2005 ? Back to the Future.
What does the future hold? A big question and initially the answer is anything and everything. The predictions are sometimes close but most of the time they are far from the reality. Technology has moves on apace and the core players in the various sectors of the computing industry invest in research and development which increases the rate of technology introduction with performance improvements or benefits outweighing the previous technology that customers/users/consumers must take advantage of, or so that is what they tell us. What is the truth? And what is the future?
For the developer community I believe that things have not changed all that much other than there a more defined lines to be drawn between types of developers i.e. games vs corporate applications, mobile vs military. These differences are reflected in the methodologies and tools used by each group. However, the principles remain the same, identify a requirement and then satisfy that with some code. The implementation various by user requirements. I spent four years in the late 1980s working on Software Engineering and Systems Engineering products at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC). The focus of the team I was part of was to build an integrated environment that utilised Independent Software vendors products in a framework that enabled the output of one product to flow into the others as needed. This was done with customer input through a direct mechanism of regular meetings and information flow to create a generic specification that could be used in industries such as Aerospace, Defense and Telco. This was the time for quality processes, analysis and design methods and a burgeoning open standards movement. This developed into the Open Source movement and the associated issues that brings, but that is another story!
The premise of building an integrated environment that encapsulated a range or products from leading vendors in the key parts of the software development cycle was, and maybe still is, the holy grail for software and systems development. Incorporating the process model and flow into the environment enabled two of the critical elements of development, a controlled process management capability and the right tools for the right job. What you find today is an integrated development environment but you cannot use other tools that you currently use to do functions such a requirements tracking, documentation, code management, etc. The important thing to note is that the environment that DEC built, with a range of partners, was used to create the software on the then leading aerospace project, the F22 fighter. It was used in anger and it worked. It may have been ahead of its time but it did the job.
The non-technology element that an integrated environment does not adequately address is the people. This is the vital part of this process of any software development project. Instilling discipline across a team is not easy and does not get the focus it should. Many have tried to raise the awareness of the role people play in software development, such as Tom de Marco, and the issue is that developing software is still seen as an artisans job and not a true professional role. The British Computing Society Chartered Engineer status provides for individuals to be professionally qualified but my perception is that the number of people who have taken the time and trouble to qualify is limited. If more projects asked for chartered status of a significant proportion of the project team there would an improvement in the delivery of projects on time and in budget.
So what is my point. Well, it seems to me that we have gone backwards with regards to software development technology. The ability to integrate and get individual components from separate vendors to work together is one thing, to get them also to work together with a work flow model is another. There may be suites from individual vendors that offer this but if you want to retain your own environment you may not be able to. This then involves a major change in your development process and teams. No one likes change! So we all stick to our known quantities to keep in the comfort zone.
More importantly the role of the human in this complex and technology based process is not fully understood and nor is it managed in a way that achieves the best results. People need encouragement, they need motivation, guidance and above all the knowledge that what they are doing is of value. My view is that all projects now come down to money and time, and whilst these are important from a business perspective, the measurements miss the impact that these have on the people involved in the project. There are changes that must come from the business in terms of measuring quality such as the reliability, use-ability and flexibility of the software as well as the quantitative measurements of keeping to time-scales and budgets. The developer needs to do their bit too in this equation. They must become more professional, become a Chartered Engineer, and be prepared to change and understand the business dynamics, because after all they are paid by delivering code that works. And most people understand that premise.
Paul Bellchambers
Paul has over 25 years in the computer industry working in the area of software development. He has worked for Digital Equipment Corp, Sun Microsystems, Olivetti Systems and a number of companies developing software applications. He is currently running a new developers website - http://www.thedeveloperscatalogue.com - and he is also writing articles for the site and for other publications including International Developer Magazine.
Using professional icons in your application or website can bring... Read More
Microsoft bought Navision, Denmark based software development company, along with... Read More
Since its release in 1987, QuarkXpress had made an immediate... Read More
Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions ? Great Plains has captured the US... Read More
Today's business world is fast-paced. No matter what it is... Read More
When it comes to screenplay software each screenwriter needs to... Read More
Executive SummaryAn effective plan for entering, cleaning and updating the... Read More
The COSMIC FP (function point) software quality metric, is no... Read More
This article is the first of a series of articles... Read More
When you buy a computer, it most likely comes with... Read More
Need help making sense of algebra? Have algebra lectures in... Read More
Usually workflow & messaging is realized in CRM and then... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions ? Great Plains is designed to meet... Read More
If you have Microsoft Great Plains and support it for... Read More
RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site... Read More
Imagine something that follows you home and sets itself up... Read More
We've all seen the ads on TV for Netzero 3G.... Read More
Are you one of those people that keeps track of... Read More
In this short FAQ style article we would like to... Read More
When you double-click a layer in the Layer Palette, you... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Small Business Manager is Great Plains Dexterity... Read More
In our opinion, traditional approach when you select ERP/MRP system... Read More
Microsoft CRM is CRM application, maintained and supported by Microsoft... Read More
Shareware has been fighting the stigma of being misunderstood for... Read More
We don't think about mainframe software pricing anymore, we just... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More
Since Version 8.0 Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains & Great... Read More
Is your PC is slow and wimpy? Then you need... Read More
Microsoft has never released a service pack for Windows98 SE,... Read More
Manufacturing in the USA is far away down from mid... Read More
Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware... Read More
#5 All your hardware components like Printers, PCs etc come... Read More
This article is the third of a series of articles... Read More
You have gotten those E_Mails buy software at deep discounts.... Read More
While I was in college, if you would have asked... Read More
What is 'adware'?Adware is basically software or scripts that are... Read More
Microsoft CRM is new player on the CRM software... Read More
Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains has several options to enable... Read More
User interfaces and accessibility are some of the most important... Read More
How do you run a program on a remote server... Read More
Most people don't use Photoshop to its fullest capabilities. Here... Read More
Security flaws have long plagued Internet Explorer (IE), the market-dominating... Read More
I have recently created my first Php program. I wanted... Read More
Mike Dunville* had a decision to make. As the new... Read More
Designing without tables by using CSS layouts is fast becoming... Read More
As you probably know, when Microsoft purchased Great Plains Software... Read More
In this small article we will show you the possible... Read More
Should one use Windows Update?This topic has good and valid... Read More
Microsoft CRM is winning market share step-by-step from such the... Read More
Siebel is traditional CRM market leader, however and mostly due... Read More
Did you ever want to erase everything on your computer?... Read More
Some companies that are in need of fleet management may... Read More
Using professional icons in your application or website can bring... Read More
The stakes are high when considering security, privacy, and savings,... Read More
MSN messenger is a pretty cool invention. I mean I'm... Read More
When my daughter was getting into AOL instant messaging (AIM)... Read More
Trying to figure out a stream in banning one email... Read More
With thousands of web pages added to the Net every... Read More
Whether you are an experienced web programmer or a complete... Read More
Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP... Read More
What is a Web Database?A web database is a database... Read More
FTP stands for "file transfer protocol". FTP is basically a... Read More
Running Applications in Compatibility Mode With Windows XP, you can... Read More
We live in a post-industrial age where information is the... Read More
Great Plains Inventory Management (IV) module gives your business a... Read More
Software |