>>>It may not matter. Recognizing the requirement and delivering a solid solution (zested with a little sex appeal) overwhelms this kind of detail.
>>
>>Until it crashes.
>Solutions that crash have little (if any) sex appeal. The cheesiess culprits are management-down designs. The management team looks at the data, ignores the desktop workflow (and the desktop user), lays out forms (in Powerpoint (or sumpin), to show the "suits";etc) and then sends it to the coding bench.
>
>Eventually the project is delivered to end user for testing. The end user then says : "Well it needs to do this or that ..", and so on. Thats always seems to be where those types of projects start eating clock and budget.
>
>It seems, in many cases, that work flow and "end user" input are the last considerations for (some) projects.
>
>We have initiated projects where client's management attempts to describe what they need (and control the project). We listen, but do not begin actual design until we have developed a relation with the slug(s) pounding the keyboards. If you give them (the slug) a DOS program that does the job (and never breaks), they would be happy. They have no vanities regarding object or procedural (or whatever) - they just want to deliver their stuff/reports (to their bosses) in a timely and accurate manner. Make the slug look good, management will look good - thus we will look good.
>
>Have you ever walked into a project where the "consultants" before you, simply migrate an FPW2.6 project to VFP. Uuuuugly:). Or wrote a VFP version that behaved the same as the FPW project it replaced. Twenty million forms with two million files, and countless repetition of the same SELECT procedures throughout.
>
>Then there are the developer/programmers that slober with pride when they say "Our program has over 500,000 lines of code". Makes you wonder - was that by intent - or just a lack of planning or laziness or "Maybe you should have kept your food service job:)
>
>Alas - Jim - I rant too much :)

Are you talking about my illustrious career at Burger King? I can sling burgers just as good as the next prgrammer/slug.