Webster & Associates LLC

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: managerial
The impulse to constantly add new and incremental features to a software program certainly isn’t unique to modern software develoment, or to a particular technology or methodology. It derives largely from three sources. Upper management and marketing want, and sometimes need, those [...]

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
Categories: managerial
Why would the use of a new technology or methodology (the “TOM”) cause managers and developers to neglect or even abandon solid software engineering practices? Because those practices are under pressure from the start. Many engineers don’t know them and aren’t willing to spend [...]

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
CATEGORIES: political
You know the drill. By hook or crook, through long weeks and late hours and ruthless compromising, you finally deliver the project. It’s finished, it’s out the door, and you have taken a few weeks to remind yourself what real life is like. Now [...]

[From Pitfalls of Modern Software Engineering by Bruce F. Webster (forthcoming)]
CATEGORIES: political, architectural, managerial
While discussing the challenges of software development with Taligent trainer Tom Affinito back in the mid-1990s, I mentioned — citing Fred Brooks — the need for a chief architect. Tom immediately responded, “Yes, and ultimately architecture is a political act.”
That observation has [...]

The opening of Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Airport has not been without problems, to say the least. And one of the specific problems appears to be the automated baggage handling system:
…the computer-operated baggage system has crashed and luggage is now being sorted manually before being loaded on to planes.
Twelve return flights to short-haul destinations [...]

Here’s an interesting story over at Physorg.com about the IT project supporting the 2008 Olympics in Beijing:
Atos Origin is the information technology partner for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the job of designing, building and operating the invisible IT infrastructure that supplies results, events and athlete information to the media, spectators and the world.
It [...]

[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:

becoming aware of [...]

I’ve written a post over at my other website on why software engineers should spend time working in software quality assurance on a regular basis. ..bruce w..