Yesterday I was sitting in my shed at work in the English summer (yes, we do have them). I've just started a contract with some people I'd worked for before, and was trying to work out what the hell I was supposed to be doing with one piece of work that they gave me. Meanwhile, I was listening to the Armitage Shanks tribute podcast (which, to be honest, I didn't enjoy as it's all still very sad).

Anyway, I listed all the things I needed to know about the piece of work: who wants it, who is currently doing any programming on it, what problem it will address, etc. About a dozen questions.

Then I emailed the document to everyone I thought might be involved, saying that as I am new to the project, I ought to follow good software engineering practise and sent out a Marsland Document, which they could fill in and return.

My new colleagues are filling it in and returning it, and not one has yet told me that they'd never heard of a Marsland Document, nor, sadly, has anyone returned it with "I'm Richard!" at the top of the page, or "How Come?" after each question.

So Richard may yet live on in data analysis industry, even if the thugs eventually win out in the scallop industry.

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