Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Should we send our customers to a veterinarian, i.e., someone who is accustomed to working with beings that cannot speak?

First, a story:

My granddad was a stubborn man.

My granddad was ill and went to a doctor, an MD. My granddad was paying the MD a lot of money, so he figured that the MD should be able to figure out what was wrong with him without telling the MD anything.

After a while of asking my granddad questions and receiving no response, the MD wrote a note and gave it to my granddad.

“Here,” says the MD. “Go see this person.”

My granddad read the name on the note and recognized the person as a Veterinarian.
My granddad protested, “This guy is a vet, not a people doctor. Why should I go see him.”

The MD replied, “Yes, he is a vet and he is used to working with dumb (cannot speak) animals.”

Now back to reality. I am trying to learn a customer’s requirements. My boss tells me,

I want you to work with this customer. They are not capable of telling you their requirements. They cannot tell you what they want. They cannot tell you their priorities.

They don’t seem to be capable of useful speech.

So, why don’t we sent a veterinarian to that customer? Why do we send a systems engineer?

I suppose I don’t understand how the world is supposed to function, but that is just me.