"The Effects"

Patterns are funny things. Sometimes it is so easy to jump to silly conclusions because we notice the obvious even if we know there might be valid explanations for them.

Take for example patterns of behaviour. Here are a few things that I see on a regular basis:

• The Developer Effect - The software application always works as expected on a Developer's computer.
• The IT Effect - Any weird or unexpected computer behaviour (e.g. unable to print) will suddenly start to work correctly when you call an IT Helpdesk person over and they are looking over your shoulder as you retry the steps.
• The QA Effect - Any normally working system will suddenly stop working as expected when a Tester starts to look at something.
  

The "QA Effect" was my most recent addition to this list. A programmer sent me a link to a web site today and when I followed the link from the email message a new browser window appeared with the message: "We're sorry - an error has occurred. It has been logged and will be attended to shortly."

Ha ha. Is that Murphy's Law, or what?

I wonder how many other "Effects" there are in this industry? Write back a Comment to this Blog entry to let me know if you've come across any other immediate patterns. I'd be very interested to hear them.

Cheers!