Don’t Write Code
I was reminded today that solutions that can be solved with software sometimes shouldn’t. My current project requires several long-running processes to determine a result. The problem was that it would take hours to produce the result for a specific step, and then afterward, the operator would start the next step. One line of thought was to move the work around within the code workflow to execute in parallel, making it easier on the user but causing more development work to be done (and gaining not much of a time difference in the process). The other line of thought (mine), was to tell the user to start the next step immediately after this (longer) step. Based on the current design, the second step won’t start until the last unit of work was completed. The effort involved to solve this problem: 2 new sentences within the user guide, highlighted during our user training sessions, and no code changes.
Here are some good questions to ask so that you, too, can same time by not writing code:
- Revisit your design - is this even an issue, or does the design provide a workaround?
- Can people be trained to work around the issue without causing them undue stress (or requiring more people to do it)?
- How will the change, if done in software, potentially disrupt stability? (no change is without risk, though some are lower than others)
- What is the long-term impact to putting the burden on the user?
- Is the code fix the right thing to do for all involved?
James @ June 16, 2006