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Jimmer -> RE: Patch 1.02 (2/14/2008 11:22:14 PM)
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Matrix being a small company actually works against getting patches out quickly. It's kind of backwards logic, but here's why:
- Small companies have a higher ratio of developers to management.
- Some of the management, even, came up through the ranks from development
- Developers have a strong desire to "do it right the first time"
- Management has a strong desire to "get it out the door and earn some money"
So, if there is a higher developer to manager ratio in Matrix (which seems VERY likely, given their presence on this set of forums), that means they will lean more towards "do it right the first time".
When 1.01 was being readied, Marshall mentioned that there were 50 patches in 1.01. Later, there were 60. Then 70. Finally, I believe there were 90+ at the end. There's an engineer behind that process, I guarantee it. "Do it right the first time."
In order to push patches out faster, there would have to be a "drop-dead date" for patch code. This would mean that, no matter what, no patch will be added to the patch after a certain date.
There are exceptions, though. If the patch set being developed itself created a bug, that bug would have to be evaluated to find out whether it would be necessary or not. Again, developers will lean towards "yes, it's needed", while management wants to know why and how much will it cost.
1.01a was nearly perfect, but didn't fix all of the previous problems. An engineer was in charge of that.
1.01b fixed all of the problems with 1.01a, but introduced a few more that were new. A manager was in charge of the decision to release.
The question for the customer boils down to this:
Would you rather have perfect patches less often? or
Would you rather have patches on a timeline, but not always perfect when they came off the line?
I personally would rather see them slam out a patch every two weeks come hill or high water. I happen to be an programmer, so I SHOULD lean towards the "perfection" end of things, but being a player is far more important to me than programming when it comes to EiA. "PUSH them patches!"
Which would YOU rather have?
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