Cockroach.  Just the word makes your skin crawl.  It evokes an image of filth, of creepy crawlies creating a crunchy mobile carpet flowing along the floor evading the light.

Palmetto bug.  Sounds nice.  Gentle.  You wouldn’t think it is the same thing as a cockroach…but it is. A few years ago, some Florida residents got sick of the massive cockroach infestation that comes along with living in an area with high heat and high humidity, so they started calling cockroaches “Palmetto bugs.”  This softer language has spread across the south.  I’m now hearing it from people in Houston, seeing it on bottles of roach spray, etc.  The language doesn’t change what it is, but it does change how it is perceived.

The same thing is happening in software development now.

In the beginning, there were “bugs.”  They sounded bad.  “You put a bug in your code.”  It put the blame on the creator of the problem.  It was strong language, and it helped.

However, some people didn’t like feeling like they did something wrong by putting bugs into code, or didn’t want to make other people feel guilty, so they changed “bugs” into “defects.”  It puts the blame on the code, not the coder.  “Hey, there’s a defect in your code.  Could you spackle that up?”  Softer language, less effective.

That still wasn’t soft enough, so “defects” became “issues.”  “I have an issue with your code.”  It moved the onus onto the reporter instead of the person responsible for the problem.  Even softer language, moves responsibility even further away from the source of the problem.

Now I’m hearing that “issue” is even under attack in some companies.  Some companies are changing “issue” to “problem,” which just makes testers seem more naggy and bullyish than anything else.  “I’ve got a problem with your code.”  One is going even further and changing it to “suggestion” and taking all power away from it.  “I have a suggestion about your code.”

There are times where softer language is appropriate, but software development is not one of them.  When it comes to our end product, it either works or it doesn’t.  There are no shades of grey here and our language should not offer that shading.  Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got an issue with some Palmetto bugs I have to deal with.

Permanent Link. This entry was posted on Sunday, May 18th, 2008, authored by Michael Russell, and is filed under expectedresult. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.