:

  1. Fix and do a new release.
  2. Tell boss, “It works on my machine.”
  3. Tell user, “That’s a network error, retry later.”
  4. Document it and call it a feature.

More insights next week,

Andrew

About Andrew Reynolds

Born in California Did the school thing studying electronics, computers, release engineering and literary criticism. I worked in the high tech world doing software release engineering and am now retired. Then I got prostate cancer. Now I am a blogger and work in my wood shop doing scroll saw work and marquetry.
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21 Responses to Andrew’s Third Law of Software Development

  1. Pingback: Andrew’s Third Law of Software Development — Andrew’s View of the Week – Technicalvisit

  2. kiranbhavaraju says:
    12/21/2017 at 3:00 am

    Great Andrew, you always share great information.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. C. J. Hartwell says:
    11/26/2017 at 12:19 pm

    I once had a phone with those features. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  5. frederick anderson says:
    11/25/2017 at 8:33 am

    Of course, I’ve always suspected…

    Like

  6. Nelson - One Old Sage says:
    11/25/2017 at 7:31 am

    You nailed it again. From my days in the Industry, we also had the adage “We never have time to do it right but we have time to do it twice.”

    Liked by 1 person

  7. Debra says:
    11/24/2017 at 3:37 pm

    Sounds all too familiar! I have current “issues” I’m dealing with! Mercy!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Diane Henders says:
    11/24/2017 at 1:40 pm

    Or, the Microsoft Method: Don’t even attempt to spin it; just shrug and say, “Tough, we’re not going to fix it. You’ll have to live with it until you buy the next OS.” And they don’t bother to fix it in the next OS, either.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Andrew Reynolds says:
      11/24/2017 at 2:56 pm

      I’ve been known to tell people, “It’s fixed in the next version, due out in 2031.” And sadly, in most bug tracking software there is a resolution option, “Won’t Fix.” As long as the developer has a good story, it won’t get fixed.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Rachel McAlpine says:
    11/24/2017 at 12:56 pm

    Delicious. You forgot the silent one: “It’s your fault, stupid user, so suffer!”

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Jacqui Murray says:
    11/24/2017 at 12:14 pm

    Well there it is, the smartest post I’ve read all day.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. JoHanna Massey says:
    11/24/2017 at 11:48 am

    Thanks Andrew. Your comments are always as interesting as the posts. All my best to you.

    Like

  12. Chris White says:
    11/24/2017 at 11:00 am

    So many features. So many. What is release engineering ?

    Liked by 1 person

    • Andrew Reynolds says:
      11/24/2017 at 11:12 am

      Release engineering is the fine art and science of taking the work from hundreds of developers and combining it into an artifact that can be delivered and installed on a computer. Next time your computer informs you there is an upgrade available – think of me, I’m the guy who made that and sent it to you. and if it didn’t work, I blame the hundreds of engineers.

      Liked by 2 people

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