Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!sparky!jim
From: jim@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM (Jim Nicholsen)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Not engineers
Message-ID: <1991Apr17.144402.16637@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM>
Date: 17 Apr 91 14:44:02 GMT
Sender: jim@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM (Jim Nicholsen)
Organization: Sterling Software, IMD
Lines: 60

In an article referencing "Documenting OO Systems" Steve Savitzky wrote

   "Perhaps we should start borrowing our terminology from the arts:
   "producer" for the person who puts up the money and controls the
    budget, "director" for the one with overall artistic control, 
   "designer" for the one who creates the look and feel of the project,
   and "writer" for the ones doing the programming and technical writing
   (hopefully mostly the same people"

This is the very idea I have begun to discuss (albeit unsuccessfully
thus far :->) in my organization.  My idea came from Walt Disney who
transfered the titles from the movie industry that he understood, to
his "new" amusement park as it was built. His problem was to communicate
his expectations to the staff, and he found that he couldn't achieve
the level of communication he needed within the conventional amusement
park titles. (The preceding from a management seminar I attended from
the Walt Disney staff).

I can see that a similar problem existing within our industry. The title
"software engineer" was grabbed to add more prestige to those given the
title. The debate on-going in the professional organizations concerning
certification of those whoe wish to use the title has much more to do with
perserving prestige as it does with "improving" the level of expertise.

The problem, within firms whose product is software, is describing the
job that each person is to do (from owner to person who looks after the
building).  Within our organization there are 'operators', 'programmers'
'system analysts', and 'managers'.  operators dream of being programmers,
for programmers make more money, programmers dream of being system analysts
for system analysts make more money. And, of course, system analysts can
only move to management if they wish to improve their lot in life. The 
preceding discriptions said nothing about the work that was performed, it
simply described a pecking order based on salary.          

I submit, that once the names have been corrupted by linkage to salary
pecking order we will search for names to describe the work. The "software
engineer" title stems from that need to describe the work (and if it
means more salary, so much the better :->).  

The arts terminology has much to offer in describing our organizations.
'Cast members' and "crew" in the arts can achieve aclaim within their own
field, they need not aspire to become directors and producers in order to
succeed.  Indeed, there is more of an understanding in the arts community
that the job of producer and director are different from cast member, than
there is within the software community over the difference between (for
example) Vice-president, director, and project leader. 

I open the floor for discussion. (i.e. asbestos suit is on :->)

Jim Nicholsen
Sterling IMD Inc
1404 Fort Crook Road South
Bellevue NE  68005-2969

voice   (402) 291-8300
fax     (402) 291-4362
email   jim@sparky.IMD.Sterling.COM


for system analysts make more money.