October 16, 2007

The Future of Software Development

While this article is insightful and very well-presented, the title and the premise are begging for a cheesy echo effect.

I cannot wave this agile software development flag with much enthusiasm. All I see in agile development is a clutter of terminology describing well-worn improvements to the waterfall approach. These would include: decreasing the amount of functionality in the end product, increasing communications among the players, and reducing drag through better tools and processes. The only thing missing from agile is an admission that it is simply a faster waterfall.

Why affix a new name to something as elementary as "faster"? Is it meant to clear out mental cruft? Is it the fact that the software development community suffers from a constant case of newism?

Whatever the reason, I think that it is "inter-perception" that is doing most of the changing in our community. During the grand ball of trend-calling and over-investing, the real pace of invention may have only advanced incrementally, perhaps only getting us half-way to the next true leap: a microprocessor, a home computer, a desktop, a web... a cloud.

The true leaps are what this game is all about. In the charged atmosphere of a perceived revolution, people take more risks, do more work, and, importantly, enthusiastically drink each other's yummy, grape-flavored drinks. How else can you get all of this cooperative and creative effort that literally builds out the stage to support a really heavy technological shift?

So while I may make fun of the the artificial colors and flavors of things like "social", "agile", "2.0", "push", they are essential to the real game at play. And tasty, too.