By bfwebster on Mar 4, 2008 in Intellectual property, Main, Methodology, Quality assurance, Source code control | 1 Comment
Judges in Minnesota have ruled — in over 100 cases — that drivers charged with DWI, as part of their defense, have a right to examine the source code of the breath-test machines used. Those rulings were upheld by the Minnesota Supreme Court last July. The breath-test device manufacturer, CMI, Inc., has to date refused [...]
By bfwebster on Feb 28, 2008 in Books, Methodology, Pitfalls, Technology | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: conceptual OK, the pitfall title itself may be something of a giveaway, but stop and think: how often does a new technology or methodology (”the TOM”) emerge, only to have IT departments (or their executive overseers) seek to adopt the TOM for time-, [...]
By bfwebster on Feb 27, 2008 in Books, IT Project Management, Main, Methodology, Pitfalls, PMSE, Software engineering, Technology | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: organizational, conceptual The software development process–creating software to solve a particular problem–is long and complex and has many activities and stages. The exact list will vary depending on what book or article you read but can generally be said to include the following: [...]
By bfwebster on Feb 26, 2008 in Books, Main, Methodology, Pitfalls, PMSE, Technology | 1 Comment
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: organizational, conceptual Suppose you were managing a boxer and wanted him to compete in professional karate tournaments. Suppose you gave him some books on karate to study, showed him a film or two, maybe let him attend a three- or four-day karate training [...]
By bfwebster on Feb 25, 2008 in Books, Methodology, Pitfalls, PMSE, Politics, Technology | 4 Comments
[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)] CATEGORIES: organizational, conceptual, political Management is always looking for the proverbial silver bullet, despite Fred Brooks’ warning to the contrary. Good reasons may exist to adopt a particular technology — such as object-oriented development — and/or a particular methodology — such as RUP, Agile, [...]