Comments on Just Do I.T.: Software Manifestos: A Matter Of Trust?

Pierre, thanks for chiming in and sharing your tho...

2009-11-01T17:19:36.862-08:00

Pierre, thanks for chiming in and sharing your thoughts.

The reconciliation of the macro and micro aspects of software development can appear daunting if it is tried to be done by committees.

I believe that any competently developed piece of software can fit the big picture without the need for this big picture to be pushed down the throats of developers.

As you suggest: armed with enough knowledge of the global strategy (the True North in your terms), competent developers should be trusted with establishing the tactics.

Hi David, Interesting position. I take notice abo...

2009-11-01T11:04:50.420-08:00

Hi David,

Interesting position.
I take notice about 2 things:
- the PIC
- sw developers recognition by the business

Concerning your PIC example, my point of view is that developers wouldn't be the pilot but, in fact, they are the aircraft engineers, Dynamics Engineers, Flight regulators, nothing else...And a good PIC cannot flight safely without these guys.

Point 2, recognition by the business? trust between between Biz and Dev.? How?
Business has Macrovision, SW need to have Microvision.
I don't understand why these two parts of the same puzzle are searching to be the best one: non sense.
If you want trust: be trustful.
If you want to be a good Executive, don't be a sw developer: give True North and manage the strategy.

According, at last to your reflexion about Manifestos, I agree that too much manifesto is just noise in a coalition research.

For all the rest of the discussion, I agree with you: Scrum is a Way

;)))

Kind regards from the little Gran Duchy

Pierre

Michael, thanks a lot for your insightful comments...

2009-10-31T17:24:50.060-07:00

Michael, thanks a lot for your insightful comments.

Indeed software is here to stay and one can only hope that our - still young - industry will evolve and realize what matters and what doesn't.

Thanks for the post David. Having business trustin...

2009-10-31T16:08:56.842-07:00

Thanks for the post David.
Having business trusting s/w developers will be really good indeed :-). And you are right by identifying complexity as the main cause of development issues. Most business leaders don't understand the complexity that developers need to deal with. To make matter worse this is a log term complexity that has ramifications well beyond initial release date.
In pilot example, it is very easy for business to assess success or failure of the flight. If pilot managed to get safely from point A to point B, he can be trusted to do it again.
In s/w world it is possible to successfully deliver first version of a product by doing crazy hours and no testing. It can and in most cases is announced as a success by management. We s/w professionals know that business will pay for that later but many enterprises are driven by short term goals.
As business managers don't see or understand complexity of s/w system it is difficult to demonstrate to them monetary value of good design and s/w practices.
So far, business models of s/w development are not well understood. I hope that sometime in future lean s/w development approach will be taught in MBA programs. S/W is such important part of modern economy and only handful of companies do it well.