By bfwebster on Jun 3, 2008 in Books, Change management, Development, Main, Management, Pitfalls, PMSE | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: managerial Let’s start by freely acknowledging that, with rare exceptions, software of any complexity changes between original specification and actual delivery. This is to be expected, and to a certain extent encouraged, when the changes represent a refinement of our understanding of the [...]
By bfwebster on May 30, 2008 in Books, Main, Management, Pitfalls, PMSE, Technology | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: managerial If your organization is adopting some new technology or methodology (the “TOM”), it is likely because of wonderful claims about how it will improve your software engineering efforts: faster development time, higher quality, lower complexity, and so on. Leaving aside the likelihood [...]
By bfwebster on May 26, 2008 in Books, Main, Management, Pitfalls, PMSE | 0 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: managerial One of the defining moments in American politics during the 2nd half of the 20th century came early in the 1980 presidential campaign. Senator Ted Kennedy, heir apparent to the Kennedy legacy, was challenging his party’s incumbent, Jimmy Carter, for the nomination. [...]
By bfwebster on May 21, 2008 in Books, Development, Main, Pitfalls, PMSE, Politics, Technology | 0 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: political Face it: technology adoption is a gamble, and one often made at gunpoint. External market forces lead internal political forces to demand advances — often unrealistic ones — in information technology. Those who adopt too soon come to understand the cliché “bleeding [...]
By bfwebster on May 16, 2008 in Books, Change management, Development, Main, Management, Methodology, Pitfalls, PMSE, Politics, Technology | 0 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] Categories: political A particular technology or methodology (the “TOM”) is wonderful. At least, you think it is, based on anything from a breathless magazine article to years of experience with solid, successful software development using this TOM. Or you may not think it’s wonderful, [...]