Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Progress...

One little motivating item that I see every day as I stroll down the hall for my daily jump start of bean-juice is a piece of paper taped to the wall outside the office of Tim Del Chiaro, one of the program managers on the DeXter project.  On this incredibly low-tech device is some Post-It(r) notes with a digit on each one.  They're arranged in two groups.  One group is the current number of defects that are so critical that they need to be fixed, if possible, before the next build and the other group is the number of defects considered “Must Fix“ before the eventual release.  It is really cool to see that number make significant drops from day-to-day as we fix/resolve the defects in the tracking system.  Tim updates this number throughout the day.  Sometimes even low-tech, seemingly insignificant little things can have a profound impact.

15 comments:

  1. What about adding a web-cam to this :-)

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  2. Just one thing to say: Delphi rocks, and thanks for doing all in your powers for a rock-solid release!!!

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  3. What about a picture? :)

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  4. So what are the numbers in each column this afternoon? I'm sure we'll all check back at least once a day if you made it available! Think about your cult status!


    Regards


    Chris

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  5. A webcam would be so incredible...

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  6. Great post as always Mr Bauer.


    Just wondering, are we talking double digits, triple digits?

    Sooooo looking forward to downloading the trial of C++ Builder 2006 (which website says "coming soon") and would really love to know if I should be checking every 12 hours like I am now.

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  7. I like the picture/web cam idea. This would be a sweet little update/indicator for the strong community of Delphi users. This is a great way to solidify the relationship between Borland and its customers. ;)

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  8. Will the same happen with D200*6* in the future? Will Borland continue its quality path?


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  9. procedure Test();

    var

    V_Test: integer;

    begin

    for V_Test := 1 to 100 do

    begin




    end;


    end;


    oops... sorry I confused your blog with my IDE... :-)



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  10. It's good to hear that you are excited!!!

    So we are...


    I just wonder why in the world release date is set even if both groups still not cleared?

    And this is in the situation when Borland even doesn't talk about public betas...

    Sure there are lots of hidden bugs...


    Have talked yesterday to management. They not going to approve upgrade to dexter, because bought 2005... And we cannot use it because of bugs.

    So sad to stick with D7...

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  11. It is interesting how old fashion analog systems like these still seem to be so effective. Here you guys develop some of the best software development tools on the planet, including tools to do exactly what those post-it notes do, and post-it notes are still an effective tool to really deliver the message.

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  12. This post should have a disclaimer. Something like "I know it's on the bottom of every page, but let me repeat it: this post does not express my employers view, solely my own".

    What Allen basically is saying: stop buying hi-tech stuff Borland sells, but stick to (pun intended) post-it(tm).


    I worked at a company where you could see at your phone that a customer was on hold. Until they put up a big LED display showing how many customers were on hold. From that moment on there were zero complaints from customers about being on hold.


    Don't trust hi-tech. Trust things that work. Post-it(tm) is one of them.

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  13. Current Delphi stats:


    reported: 1891

    opened: 725


    closed: 2049



    Go, Allen!


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  14. Maybe not a webcam, but an "anonymous" chart with invisible labels will show a curve going down and down and down... <g>

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  15. Even though Borland is an american company where money rules...


    Quality is a good money maker too on the long run.


    Keep up the spirit people at Borland. You have one great product in Delphi.

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