programming and human factors
by Jeff Atwood Computer software Engineering: Dead?
I was utterly floored when I examine this new IEEE write-up by Tom DeMarco (pdf). See if you're able to inform why.
My early metrics guide, Controlling Software programs Jobs: Management,
office Home And Student code, Measurement, and Estimates [1986], played a position from the way a great number of budding software package engineers quantified effort and planned their assignments. In my reflective mood,
buy windows 7 update key, I'm wondering, was its advice correct at the time, is it still relevant, and do I still believe that metrics are a must for any successful software system development effort? My answers are no, no,
genuine microsoft office 2007 activation, and no.
I'm gradually coming to the conclusion that software programs engineering is an idea whose time has come and gone.
Program development is and always will be somewhat experimental. The actual software program construction isn't necessarily experimental, but its conception is. And this is where our focus ought to be. It's where our focus always ought to have been.
If your head just exploded, don't be alarmed. Mine did too. To somewhat reduce the migraine headache you might now be experiencing from reading the above summary, I highly recommend scanning the entire two page review pdf.
Tom DeMarco is one of the most deeply respected authority figures within the application industry, having coauthored the brilliant and seminal Peopleware as well as various other near-classic application project management books like Waltzing With Bears. For a guy of Tom's caliber, experience, and influence to come out and just flat out say that Software Engineering is Dead …
… well, as Keanu Reeves once said, whoa.
That's kind of a big deal. It's scary.
And yet, it's also a release. It's as if a crushing weight has been lifted from my chest. I can publicly acknowledge what I've slowly, gradually realized over the last 5 to 10 years of my career as a program developer: what we do is craftsmanship, not engineering. And I can say this proudly, unashamedly, with nary a shred of self-doubt.
I think Joel Spolsky, my business partner, recently had a similar epiphany. He wrote about it in How Hard Could It Be?: The Unproven Path:
I have pretty deeply held ideas about how to develop software package, but I mostly kept them to myself. That turned out to be a good thing,
microsoft office 2007 license, because as the organization took shape, nearly all these principles were abandoned.
As for what this all means, I'm still trying to figure that out. I abandoned seven long-held principles about business and application engineering, and nothing terrible happened. Have I been too cautious inside past? Perhaps I used to be willing to be a little reckless because this was just a side project for me and not my main business. The experience is certainly a useful reminder that it's OK to throw caution to the wind when you're building something completely new and have no idea where it's going to take you.
Yes, I could add a lot of defensive software programs engineering caveats here about the particulars of the software system project you're working on: its type (mission critical, of course), its size (Google scale, naturally), the audience (millions of daily users, obviously), and so forth.
But I'm not going to do that.
What DeMarco seems to be saying -- and, at least, what I am definitely saying -- is that control is ultimately illusory on software program development tasks. Any time you want to move your project forward,
discount office 2010 pro plus, the only reliable way to do that is to cultivate a deep sense of software system craftsmanship and professionalism around it.
The guys and gals who show up every day eager to hone their craft, who are passionate about building stuff that matters to them, and perhaps in some small way, to the rest of the world -- those are the people and projects that will ultimately succeed.
Everything else is just noise.
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