Swordfish Lab

design

Couple of weesk ago, I read an article at Caffeinated Coder where the author have published an email from his friend that say’s Good Programmers Make Bad Designers !

Although he managed to point out some weaknesses of programmers, I feel that the argument presented is not the case when it comes to real life. Being a System Analyst and a Programmer myself, I would like to describe just How and When a Programmer could make a Good System Analyst.

While a programmer pays more attention to the part of the code that he is working on, a System Analyst assumes a much larger scope of the entire project. They are the one responsible for the initial design of the system, making critical decisions on how the system should function.

Imagine building a 100 storey high skyscraper. The Hardware and Networking team is the one providing Cement, Steels and even supplies Electricity and Gas to the entire building. The Programmers and DBA (or collectively the Software Team), are the 1 to actually use these materials to bring up the 100 stories high building. So what is the role of the System Analyst ?

The System Analyst acts as the Architect/Engineer of the building, overseeing the entire construction process, from papers all the way to the actual building. He is the one who designs the 100 storey building. he should know if the soil can take such weight, can it withstand an earthquake, how many fire routes should be there, can the building take 1 million occupant at same time ….He also monitors the supply given by the Hardware guys and makes sure the Software team follows the specification given by him.

A Carpenter only needs a Hammer and not a Bulldozer

Almost all the software teams, usually design all their application with 1 or 2 different technologies. So the chances of a programmer to know all the the technology used is very high. Any future application developed will most probably be based on those existing technologies (unless the company willing to explore the wild IT world ). Having a good mastery in those technologies, together with all the flaws and bugs found from previous development will give the edge needed for the programmer to know what to DO and what NOT TO DO. And since the company ain’t going to jump from a standard Payroll system to High End Banking System in a blink, there is no worries that they are going to make a wrong judgement on the technology to use for the system.

Don’t Speak German in China!

Choosing the right language for the architecture is very important, Yes. But to tell a company to ditch Microsoft and imbrace Oracle’s Java…man, you seriously have some balls. Companies tend to rely on the same technology they used before. its good for the cost, project management and the staffs as well. Such major change should only occur if there is a big time overhaul in the system. however, designing the best architecture does not mean you have to  use the best language that fits it. almost any other language can do the job fairly well. this is where the system analyst have to make the right decisions and make his architecture fit into place without causing too many changes. Dont bulldoze entire city to make 1 building !

Expensive Typist <not equals to> Good Programmers

Most companies hire Programmer and place them in nice, wonderful office rooms with blazing fast servers and workstation,XBox, HDTV, blah blah blah…. But a code writen and working in that room does not mean when you deploy it, it works the same.  A Programmer can type any code to get a function working, but only a Good Programmer can see the impact of one’s code over the entire application platform (DB, Hardware, Network) and write them in the most optimized way. if they are unable to predict the effects, then just wait for the 100 storey building to come tumbling down soon !  (Damn you, expensive Typists !!!)

Generalist make Good Consultant, Not Good Architect

A generalist can only provide the pro’s and con’s of an architecture and will not have the necessary experience to decide if the architecture suggested will work as intended, unless he or she have worked as a programmer before. designing an architecture requires extensive knowledge in the chosen platform to be able to define the right method of system construction. how would a generalist know the power of .Net, the versatility of Java or the superb performance of PHP unless the person have worked on them before ? Besides they still need to learn the business logic applied in the application, data distribution, replication, high availability, load balancing and so many more to even suggest the architecture in the first place. All these are already known by the programmer beforehand. So, having some experience is not enough.

Conclusion

Based on the points above, you can clearly see that a Systems Analyst does not just choose the best architecture to use. but he actually chooses based on so many contributing factors. And to do so, he must have one hell of knowledge and experience  to justify why he choose that. and not only that, it is his responsibility to ensure that the application is designed and implemented based on the exact specification given by him. Any flaws made by him or his team will be disastrous to the entire project. A generalist doesn’t have what it takes to be a Good Programmer so forget about System Analyst. Only a Good Programmer have all the skills needed to pull off such a great work. So promoting your most senior Programmer as a System Analyst will be a wise decision after all.