Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!netcomsv!jls
From: jls@netcom.COM (Jim Showalter)
Newsgroups: comp.software-eng
Subject: Re: Reserve Demobilization System Built Around Reuse
Message-ID: <1991Jun18.034607.1808@netcom.COM>
Date: 18 Jun 91 03:46:07 GMT
References: <1991Jun14.152529.1@east.pima.edu> <35728@mimsy.umd.edu>
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  UNIX System {408 241-9760 guest}
Lines: 31

>I hope reuse is not seen only with respect to code.  The  prospects  are
>much wider.

I agree. What you seem to be advocating might be called "structured
laziness", and I'm all for it. Remember the maxim: "An engineer is
a person who can do for a dime what any damn fool can do for a dollar".

>few  people actually record their process (e.g., a
>developer's manual for their organization).

Actually, I've encountered a number of organizations that record their
process, it's just that what they write down bears no resemblance to
what they actually DO. Their developer's manual is a work of fiction...

>BTW, it's nice to have part of your product funded by other project, but
>if that's the only way we are to reuse there won't be much investment in
>software.

Depends. It is certainly unreasonable to expect a manager responsible
for the success of a SINGLE project to think beyond the immediate horizon,
but the job of that person's MANAGER (or manager's manager) is to think
about the business as a whole--and from the standpoint of an entire line
of business, it is idiotic NOT to reuse code across as many projects as
possible. Some companies are starting to realize this and will wind up,
as a consequence, having a competitive advantage over those who have not
yet figured this out.
-- 
*** LIMITLESS SOFTWARE, Inc: Jim Showalter, jls@netcom.com, (408) 243-0630 ****
*Proven solutions to software problems. Consulting and training on all aspects*
*of software development. Management/process/methodology. Architecture/design/*
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