Message text written by Ken to "BP - \"Infarct a Laptop Daily\""
>human emotioinal issues have a lot to do with how projects turn
out. It the mechanics have a chip on their shoulder about a particular
product because of a bad scene with a rep, or rumors... regardless of their
falsity, then it hardly matters what the performance is of the product.
Mechanics need to feel good, and proud, about what they are doing in order
to
do a good job.

][<en<

I wasn't necessarily focusing on human emotional issues when discussing the
uncontrolled variables in field testing, although it certainly is a big
factor. My point was more something like this:

Suppose you wanted to find out who can run the mile fastest. You carefully
measure out a mile. You buy a stopwatch that is certified accurate to
within 1/1000 of a second. You stand at the finish line with your
stopwatch. You time only one runner at a time, and to make it more
accurate, you have each one start at the same time of day-- exactly noon,
let's say. The runner stands on the starting line and starts when his watch
reads exactly 12 noon. You start your stopwatch at exactly noon, according
to yours.

The fastest runner finishes in 38.2631 seconds. The slowest finishes in 17
minutes, 12.1789 seconds. From this you conclude that the fastest runner is
exactly 26.97583 times faster than the slowest. I would argue that because
of a single problem with the precision of the method that you don't even
know which runner is fastest.

As for mechanics, they are important but rumors are a pretty weak basis for
making a decision of this kind. The antidote to ignorance is knowledge, so
when necessary, we need to be prepared to provide them with what they need
to know to do the job well. We all want to feel good and proud of what is
being done, we all want a good job.

Mike E.