
·
If you explain
something so clearly that nobody can misunderstand, somebody will.
·
Cars prefer to
break down on Saturday.
·
Machines that have
broken down will work perfectly when the repairman comes.
·
The lift is always
on another floor.
·
Having bath makes
telephones ring.
·
If something can go
wrong, then it will certainly go wrong.
·
Anything that
begins well ends badly.
·
Anything that
begins badly ends worse.
·
As soon as you talk
about something:
if it's good, it goes away.
if it's bad it happens.
·
If you start to do
something, you always find that there is something else which has to be
done first.
·
Most things get
worse all the time.
·
If it looks easy,
it is difficult. If it looks difficult, it's impossible.
·
However many socks
you have, three of them are always the same color.
·
Everywhere is
uphill on a bicycle.
·
Officials make work
for each other.
·
Those who can, do.
Those who can't, teach.
·
Nothing is
impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself.
·
Everything good in
life is either illegal, immoral or fattening.
·
You can always find
what you're not looking for.
·
When something
breaks down, there are always two things go wrong. You will only find one
of them.
Whatever can go
wrong, will go wrong.
Nothing is as easy
as it looks.
Everything takes
longer than you think.
Left to themselves,
things tend to go from bad to worse.
If there is a
possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the
most damage will be the one.
Nature always sides
with the hidden flaw.
It always costs
more than first estimated.
If you try to
please everybody, somebody will be disappointed.
It is easier to get
involved in something than to get out of it.
Every solution
breeds new problems.
Whenever you set
out to do something, something else must be done first.
If you perceive
that there are four possible ways in which a procedure can go wrong and
circumvent these, than a fifth way will promptly develop.
If you're feeling
good, don't worry, you'll get over it.
It is impossible to
make everything foolproof, because fools are so ingenious.
If you linker with
anything long enough, it will break.
By making things
absolutely clear, people will become confused.
The more complex
the idea or technology, the more simple-minded is the opposition.
The more urgent the
need for a decision, the less apparent becomes the identity of the
decisionmaker.
If there is a 50
per cent chance of success, that means there is a 75 per cent chance of
failure.
Interchangeable
parts won't.
In any given
computation, the figure that is obviously correct will be the source of
error.
Blame will never be
placed if enough people are involved.
No matter what
happens, someone will credit a pet theory.
A fail-safe circuit
will destroy all others.
Identical units
tested under identical conditions will not be identical in the field.
After any machine
or instrument has been fully assembled, extra components will be found
around on the bench.
A dropped tool will
land where it can do the most damage (also known as the law of selective
gravitation).
Components that
must not and can not be assembled improperly will be.
In any given
miscalculation, the fault will never be placed if more than one person is
involved.
Dimensions will
always be expressed in the least usable terms.
Any error that can
creep in, will. It will be in the direction that will do the most damage.
All constants are
variables.
The most logical
way to assemble components will be the wrong way.
After the last 16
mounting screws are removed from an access plate, it will be discovered
that the wrong plate has been removed.
The probability of
a dimension being omitted from a set of instructions is directly
proportional to its importance.
If in the course of
several months, only three worthwhile social events take place, they will
all fail on the same evening.
Things get worse
under pressure.
Smile - tomorrow
will be worse.
The remaining work
to finish in order to reach your goal increases as the deadline
approaches.
Adding manpower to
a late software project makes it later.
CANADA BILL JONES' MOTTO :
It is morally wrong
to allow naive end users to keep their money.
When all else
fails, read the instructions.
Any sufficiently
advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.
The higher the
"higher-ups" are who've come to see your demo, the lower your chances of
giving a successful one.
Every task takes
twice as long as you think it will take. If you double the time you think
it will take, it would actually take four times as long.
There is always one
item on the screen menu that is mislabeled and should read
"ABANDON HOPE ALL
YE WHO ENTER HERE"
A bad sector disk
error occurs only after you've done several hours of work without
performing a backup.
No matter how large
and standartized the market-place is, IBM can redefine it.
Your "IBM
PC-compatible" computer grows more incompatible with every passing moment.
1)
To study an application best, understand it
thoroughly before you start.
2)
Always keep a record of data. It indicates
you've been working.
3)
Always draw your curves, then plot the
reading.
4)
In case of doubt, make it sound convincing.
5)
Program results should always be
reproducible. They should all fail in the same way.
6)
Do not believe in miracles. Rely on them.
FRANKLIN'S RULE :
Blessed is the end
user who expects nothing, for he/she will not be disappointed.
1)
At the source of every error which is blamed
on the computer, you will find at least two human errors, including the
error of blaming it on the computer.
2)
Any system which depends on human reliability
is unreliable.
3)
Undetectable errors are finite in variety, in
contrast to detectable errors, which by definition are limited.
4)
Investment in reliability will increase until
it exceeds the probable cost of errors, or until someone insists on
getting some useful work done.
The amount of
expertise varies in inverse proportion to the number of statements
understood by the general public.
The first myth of
management is that, it exists.
1)
Any given program, when running, is obsolute.
2)
If a program is useful, it will have to be
changed.
3)
If a program is useless, it will have to be
documented.
4)
Any given program will expand to fill all
available memory.
5)
The value of a program is proportional to the
weight of its output.
6)
The program complexity grows until it exceeds
the capability of the programmer who must maintain it.
7)
Make it possible for programmers to write
programs in English, and you will find that programmers cannot write in
English.
Inside every large
program is a small program struggling to get out.
RHODES' COROLLARY TO HOARE'S LAW :
Inside every
complex and unworkable program is an useful routine struggling to be free.
A program generator
creates programs that are more "buggy" than the program generator.
There is never time
to do it right, but always time to do it over.
The first ninety
percent of the task takes ninety percent of the time, and the last ten
percent takes the other ninety percent.
The man who can
smile when things go wrong has thought of someone he can blame it on.
An ounce of image
is worth a pound of performance.
Variables won't,
constants aren't.
Murphy was an
optimist.
The solution to a
problem changes the problem.
Judgement comes
from experience, experience comes from poor judgement.
It works better if
you plug it in.
Build a system that
even a fool can use, and only a fool will want to use it.
1)
Given any problem containing N equations,
there will be N+1 unknowns.
2)
An object or bit of information most needed
will be least available.
3)
Any device requiring service or adjustment
will be least accessible.
4)
Interchangeable devices won't.
5)
In any human endeavour, once you have
exhausted all possibilities and fail, there will be one solution, simple
and obvious , highly visible to everyone else.
6)
Badness comes in waves.
1)
After months of training and you finally
understand all of a program's commands, a revised version of the program
arrives with an all-new command structure.
2)
After designing a useful routine that gets
around a familiar "bug" in the system, the system is revised, the "bug" is
taken away, and you're left with a useless routine.
3)
Efforts in improving a program's
"user-friendliness" invariably lead to work in improving user's
"computer-literacy".
4)
That's not a "bug', that's a feature!.
An expert is a
person who avoids the small errors while sweeping on to the grand fallacy.
If builders build
buildings the way programmers write programs, then the first woodpecker
that came along would destroy civilisation.
Once you open a can
of worms, the only way to recan them is to use a larger can.
As soon as a
still-to-be-finished computer task becomes a life-or-death situation, the
power fails.