Re: WebCup 2015

From: Mohammad Nadim <nadim.attari_at_gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 May 2015 13:25:25 +0400

Hi Vy-Shane,

On 25 May 2015 at 12:45, Vy-Shane Sin Fat <shane_at_node.mu> wrote:

> On Mon, May 25, 2015 at 4:07 PM, Mohammad Nadim <nadim.attari_at_gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> On 25 May 2015 at 11:21, Jochen Kirstätter <mscc_at_kirstaetter.name> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> The whole rating process is based on *the client's / visitor's point of
>>> view*.
>>>
>>
>> +1 +1 +1 (many pluses) to you JoKi.
>>
>> I've always told my collegues, especially Nirvan, with whom I do some
>> freelancing when time permits, that you should not think like a developer
>> but like a businessman + understand the clients' requirements. We are not
>> at school to get A+ for writing outstanding codes. We are here to (1) make
>> the client happy (2) provide something that won't make the client lose
>> money (3) we make money as a developer/"businessman." At the end of the
>> day, it's all that matters. <rude>fsck standards, fsck coding conventions,
>> fsck software engineering, fsck etc...</rude>
>>
>
> I hope that you are being facetious.
>
> Good engineering isn't optional, period. Bad engineering will definitely
> make the client lose money once the software sinks under its own weight
> because it's too hard to make changes to it. Your client may not know or
> care, but you should know better and should care. Software projects are
> always evolving, and you can't take the short-sighted approach that you'll
> throw it over the wall at version 1.0 and be done with it.
>


+1. Agreed.

I hope if you want to, I quote,

(2) provide something that won't make the client lose money (3) we make
> money as a developer/"businessman."


You HAVE to think about a good foundation (hence good engineering) that can
be extended in the future, should you get other requirements from the
clients, etc. The client does not have to invest much money and you should
not lose money while coding / revamping.

You have to access the clients' requirements, and develop accordingly. And
you have to set a strategy as well. For example if the client does not have
enough finance to get a "state of the art" solution in the beginning, you
need to provide a simple solution, but something that converts. And you
tell the client, get sales (and money) from the existing one. After XX
months or YY years, we'll revamp the existing one, when you get enough
money for a "state of the art" solution.

If the client wants a simple catalogue website, then why use, for example
Wordpress (or any other off-the-shelf CMS/blog, etc)? You can even do it
using flat files, and no need to have a back-end if the contents rarely
change. Do I provide a solution with a CMS, where the client, when he
accesses the admin panel, starts installing all sort of plugins, etc? Or I
don't patch it when security holes are discovered because it was not in the
contract? Who is losing money then?

If the client has enough money to get something big from in the beginning,
then yes you need to consider many things (coding standards, soft engg,
etc) so that developers joining afterwards do not find it difficult to
integrate the team, so that you can add new modules/functionalities later,
etc.

Regards,
Nadim Attari
Received on Mon May 25 2015 - 09:25:42 PST