Sunday, March 17, 2013

Humans ~ The Weakest Link



Humans ~ The Weakest Link




Humans are often the weakest link in the software engineering projects chain of processes. Evident in various terms invented to describe them, funny and both educational, but causes serious damage to projects and in some cases, even to companies:


  • PEBKAC ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_error#PEBKAC )
    • Problem Exists Between the Keyboard And Chair
    • Classic description of human errors
    • n 2006, Intel began running a number of PEBKAC web-based advertisements[12] to promote its vPro platform!

  • ID10T http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_error#ID-10-T_Error)
    • Straight way of calling the user as an "idiot"
    • Usually used between computers technicians to describe the user - for future reference
    • The Navy pronounces ID10T as "Eye Dee Ten Tango".
    • The Army pronounces 1D10T as "One Delta Ten Tango".




  • Layer 8http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Layer_8
    • Much more elegant way of describing the user issue.
    • While the standard OSI layer as 7 layer (Applications being the 7th), the 8th Layer here is referred as the User layer. So, if we say that we've got a problem with the 8th layer, it is understood that its a user issue and NOT a software issue.
  • RTFM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RTFM)
    • "Read The Fucking Manual" This is a classic one, while this does not describe that its a user issue, these words are used to tell off the user to read the supplied manual of a software/hardware first, before asking any further questions.
    • Some history: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rtfm
    • Many more variations of this RTFM, as follows (from Wikipedia):
        •  
      • Encouraging the reading of the manual or other background information
        • RTBM ("read the bloody manual") (In some countries, e.g., the UK and Australia, this is a fractionally more polite alternative with identical meaning[9])
        • RTFA ("read the fucking/featured article"—common on news forums such as Fark.com[10] and Slashdot, where using "TFA" instead of "the article" has become a meme)
        • RTFE ("read the fucking e-mail")
        • RTFC ("read the fucking code" [also "reboot the fucking computer" or "read the fucking card"])
        • RTFSC ("read the fucking source code")
        • RTFSM ("read the fucking SWIFT message")
        • RTFQ ("read the fucking question")
        • RTFFAQ ("read the fucking frequently asked questions")
        • UTFH ("use the fucking help")
        • UTSL ("use the source, Luke", a play on the famous Star Wars quote, "Use the Force, Luke", referring to freely available source code)
        • RTFI ("read the flaming instructions")
        • RTFB ("read the fucking brief" common in advertising, design, photography)
        • RTFP ("read the fucking plan" common in construction, engineering, stage design)
      • Encouraging the use of at least a basic search
        • UTFG ("Use the fucking Google")
        • GIYF ("Google is your friend") ("Google it yourself fucker")
        • JFGI ("just fucking Google it")
        • LMGTFY ("let me google that for you") The basis for the website lmgtfy.com
        • JFWI ("just fucking Wiki it")
        • JGIYN ("just Google it, you noob")
        • STFG "search the fucking Google" (the initials are consonant with STFU)
        • STFW ("search the fucking Web") (the initials are consonant with STFU)
        • WIDGI ("when in doubt, Google it"—also occasionally "WIDGIT")

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