Robert Glass' Fundamental Facts: A Reminder

IEEE Computer Society has made public an article entitled Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering [1] by Robert Glass, author of the excellent software engineering book Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering. Although I believe all software developers could benefit from reading this article, it seems especially relevant to team leaders and managers. I'm sure most seasoned professionals are aware of these facts already, but as the title suggests, it's good to be reminded every now and again. A few juicy tidbits inspired me to rant a little. For those who want to build a great development team, remember that "good programmers are up to 30 times better than mediocre programmers"; moreover, good programmers are far more important to building great software than tools and techniques [1]. I have witnessed those in upper manager who believe that all is needed is a bunch of code monkeys, who can work the longest hours possible with the lowest pay possible coupled with the latest fad in development tools. If you throw enough programmers at the problem you will probably get the job done, but I'm willing to bet the product will be over budget, will be hard or impossible to maintain, will be buggy, and will certainly not satisfy the customer. In other words, it will not meet the common definition of quality software outlined by Glass: portable, reliable, efficient, human engineering, understandable, and modifiable [1]. In the end, the product will cost your company more than if you started with a great team up front. Higher the best and brightest, not the cheapest. Regarding estimation, Glass seems a bit pessimistic, but is so funny because of his brutal truth. In a nutshell, estimates are "done at the wrong time ... (at the beginning of the life cycle ... before the requirements) ... " and " by the wrong people ... (upper management and marketing)", thus "software projects do not meet cost or schedule targets. But everyone is concerned anyway" [1]. Priceless! I generally suggest to clients and/or management that estimates should be made after the requirements are done when the problem is better understood. But as pointed out by Glass, and corroborated by my experience, this rarely occurs. Generally a client wants product X by date Y within budget Z. Madness. References [1] Robert L. Glass, Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering , IEEE Computer Society, 2008 [2] Robert L. Glass, Frequently Forgotten Fundamental Facts about Software Engineering, IEEE Software, vol. 18, no. 3, 2001, pp. 112,110–111 (The original publication)