The Laws of Software Process

69

The Logic of Life Cycles

than attempting to modify an available one, we may find there is much

more that we have to learn. The design decision predicates additional work

necessary to support it.

Indeed, this sometimes happens when using system components that

are already available. We think we will save a great deal of time (read “have

to learn less”) by purchasing and modifying an existing package, only to

find later that the package does not do what we need, and we are forced to

spend considerable time in research or experimentation (read “acquiring

the knowledge”) to find out how to make it work. This causes “hiccups” in

the actual project progress, ...