By bfwebster on Nov 10, 2012 in Architecture, Art of 'Ware, Complex systems, Development, Product development, Project Failure, Quality assurance, Risk management, Software engineering, Surviving Complexity | 2 Comments
[Cross posted from And Still I Persist] [Note: I am currently in transit from Colorado to Florida and am composing this post as I have time and 'net access.] “All the most important mistakes are made on the first day.” – The Art of Systems Architecting (Maier & Rechtin) Project Orca was the Romney campaign’s [...]
By bfwebster on Nov 8, 2012 in Art of 'Ware, Articles, Development, Main, Management, Professionalism, Software engineering | 0 Comments
Thanks to Cat Mikkelsen [yes, ex-NeXT people, that Cat], I read this article. It’s written by Linds Redding, an art director and animator down in New Zealand who just passed away a few days ago. But it is very, very relevant to software engineering, particularly the ‘heroic’ model of software development. In it, he talks [...]
By bfwebster on Oct 5, 2011 in Art of 'Ware, Books, Business, Competition, Main, Marketing, Product development, Professionalism | 0 Comments
The second personal computer I ever owned[1] was an Apple II, with no floppy drive. I bought it, along with a small color TV, from my close friend Robert Trammel while we were both living in Houston sometime around 1980.We had already spent hours together programming on it, then carefully (though not always successfully) saving [...]
By bfwebster on Jul 9, 2010 in Art of 'Ware, Competition, Development, Main, Management, Marketing, Product development, Project Failure | 0 Comments
The KIN debacle (product canceled after five weeks; reports of actual phones sold range from 8,000 all the way down to 500), followed by Microsoft’s announcement of layoffs, has triggered on-line discussion among Microsoft employees, past and present. Even recognizing the self-selecting and inevitably self-serving nature of those comments, they still reflect serious, serious problems [...]
By bfwebster on Jan 26, 2010 in Art of 'Ware, Development, Main, Management, Software engineering | 1 Comment
My co-author and good friend Ruby Raley pointed me to this posting by Chris Curran over a possible new IT role, that of the “IT Czar”. Chris specifically uses a rebuilding-the-football-team analogy: What is interesting about Holmgren’s hire is that it is modeled after Bill Parcells role at Miami – The Football Czar. He’s not [...]