Small matter of programming

SMOP is an acronym for "Small Matter of Programming".

SMOP was among the "games" described, in a magazine article entitled "Big-System Games Programmers Play", as parallelling the Games People Play identified by Dr. Eric Berne in the field of self-help psychology. The game essentially consists of proposing seemingly simple adjustments to a design, and leaving to someone else the problem of fitting the unexpected consequences into the schedule.

The implication of using it is either

• to remind one's colleagues that every design change seems like a small matter of programming, until implementation starts, or
• to reassert by irony one's awarness of the danger of underestimating required effort.