Spec? What spec?



  • Today's email conv (paraphrased):

    "Matt, please take over the BigJob report from Sizzle, whom we sacked. We need it finished by Friday."

    "Certainly. Where can I find its specification?"

    "Sizzle had it when she left. I think she'd discussed it with the customer."

    "So where is it?"

    "Oh you are so naive! You can't believe it got written down, surely?"

    Etc.



  • She was called Sizzle after all.



  •  It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!



  • @Matt Westwood said:

    "Matt, please take over the BigJob report from Sizzle, whom we staked."

    Fixed.



  • @JohnWestMinor said:

    It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!
     

    What?  You can get blamed for following the spec (build what I want, not what I say I want), surely you can be blamed for not following something that doesn't exist.



  • @locallunatic said:

    @JohnWestMinor said:

    It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!
     

    What?  You can get blamed for following the spec (build what I want, not what I say I want), surely you can be blamed for not following something that doesn't exist.

    Exactly. Perhaps I shouldn't have forgotten to tell them I'm not at work today, I'm having a lovely lazy day off, getting a molar extracted. By the time I get back in, someone will have gone sufficiently ballistic that something will have been done.

    Oh dream on, Westwood.



  • @dabean said:

    She was called Sizzle after all.

    That's her initials: SZL. If you're reading this and recognise yourself: Hi.



  • @locallunatic said:

    @JohnWestMinor said:

    It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!
     

    What?  You can get blamed for following the spec (build what I want, not what I say I want), surely you can be blamed for not following something that doesn't exist.

     

    Not if you play it right.  Write your own spec, put Sizzle's name on it, and then do whatever you want.  Someone complains, you point them to the spec.  No existing spec means there's no contradicting document to surface to show you up.



  • @da Doctah said:

    @locallunatic said:

    @JohnWestMinor said:

    It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!
     

    What?  You can get blamed for following the spec (build what I want, not what I say I want), surely you can be blamed for not following something that doesn't exist.

     

    Not if you play it right.  Write your own spec, put Sizzle's name on it, and then do whatever you want.  Someone complains, you point them to the spec.  No existing spec means there's no contradicting document to surface to show you up.

     That is management level thinking my boy!  We'll make a bureaucrat of you yet!



  • @da Doctah said:

    @locallunatic said:

    @JohnWestMinor said:

    It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!
     

    What?  You can get blamed for following the spec (build what I want, not what I say I want), surely you can be blamed for not following something that doesn't exist.

     

    Not if you play it right.  Write your own spec, put Sizzle's name on it, and then do whatever you want.  Someone complains, you point them to the spec.  No existing spec means there's no contradicting document to surface to show you up.

    I must admit this is devilishly brilliant... unfortunately though it's not applicable in 99% of actual work situations, but... very sweet to imagine.


  • @JohnWestMinor said:

     It's a golden opportunity! No design specs mean you can make ANYTHING and no one can fault you for it!

    Obviously, you've never worked for a client with a salesperson as the contact. If you had, you would have known that the spec is the twisted fantasy in client's head that remained of the vague functionality the sales rep invented during a string of meetings to satisfy the client and secure his commission.



  • I used to be optimistic and think that at least having a "technical salesperson" present should solve part of that, until I talked to a colleague (Technical Sales) who was happily writing a proposal to sell a Content Management System as basically a Data Warehouse.

    I remember standing there, jaw on the ground, not even knowing how to respond, asked him a couple simple technical questions ("so what about performance") which he dismissed with "I'll figure that out later". My only hope was that the customer would recognise it for the complete nonsense that it was and dismiss it without thinking twice.



  • You guys couldn't figure out I was trying to bait him into getting into trouble?


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