[sldev] Just askin': How are we doing?

[Nicholaz Beresford]

Able Whitman wrote:
> 
>     The other (big) thing, and I think the comments on the blog for
>     the 1.17.1 and 1.18 release announcements support that, would be to
>     make the 3rd quarter the quarter of "bug fixing".  This is probably
>     something King Philip would need to do (like Bill Gates at one point
>     just announced the "year of security" or something like that), but
>     a quarter of letting the dust settle, where everybody would just
>     work on fixing and cleaning up stuff, would do the whole viewer a
>     lot of good.
> 
> I have to disagree, actually. While I do think it's vitally important to 
> try and stay on top of the bugs which cause the biggest pain points, I 
> don't think it's reasonable to focus only on big fixes. First, at least, 
> is the fact that sometimes the line between bug fix and new feature is 
> blurry. Modifying the internal browser to support cookies was certainly 
> a new feature, but it also fixed the bug that sites using cookies didn't 
> work in the internal browser, to pick just one example. :)
> 
> Also, I think trying to get a team focused 100% on fixing defects has a 
> deleterious effect on morale. 

Dunno, three months fixing stuff doesn't sound so bad to me.  It can
even be quirks or even just a general priority or policy that steers
people (and from what I hear, Lindens pick their areas and tasks pretty
much by themselves).

I know software development in cycles.  And one of the cycles ultimately
is focusing on stability.  I really don't know how things work inside
Linden Lab, and what motivation drives people (from the management down
to the junior coders), but I've spoken to a lot of residents and the
user's comments on my blog speak for themselves also.



 > But when you're doing nothing but bug fixing, it quickly becomes an
 > environment where people feel like they're stuck in a rut and not making
 > an real progress.

Well, if people are not seeing stability as progress ... umm, I guess then
a project is in trouble.



 > Sure, a lot of those new features were security-related, but you can't
 > just stop working on software for a year (or even a quarter).

A year may be long, but personally I see no problem with a quarter if
the prospect is right.


Nick



Second Life from the inside out:
http://nicholaz-beresford.blogspot.com/