[lug] Developer abuse

[Jeffrey Siegal]

P. Scott DeVos wrote:
> Buildings are all pretty similar.  Contractors do the same thing over 
> and over again and it all costs pretty much the same per square foot for 
> a give type of construction and style.
> 
> If software engineers were allowed to keep building the same type of 
> applicaton over and over, they would get good at estimating too, but the 
> nature of software is such that you only do it once and it gets 
> duplicated over and over for essentially nothing so every project is 
> completely unlike anything you have ever done before.

That's prety much right on.  There are certain categories of software 
that do involve repeating the same sort of work over and over again. 
Not surprisingly, they're a lot easier to estimate.

> Another thing, if the requirements for a building changed as frequently 
> as the requirements for software change, contractors would never manage 
> to finish on time or on budget either.

That does happen, but there is an established structure and procedure 
for making changes which includes adjusting the budget and schedule.