i think we worked for the same guy

Hand delivered

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The crowd at TPF loves the new code

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Lots of little code drops on the floor ?

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have to say... i'm really not a fan of the 2 latches to remove my lock-down bar.
the 1 handle design is so much nicer.

friends with aerosmith pin keep calling me and telling me about how great the code is....
arrrrrggggggg.......

code

cod ?

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just a thought... don't know if there's any validity to it but...

when i was at the Stern office last year and was talking to engineers and managers, they had mentioned they were migrating to an "agile" process. Now, that can "often" mean the software team is moving to "2 week" sprints. And the theory goes, that at the end of each sprint, you should be able to release (but that's not really reality at most places).

So, here's my theory on what "may" have lead to George's comment about the "release code every 2 weeks."

I think George sat in a meeting about Stern's migration to Agile and heard someone (& with a nodding team) say they were moving to 2 week sprints and plan to be able to release at the end of each sprint. But, not every sprint-end is something you want to release. Sometimes they have significant defects to work out, or too many dependencies on tasks that were not in the sprint & still need to be done.

Now, as most of my clients are executives at tech-related companies or companies with IT departments, VERY OFTEN... the execs will hear their tech team say the above, and the execs will hear in their heads & remember,
"we have 2 weeks sprints & will be releasing every 2 weeks." (that makes them happy, sleep well at night, and will often repeat those words.) I can not emphasize how incredibly common this had happened within client companies before I get there and then will provide engineering, process & tools consulting to help set the business up for success.

Many times I've had to coach execs about the realities of an academic theory such as "agile" and how a customized version needs to be tailored to their own team(s), software & hardware complexities, their sprint planning & tracking tools, and reset their expectations on it.

∴
This is a total guess, but if I were to connect the dots between conversations from last year with the Stern engineering team & what George said... well.... this would be my guess. So, I wouldn't really give George any grief over this. But that's just me.

...for what it's worth

Yeah, i'm not making excuses for him, and... it's very difficult for most humans to admit a mistake (especially publicly) but...
George's past rodeo's were using a different software engineering methodology, as they were just in the process of migrating to agile last year.
So, now George, who is not in the software engineering team, hears them (i'm guessing) saying they are moving to 2 week agile sprints & will be able to release at the end of each sprint (which nearly every agile team boasts proudly because they read it on the internet (sad but so true)). Many-many times the engineering team has to make the case (explaining the benefits) for them to switch to an agile process to the exec team. This involves often slowing down current projects, subscribing to software tools, paying for training, and struggling through it for a while. And the engineering team will often tell execs, the benefits of slowing down & spending this extra money can include these "2 week sprints" that let you have "releasable code at the end of every 2 weeks". So, the rodeo has changed from underneath George, and he may have really thought these agile sprints would be releasable every 2 weeks. But, that's just not the case... so he's now learning about the realities of "agile" in a pinball company within their current team, culture & tools.

Again, i'm trying to connect some dots that I don't know actually happened, but I "think" they might have.
George has more to lose than gain by lying to customers, and I think he spoke what he thought was true (if all this played out as I'm speculating). Because honestly... can anyone explain why else "the real #1 guy" at Stern would say this? Tactical financial gain at the peril of long-term financial loss when an acquisition or bankruptcy is not looming, just does not make logical since.

...and by the way... I have a batman 66 and am basically not playing much so I can get a really good version of code to install and start playing & enjoying. So, I really-really want this code to be done, defect free, deep with lots of music, voice-overs, sfx, video clips, modes, etc... so I can start enjoying it.

Last version.
Still need to install latest.

sweet..... code update