Bob-ism #1 – the good developer

Have you ever considered how requirements can be routinely misinterpreted by developers?  I’ve spent considerable time analyzing this phenomenon.  It is obvious to even casual observers that inexperienced and lower level developers routinely make this sort of mistake.  However, my research has shown that experienced and very good developers make this type of mistake at the same rate!  This leads to the first Bob-ism on the blog:

A good developer will recognize they have a choice in how to implement something and ask themselves “What would the customer want?”  THEN they will make the wrong choice!

Think about it – if the developer could think like a customer why would we need Product Managers and others that perform those duties?  If you are a developer, I’m sorry for the generalization, but as an industry we need to get better at recognizing our limitations.  DO NOT TRY TO THINK LIKE A CUSTOMER!  Instead, ask someone who should know the answer.