Small matter of programming

Small Matter of Programming (SMOP) or Simple Matter of Programming was among the "games" described in an article written pseudonymously as paralleling 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.

When used in computer science, a SMOP is the smallest unit of software engineering effort which can be allocated at the onset of a project. A SMOP has the curious property that its size increases exponentially as the project progresses. It is not uncommon for a SMOP to grow to man-decades. There is anecdotal evidence of SMOPs encompassing man-centuries.

The implication of using the phrase 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 awareness of the danger of underestimating required effort.

The Jargon File describes a SMOP as:

1. A piece of code, not yet written, whose anticipated length is significantly greater than its complexity. Used to refer to a program that could obviously be written, but is not worth the trouble. Also used ironically to imply that a difficult problem can be easily solved because a program can be written to do it; the irony is that it is very clear that writing such a program will be a great deal of work. “It's easy to enhance a FORTRAN compiler to compile COBOL as well; it's just a SMOP.”
2. Often used ironically by the intended victim when a suggestion for a program is made which seems easy to the suggester, but is obviously (to the victim) a lot of work. Compare minor detail.

Note that SMOPs are often logarithmic in nature. Each additional SMOP adds another order of magnitude onto calendar time.