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Tree swing cartoon

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A tree swing with three impractically stacked seats
"What marketing suggested"
A tree swing where the swing collides with the trunk
"What was manufactured"
A tree swing where a section of the trunk has been removed and propped up with supports, to accommodate the swing
"How maintenance installed it"
A simple tire swing
"What the customer wanted"

A tree swing cartoon or tire swing cartoon is a humorous graphical metaphor that purports to explain communication pitfalls in the division of labor in the development of a product.[1][2] It depicts how different departments implement or describe a tire swing attached to a tree, in various impractical ways: for example, "as designed by engineering" shows the swing tied to the trunk and slack on the ground.[3] The punchline is that the customer actually wanted a tire swing, when all of the previous implementations show a plank seat.[3]

The origin of this cartoon appears to be from at least the late 1960s, and possibly earlier. The original date and author are unknown, as is the exact original form.[4][5][3] Many variants of it appeared later in several books on education, software engineering and management.[6]

The cartoon has also been used to illustrate the waterfall model of software development.[7]

References

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  1. ^ Eric Brechner (22 July 2011). I. M. Wright's "Hard Code": A Decade of Hard-Won Lessons from Microsoft®. O'Reilly Media, Inc. pp. 127–. ISBN 978-0-7356-6488-3. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  2. ^ Ouellette & Associates Consulting, Inc (3 October 2008). Leading IT Transformation: The Roadmap for Success. Kendall Hunt Publishing Co. pp. 61–. ISBN 978-0-7575-5833-7. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  3. ^ a b c "Origins of the tree swing pictures". BusinessBalls.com. Archived from the original on 19 July 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  4. ^ Cindy Dell Clark (16 May 2009). Transactions at Play. University Press of America. pp. 135–. ISBN 978-0-7618-4486-0. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  5. ^ "The Classic "Tree Swing" Example of Production and Customer Service Gone Awry". Encyclopædia Britannica Blog. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  6. ^ "Origins of the tree swing pictures (new versions)". BusinessBalls.com. Retrieved 19 July 2013.
  7. ^ Serengul Smith-Atakan (2006). Human-Computer Interaction. Cengage Learning EMEA. pp. 52–. ISBN 978-1-84480-454-2. Retrieved 19 July 2013.

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