Pitfalls
I am in the process of writing a book entitled Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering (or “PMSE”, pronounced “pimsee”). This is a greatly expanded (both in size and scope) revision of a book I published back in the mid-1990s, Pitfalls of Object-Oriented Development (M&T Books, 1995). I have posted some of those pitfalls to this website.
Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering (posted to date)
Managerial pitfalls
- Using the wrong developers
- Using the wrong metrics (or none at all)
- Lying to yourself and others
- Not identifying and managing risks
- Adopting a technology or methodology without well-defined objectives
- Misjudging relative costs
- Allowing new features to creep (or pour) in
- Allowing the specification to drift or change without agreement
- Attempting too much, too fast, too soon
- Abandoning good software engineering practices
Political pitfalls
- Not educating and enlisting management before the fact
- Underestimating the resistance
- Overselling the technology or methodology
- Not recognizing the politics of architecture
- Getting religious about the technology or methodology
- Getting on the feature release treadmill
- Betting the company on a given technology or methodology
- Picking the wrong horse
Conceptual pitfalls
- Adopting a new technology or methodology for the wrong reason
- Thinking a new technology or methodology comes for free
- Thinking a new technology or methodology will solve all your problems
- Confusing buzzwords with concepts
- Confusing tools with principles
- Confusing training with skill
- Confusing prototypes with finished products
- Confusing approach with results
- Asking the wrong questions
![The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]](http://bfwa.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/intel-cpu-150x150.jpg "The Meltdown/Spectre CPU bugs: a dramatic global case of the “Unintended Consequences” pattern [UPDATED 4/4/18]")