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From: jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Art vs. Engineering
Message-ID: <1991May13.185411.7253@netcom.COM>
Date: 13 May 91 18:54:11 GMT
References: <1991May6.165902.2116@ssd.kodak.com> <35177@athertn.Atherton.COM> <1991May9.155632.29277@mcs.kent.edu> <4565.282e85bd@iccgcc.decnet.ab.com>
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>Secondly, there
>is a neglect of the reality of feedback and changes during the life cycle.  No 
>product development is done without change being incurred.  Software is no 
>different.  Feedback, interaction, and communication are skills which are as
>fundamental to good SW engineering as SW design methods.

Indeed, and the sad thing is that traditional methodologies completely ignore
this simple reality--the classic "waterfall" model of software development
assumes what I call a "top-down omniscient" process, which would work great
if we could just find some omniscient engineers. In reality, either feedback
is accomodated in an ad hoc manner during development (with consequent penalties
in terms of efficiency, since the process is not explicitly set up to plan
for such feedback) or, as is often the case, feedback is folded in during the
inappropriately named "maintenance" phase.

Fortunately, more realistic and effective methodologies do exist, and they
tend to be much more flexible, iterative, and oriented toward producing
prototypes instead of piles of fictive "documentation". These newer approaches
can even be used on projects subject to 2167A constraints, if an appropriate
tailoring is chosen.
-- 
**************** JIM SHOWALTER, jls@netcom.com, (408) 243-0630 *****************
* Proven solutions to software problems. Consulting and training in all aspects*
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