Tuesday, July 19, 2005
how many people it takes to bake potatoes
There's a joke mail floating around, talking about how many people it takes for a US company to sell baked potatoes vs how many people it takes a Japanese company. That joke's pretty old, considering no US or Japanese company would be doing any manufacturing now.
However, that joke kinda linked my thought to this post, and i've came up with my own take of it:
No... we dont just bake potatoes, we must do it in an automated, predicatable, secured and cost-effective manner, so a team is gathered:
some parts of this are copied from Eric's blog, while some are gathered from a communal joking session that got way out of hand! 8)
And they wonder why we are slow to respond ........
However, that joke kinda linked my thought to this post, and i've came up with my own take of it:
No... we dont just bake potatoes, we must do it in an automated, predicatable, secured and cost-effective manner, so a team is gathered:
some parts of this are copied from Eric's blog, while some are gathered from a communal joking session that got way out of hand! 8)
- One manufacturing VAM to maintain relationship with the potato supplier
- One logistics VAM to maintain instruct state of potatoes supplied (preheated, 350F, individually packed)
- One packaging expert to create the packaging design and testing
- One artwork expert to create the initial packaging artwork, user guide and any related materials
- One localization expert to review the specification for localizability issues to make sure all users in all countries know how to open the baked potatoes
- One team of experts to create localizations of the packaging artwork, , user guide and any related materials
- One subject matter expert to understand what it takes to bake potatoes, make corrections along the way, and do very little to contribute to the baked potato as they have no access to the ovens or potatoes
- The same subject matter expert to be held accountable if the baked potatoes are not baked properly
- One program manager to write the specification for baking of potato
- One usability expert to review the specification for accessibility and usability issues.
- One S-OX expert to review the separation of duties issues.
- One security expert to review the security issues, to make sure the baked potatoes can be open in an expected manner only
- One geopolitical expert to review if any countries/religion/race is offended by baked potatoes
- One Legal advisor to write a EULA for opening baked potatoes
- One environment configuration team to create a developer environment, a test environment, and production environment
- At least one dev, tester and PM to brainstorm security vulnerabilities.
- One tester to write the test plan.
- One test lead to update the test schedule.
- One tester to write the test cases and add them to the nightly automation.
- Three or four testers to participate in an ad hoc potato bash.
- One technical writer to write the documentation.
- One technical reviewer to proofread the documentation.
- One process writer to write the process.
- One copy editor to proofread the documentation.
- One documentation manager to integrate the new documentation into the existing body of text, update tables of contents, indexes, etc.
- One systems PM to drive the implementation of the automation project
- One business PM to drive the implementation with the business
- One support team to support the automated systens
And they wonder why we are slow to respond ........
