Great Software Debates

ALAN M. DAVIS is a prolific author with over twenty-five years’ experience consulting for over 100 major corporations worldwide including Boeing, Cigna Insurance, Federal Express, General Electric and the Software Productivity Consortium. He is currently a professor of information systems at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. He was president of Omni-Vista, Inc., a vice president at BTG, Inc., and a director of R&D at GTE Communication Systems. He was a member of the board of directors for Requisite, Inc., acquired by Rational Software Corporation in 1997, and subsequently acquired by IBM in 2003. He is the author of 201 Principles of Software Development, Software Requirements: Objects, Functions and States, Second Edition, and Just Enough Requirements Management.

"'Great Software Debates' is a gift of Alan Davis' experience, insight, wisdom, and humor. The essays' value is greatly increased by being collected in one place." (IEEE Software, November/December 2006) "...hardly a week has gone by that I have not referenced it or recommended it to co-workers and friends...a concentrated treasure of suggestions, explanations, and principles." (Ubiquity, October 19, 2005)"…expect[s] that the reader will think about and react to the content in some substantive way." (Software Quality Professional, March 2005)"This book deserves a place on any software engineer's bookshelf…it will make you keep your brain in gear, an essential quality for software engineers…" (Computing Reviews.com, March 11, 2005)"The author shares what he has learned about the difference between business theory and reality, encouraging readers to think about software engineering in ways that will help them succeed where others fail." (Computer Magazine, November 2004)

• Preface xiAbout the Author xvSection I: The Software Industry 1Essay 1. Software Lemmings 3Essay 2. Recovering from Method Abuse 11Essay 3. Tomorrow's Blacksmiths 15Essay 4. On Software Development Strategies, Politics, and Religion 17Essay 5. Art or Engineering, One More Time 27Essay 6. Why Build Software? 31Essay 7. It Feels Like Déjà Vu All Over Again 35Essay 8. Eras of Software Engineering Technology Transfer 37Essay 9. Fifteen Principles of Software Engineering 41Essay 10. Thoughts on Software Estimation 49Section II: Management 63Essay 11. Trial By Firing: Saga of a Rookie Manager 65Essay 12. Can You Survive Your Management Mistakes? 69Essay 13. Should He Stay or Should He Go? Advice for a Beleaguered Manager 73Essay 14. The Software Company Machine 77Essay 15. The Rise and Fall of a Software Startup 81Essay 16. Anatomy of a Software Startup 99Essay 17. Information for Decision Makers 107Essay 18. Some Tips for the Would-Be Entrepreneur 109Essay 19. Some More Tips for the Would-Be Entrepreneur 111Section III: Requirements 113Essay 20. The Harmony in Rechoirments 115Essay 21. System Phenotypes 119Essay 22. The Missing Piece of Software Development 125Essay 23. Object-Oriented Analysis to Object-Oriented Design: An Easy Transition? 129Essay 24. Achieving Quality in Software Requirements 143Essay 25. Requirements Management Made Easy 155Essay 26. Elicitation: How Do the Experts Do It? 163Essay 27. Requirements Are But a Snapshot in Time 179Section IV: Software Research and Academe 185Essay 28. Between Scylla and Charybdis 187Essay 29. Why Industry Often Says 'No Thanks' to Research 191Essay 30. Requirements Researchers: Do We Practice What We Preach? 199Essay 31. From Wonderland to the Real Problem 207Essay 32. Practitioner, Heal Thyself 215Section V: Life and Software 219Essay 33. Words of Wisdom 221Essay 34. More Words of Wisdom 225Essay 35. Product Not Process: A Parable 229Essay 36. Making a Mark on the World 235Essay 37. Rewards of Taking the Path Less Traveled 239Essay 38. Miscellaneous Thoughts on Evolution 245Section VI: The Future 249Index 255