Monday, 31 August 2015

Software engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?

Tom DeMarco reviews his past 40 years; seems it is never too late for a review.

"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 development effort? My answers are no, no, and no."
[...]
"Consistency and predictability are still desirable,  but  they  haven’t  ever  been  the most  important  things.  For  the  past  40 years,  for  example,  we’ve  tortured  ourselves  over  our  inability  to  finish  a  software project on time and on budget. But as I hinted earlier, this never should have been the supreme goal. The more important goal is transformation, creating software that changes the world or that transforms a company or how it does business."

Source: http://www2.computer.org/cms/Computer.org/ComputingNow/homepage/2009/0709/rW_SO_Viewpoints.pdf

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