Time, angle and depth: dimensions in software design
AuthorsNameDamian PłazaTwitter@raimeyuu<br>Attention!<br>This blogpost is based on the plot that happened in one of the previous posts: Context Segregation Principle.
I greatly encourage reading it in the first place.
Attention!<br>I hugely recommend reading Balancing Coupling by Vlad Khononov - there are another set of dimensions (and more!) that can be used while designing systems.
It's all different?<br>Imagine a person named Samwho is the sales person of a company selling floor panels.<br>After the events happening earlier, Samreported to his Bossthat struggled with communication towards his "colleagues": Igorthe installer and Williamthe warehouse worker.<br>So Bossdecided to organize a joint meeting to discuss the situation.<br>"Communication is important in our company.", said Boss.<br>All arrived at HQ to participate.<br>Discussion
Boss: Ok bright people - I gathered you all here as Samtold me that you all had troubles with getting aligned. Is that true, Sam? Sam: Yes, you are almost right, Boss. Basically those two ignorants know nothing about flooring industry. All they did was putting obstacles in achieving the goal you assigned to me. William: Boss, it's utter BS. He entered the warehouse and started demanding exclusive panels storing points which is where the real ignorance is - if someone has at least a tiny fraction of knowledge how warehousing works, he would know that it's much more involved than just shouting "I want this"... Igor: And I was just trying to help him out with the installation, but he was so stubborn that he didn't want to listen to my advice. I mean, I am the installer here, I know how to do it properly. Sam: It wasn't about installation, you dumbass. We weren't supposed to install anything! William: But it wasn't about getting something from storage either! If no order reference is provided, I can't fetch anything from the storage. Sam: You misunderstood everything... Boss: To be fair Sam, you missed it too - to me it was very straightforward - showing off with blackness of African blackwood panels would make us tons of money. It wasn't about sales, warehousing or installation!<br>Bossagain was speechless.<br>Speaking without understanding<br>All the representatives of each company function missed the point of another one - including Boss's point brought in front of Sam's face.<br>Each of them was an expert in his area - selling, storing and installing.<br>Bosshimself was expert in closing big deals, building relationships and making sure that the company is profitable.<br>Each capability is required to make the whole company work - you can't install panels if no one actually bought them.<br>You can't sell them if you don't have them in stock.<br>"Is there a way to see the whole picture?", Bossasked himself.<br>Discussion
Boss: Seems like we think about flooring industry a little bit differently. We speak but without understanding each other. Sam: Everything would be easier if those two ignorants... Boss: Sam, please. Getting back to the point, in order to get a happy customer, each of us need to do his or her job best. My job is to build relationships and make big deals, Sam's job is to sell the best experience, Williamis responsible to ensure we have stuff in stock when needed and Igorbrings the experience to life, hence making dreams come true.Sam, Williamand Igor: (nod) Boss: Igor, do you sometimes need to return to warehouse because floor panels you got are incorrectly dispatched for installation? Igor: Yes, but not that often, fortunately. Boss: Why do you think it happens? Igor: Hm, can't really say, but I guess it's due to an error when applying some details onto the order? William: If I could add something here - sometimes it's dispatching problem, but sometimes warehouse gets incorrect order details. Boss: What does it mean, William? William: We are providing a given package, because a specific material was ordered from the manufacturing party. Boss: Who sends this order to you, William? William: Well, sales. Recently we got a non-trivial problem as someone requested for "premium oak flooring with natural finish" but then Igorreported that the customer was extremely angry as they actually needed "engineered oak flooring with brushed texture". To be honest, I don't really care as the main job of mine is to ensure stock levels and provide material on the request, based on an order reference. Igor: It was even more complicated - the installation place was a high-moisture bathroom, so solid wood would have warped within weeks. I couldn't let it happen to waste a fine piece of material not suited for a given installation conditions. Sam: But the customer said "premium oak"! How was I supposed to know about moisture issues?<br>Bosstook a deep breath and tried to calm down himself and the situation.<br>Discussion
Boss: Ok, stop. My intention wasn't to start blame game but rather show ourselves that it might be that each of us deals with a fraction of a reality. Sam: What...