Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!ucbvax!vmsa.technion.ac.IL!ben From: ben@vmsa.technion.ac.IL (Ben Pashkoff) Newsgroups: comp.software-eng Subject: Re: software engineers Message-ID: <855@vmsa.technion.ac.il> Date: 30 May 89 13:54:24 GMT References: <854@odyssey.ATT.COM> <10231@socslgw.csl.sony.JUNET> Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Organization: Technion Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa Israel Lines: 44 In article <1492@dsacg3.UUCP>, vfm6066@dsacg3.UUCP (John A. Ebersold) writes: > In article <990@syma.sussex.ac.uk> jamesg@syma.sussex.ac.uk (James S Goodlet) writes: > > After reading that article last year and thinking about software that seems > to have been done right, leading projects small and large (some of which > have turned out better than others) I have reached the conclusion that every > project needs a design (and perhaps requirements) dictator. This person > should be the best designer in the organization and is not neccessarily the > project leader but it would help if she/he were. > > The dictator should have a overall vision of what the software must do and > the best way to do it. This is not to say that design trade-offs are not > discussed with other project members, but when a decision must be made, the > dictator decides. > I had written a really nice commentary to this and then the machine went and digested it, so, I will summarize. In the book, In Search of Excellence, Peters and Waterman state some very important ideas for what a good company should operate by. I thnk it is all very applicable to this disscussion. In particular numbers 6 and 7, dealing with sticking to the customer, in our case the end-user, and support for a 'local champion'. I like their term better for psychological reasons. They break down the 'champion' into a 'product champion', an 'executive champion' ,and the 'godfather. Concerning the product champion they write, "the zealot or fanatic in the ranks whom we have described as being not a typical administartive type. On the contrary, he is apt to be a loner, egotistical and cranky. But he believes in the product..." Does this sound familiar? -- ___________________________________________________________________________ | | | Ben Pashkoff BEN@VMSA.TECHNION.AC.IL | | BEN@TECHMAX.BITNET | | BEN@TECHUNIX.BITNET | | VAX/VMS Systems APLBENJ@TECHNION.BITNET | | Computer Center VMSA::BEN | | Technion IIT | | Haifa, Israel 32000 Phone:(972)-4-292176 | |_________________________________________________________________________|