04 August 2004

Software Factories

The idea of a "development environment configured to support the rapid development of a specific type of application" doesn't sound so bad, but when you find out it is called a Software Factory I think it sounds a lot worse. Programming this way might be a lot less fun.

"Other industries added capacity by moving from craftsmanship, where whole products are created from scratch by individuals or small teams, to manufacturing, where a wide range of product variants is rapidly assembled from reusable components created by multiple suppliers, and where machines automate rote or menial tasks."

I have always enjoyed hand-crafted code. Z80 machine code was so much nicer when you compiled it by hand. Assembled code just doesn't compare. ;)

The gatherers of metrics are already trying to turn software development from a craft to a manufacturing activity. Can we measure the development process, and calculate a cpk figure to tell us whether the process is in control? Maybe, but you could just try actually talking to the developer instead.

It may be time to start doing something creative, possibly without the aid of a computer. I'm not sure how many "product variants" I could maintain an interest in.

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