Yamaha DTXpress/DTXplorer/DTXtreme

--- Ed wrote:
> Personally, I find it hard to believe that when
> challenged to put up or shut up, we've all decided
> to shut up. As Brian LaRue jokingly remarked today
> in reaction to the resounding indifference shown...

I think you are being perhaps the merest tadlet harsh.

I'm a software engineer for my sins. Any such animal will tell you 
the hardest thing in the trade is not designing the software, not 
finding innovative patterns, not writing the code, not testing, and 
not supporting it. It's finding out what the bloody user wanted in 
the first place. I have a running motto: "users ... can't live 
with 'em, can't kill 'em."

Why is it hard? Partially because people often don't know what they 
want, they just know what they *don't* want. And when they *do* know 
what they want, they can't articulate it. Another problem is (as Rob 
has admitted) users tend to self-gate ... the subconsciously decide 
that something might be too hard, or too expensive. And it's 
demoralising when you make requests that don't have a chance of 
being implemented, because they're too wild, or lack universal 
applicability (no use producing something without a big enough 
market), or are too darn expensive, or would be too difficult to use.

What's even worse than requirements from single users is those from 
a committee. And what we have here is a big, geographically 
distributed committee of people for most of whom e-drumming is a 
hobby not a career.

A long time ago (in a galaxy far, far away) I decided to adopt 
an "assertive requirements gathering" approach, and I'm still doing 
it. Why? How does it work? I spend a little time talking to people, 
then I tell people what they'll get, then I wait to see how many 
scream, and how loud. Then I filter my assertions based on that, and 
iterate until the screaming becomes muttering under the breath.

Formulating requirements is hard, and it's not usually due to apathy.

Stewart