Management and Operational answers needed too

I would like to point out that Coreys post, welcome as it was, addressed only technical issues. The problems we are complaining about; and that the open letter described are largely operational and management problems within Linden Lab. As a long time (30+ years) software developer myself, I know in my bones that software development projects fail because of management errors far more than from programmer errors. Many of the day to day problems look from the outside to be more lack of operational process than of programming issues. Professional operations setups do not allow developers to make deployment decisions for example. Can you answer whether Linden Lab recognizes that these are problem areas, and if so what is being done to deal with them ?

Excellent question - I could not have stated it better myself

THIS is the central issue, and until anyone at Linden is prepared to answer this question, the only long-term change predictable is continued decrease in quality and satisfaction.

The only solution is a conceptual/paradigm shift in Phil's operational model, which seems to rely completely on non-directed direction of design, public relations and oversight/management, period!

I think that the "Tao" principle is excellent.... in the sixties.

Remember that, for Philip (with one L), Second Life is the realisation of a huge dream of his ... for the rest of us, who are trying to use it as a game / platform / world / environment / development system / income/ education tool /social network / roleplay etc ... it's much, much more, and our needs/dreams can never really mesh.

I would like to know how many hours Senior Lindens spend in-world (even undercover) on lower-end systems, and whether they even really understand first-hand the issues that we are raising here.

Broccoli

Maybe (probably) I'm slow today..

Yep. Management isn't always good at realizing that they should always ask themselves the question "do you want it now or do you want it to work right?" and that the correct answer is rarely "both!" That said, I'd add the qualification that coders, in-general, don't always produce great end-products when left alone.

This line confuses me when taken with the other quote above. Are you saying "less management" or "more management"?

This line confuses me when taken with the other quote above. Are you saying "less management" or "more management"?[/QUOTE]

I'm saying that to run a large scale , complex applications such a Second Life the Operations department needs a clear mandate and sufficient authority/autonomy to be able to put the mandate into effect. So for example, they can veto deploying an untested patch, which is touted by s/w development as the fix for the latest issue. If they don't have that authority then its a management issue.

These balances are hard to get right at the best of times, in the case of Second Life they aren't made any easier by rate of growth, and the pressure to innovate. My cop-out answer to your question is that there has to be just enough management.

Ok. I get it now.

I don't really disagree with you but think that a lot more of that already happens at LL than people think. Not saying they don't need more, just that there may be more too it than we see.

I don't really disagree with you but think that a lot more of that already happens at LL than people think. Not saying they don't need more, just that there may be more too it than we see.[

Its the quality of the management not the amount. we are not disagreeing...