[AppyPappy]

I suspect it is a fear of commitment. I started in COBOL in the early 80’s but now I code in Groovy/Grails. It has gotten FAR worse. Not only do they not know exactly what they want, they don’t know how it should look. But they know the design you implemented isn’t right. They expected to enter department code instead of employee ID. They wanted to see totals over here.

Every day I swear I’m going to throw in the towel and go back to COBOL.

[Mr. Douglas]

They expected to enter department code instead of employee ID.

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This is where the white board comes in for me. I “bench test” what they think they want on a white board in front of them. I say, “OK, I’ve entered the Employee ID. What should happen next? As we work through it they say, “oops, I guess the Department code is what is going to get us there.”

This happens a LOT. One time they brought in a CR on a project and I could see that it could not be done. But it was from way up the ladder, so they wanted it. No problem, I white boarded it in front of them and got to the impossible part and said, “and then what happens?”

After much discussion, they said they would get back to me. The next day the CR was cancelled.

[Mr. Douglas]

Every day I swear I’m going to throw in the towel and go back to COBOL.

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I’m 63. I loved COBOL and was darned good at it. Unfortunately, it is like being a good Model T mechanic.