The comic strip is pinned to uncounted agency pinboards and has been adapted/modified many times. You always see a tree with an awkward-looking treeswing mounted to it. You understand the customers requirement was something like "We want a treeswing."

The images in detail:

1. The treeswing is mounted to a branch. But there are three seating boards mounted above each other. Caption: "How the customer explained it"
2. The swing's ropes are mounted to two branches left and right to the stem. The seating board is hanging against the stem. Caption: "How the engineer designed it"
3. The stem is cut horizontally. Two stakes support the branches left an right so that the seating board can hang in the stem's gap. Caption: "How the project leader understood it"
4. The stem is not cut. The swing's ropes are wound around the stem and the seating board lies on the ground. Caption: "How the programmer wrote it"
5. There is a rope hanging on one branch. A car tire is mounted to the rope. Caption: "What the customer really needed"

© Paragon Innovations with kind permission