Software Delivery Notebook

Tag: Software Delivery History

  • Why software projects fail

    Why Big Software Projects Fail
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Why software projects fail
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    Let’s look at a classic software projects paper published in The Journal of Defense Software Engineering in March 2005. It discusses why software projects fail so often. Some of the concepts discussed are old school and the criteria for success aren’t what we’d use today, but it’s a fascinating snapshot of the problems that were faced in the old times.

    Despite its age, we still find some of these problems can surface in modern software delivery. Understanding where we came from can help guide what we do next.

    Watts S. Humphrey asks 12 questions in his paper:

    1. Are all large software projects unmanageable?
    2. Why are large software projects hard to manage?
    3. Why is autocratic management ineffective for software?
    4. Why is management visibility a problem for software?
    5. Why can’t management just ask the developers?
    6. Why do planned projects fail?
    7. Why not just insist on detailed plans?
    8. Why not tell the developers to plan their work?
    9. How can we get developers to make good plans?
    10. How can management trust developers to make plans?
    11. What are the risks of changing?
    12. What has been the experience so far?

  • Brooks – No Silver Bullets

    No Silver Bullets
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Brooks – No Silver Bullets
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    The landmark paper by Fred Brooks, No Silver Bullets, is stuffed full of smart thinking that applies today just as much as it did in the 1980s.

    Find out about accidental and essential complexity and the factors in software that make it hard to share a mental model about the systems we create. Crucially, find out why the promised “silver bullets” of the 80s are not unlike those being hyped today.

    No language of technique removes the essential complexity of the software we create.

  • Looking back at NATO ’68

    Looking back at NATO '68
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Looking back at NATO ’68
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    Looking back at the history of software delivery is like discovering the kind of diamond mine you see in cartoons. Lights reflect from perfectly cut gemstones that simply need to be plucked from the walls.

    Well, way back in 1968, there was a NATO software engineering conference. Surely, there’s nothing to learn about software engineering from such an ancient conference? Well, maybe there is.

    People chasing shiny new things, struggling to measure software delivery without driving the wrong behavior, and estimation are all topics that continue to be relevant even today.

    That sounds remarkably like agile thinking doesn’t it; iterative development and adjusting based on feedback.

  • Lincoln Labs: Decades ahead of its time

    Lincoln Labs: Ahead of its time
    The Software Delivery Notebook
    Lincoln Labs: Decades ahead of its time
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    It’s time for a history lesson! We start by looking at early software delivery models by looking at MIT’s Lincoln Labs and the SAGE project.

    The process used for SAGE was documented by Herbert Benington in 1956. How did they tackle building the first large computer programming when none of the tools we use existed?

    Find out why Lincoln Labs were telling us how to start with a small working system before evolving it to meet more needs decades before the Agile revolution.

    Get ready for a blast from the past, as today we’re going deep on the SAGE air defence system […] It’s like they were laying the foundation for Agile development, but like, decades before it was even a thing.