Acropolis { Website Management Software }

I mentioned in a previous post that I have been reading a book called Dreaming in Code, which chronicles the attempt by a team of programmers and designers to hammer out a Personal Information Management software (PIM) that will compete with the big boys - namely Outlook/Exchange.  I am about 4/5ths completed with the book, but it is already clear to me the project doesn’t really pan out–not only because I had never heard of their software, Chandler, before I started reading this book, but also because I’ve already read about three years of it and it seems like they are still only making baby steps.

Now it has been seven years and there is still no version 1.0.  While one may point to various flaws in their design process, or the decision to build their application in a desktop, rather than web-based environement (understandable if you understand that the project began a couple of years before GMail came out) but one could also oversimplify the whole issue by saying they simply underestimated the project.  They did not meet their self-imposed deadline, and therefore did not stay within budget.

I think any programmer can relate to that.  I know I can, after spending all day yesterday trying to complete a project I figured only had about two hours left.  I was to implement a nifty one-page checkout on one of our client’s sites, Cajun Grocer, like I had done with Acropolis (as can be seen on Strollers Direct.)  Spencer and our client alike were convinced it was a “cut-and-paste” job.  After all, I had already done it on one platform, how hard could it possibly be to move it to another?

To anyone out there who is not a programmer, but manages programmers: There is no such thing as cut-and-paste.  Unless two systems are exactly identical, they should be presumed to be absolutely different.  I may be exaggerating slightly, but not as much as you think.  In some cases the apparent similarity of two systems can actually create more havoc than if they were nothing alike, because you would not enter the project with any (wrong) preconceived notions.  You would assume nothing, therefore you could understand clearly the task that lay ahead.

So basically  yesterday can be summed up as follows: It works, it breaks, it works, it breaks, it works, it breaks…

And I still don’t feel like we are anywhere near actually getting back to work on the refactoring of Acropolis.

Best of luck, OSAF!  May something come of your efforts yet.  May something come of all of our efforts.

Recently

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.