Re: Size of Workgroups

>From: uunet!merton.enet.dec.com!wahl (David Wahl) >Subject: Re: Size of Workgroups >Date: 8 Jul 92 16:45:30 GMT >X-Informix-List-Id: <news.1508> > >In article <1992Jul8.144137.25653@schaefer.math.wisc.edu>, >horn@schaefer.math.wisc.edu (Jeffrey Horn) writes: >|>Assume that you have some powerful database system (ingres, oracle, sybase, >|>informix, etc.) and developement tools ( 4gls, compilers, debuggers, >|>desktop publishing, etc.). Assume also that you have 1 month to do the >|>project. You know nothing more, you will have to do interviews to get more >|>information on exactly what is needed. The project is to have complete >|>on-line and printed documentation. At the outset, how many analysts, >|>programmers, technical writers, managers, etc. would you put in charge of >|>a project like this. How would you break the work down and how much time >|>for each person would you allocate to each chunk. > >I think making the duration of the project only one month makes the scenario >unrealistic. The brief description of requirements coupled with the constraint >of finishing in 20 working days sounded to me like one programmer with a decent >database and 4GL could easily handle the job in a month, making analysts, >technical writers, managers and the rest just so much excess baggage. > >On the other hand, if there is more to this you really can't do any kind of >estimate until there is a more precise description of the requirements (how >big, what kinds of reports, what kind of data entry, what platform(s), etc.). I would agree with David Wahl that either the timescale is unrealistic or the whole job must be doable by one (maybe two) people. If it needs more than 2, then you are going to run into the problems Brooks describes in"The Mythical Man-Month". Roughly speaking, you can't assign 9 women to produce a baby in a month (no sexism intended; the job simply can't be speeded up!). If I were presented with the spec you gave us, I would immediately negotiate for 1 day of work for 1 person to establish the outline of what is required in more detail. On the basis of that day's work, I would then negotiate for what seemed like an appropriate number of days for establishing properly what was required -- that might be anything from zero days through to a month or more. If this was not accepted by the customer, I would decline to attempt the job! Once you've established what is required and what constraint there are, you can start working out how it might be implemented, who you might need to implement it, how long it will take. If the system is simple enough that it can be described in 2 man-days and implemented in 10, you might just achieve the target of one month. Anything more -- no chance. If it involves hiring full-time staff, you can't do it inside a month -- most people (in the UK, at any rate) are on 4-week/1-month notice periods. Only exceptionally are good staff unemployed atr the moment you interview them. Contractors are a different matter, of course, but it would probably take a week to get a decent set of them sorted out. (This from someone facing an exciting day interviewing potential contractors for a job starting Monday -- not my idea of fun. I'd rather be getting on with documenting last year's project!) If you've already got the staff on hand, then you're quite lucky. Yours expansively, Jonathan Leffler (johnl@obelix)