I was reminded of that old saying when I was struggling to use one of the internal software tools we’re required to use at my current client. In this case, it was one of several time-tracking systems.
It led me to think about the difference in quality between the software the client creates to support customers, and the software they create for internal use. It seems to be a consistent pattern at many companies. They pay a great deal of attention to quality for customer-facing information systems, but when it comes to systems for internal use, they just throw something together quickly, and often carelessly.
The old saying, “In the blacksmith’s house, a wooden knife,” applies to our line of work. The question then becomes, Why?