Comments on: The Appreciation of Software – we are nowhere

By: ilyal

ilyal — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 15:36:44 +0000

1. on the application front-end, complexity ought to be hidden from end-users. having said that, though, i fully subscribe to the idea that the UI should remind the users of all the good things it’s done for them – “this widget has saved you NNN hours of mindless typing to-date”, or “helping you do less work since April 2009″ or something like that. These data can come directly from the application’s usage, if applicable, or from the business case for developing the application. Obviously, each app will be different, and for middleware may come as a monthly report for those who paid for it, for example.

2. the stake holders of a project ought to be exposed to complexity as much as possible and as frequently as possible. Agile approach to development would be helpful there, as it encourages frequent interaction with the customer. However, i’m not sure if Agile methods apply to a pre-sales cycle.

By the way, is it possible that the emerging country’s representatives’ “how hard can it be?” stance is a negotiating tactic? It’s almost logical that they’d follow it up with “well, we’ll just go talk to someone who’s figured this stuff out and it’s not sooo hard for them”.

By: mgtstr8talk

mgtstr8talk — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 13:30:19 +0000

Excellent feedback. I like the lab coats idea. It works for the medical profession! And I agree that, all kidding aside, the demonstration of underlying complexity DOES have to be tangible and visible. Any thoughts on how to accomplish that when source code is so amazingly obfuscated and electrons are so small?

By: ilya

ilya — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 00:58:54 +0000

Come on now – you’re calling iPhone impressive? it’s at least 0.25″ thick. i mean, all those atoms and electrons are waaaay smaller than that. how hard can it be to stuff them into a gigantic case the size of an iPhone?

Let’s face it… the mumbo-jumbo that goes on behind the scenes in software development is a far cry from the sheer physical scale of masonic undertakings. More importantly, perhaps, the simplicity of explaning the project’s details differs greatly between “move big rock from here to here” and “move these almost imaginary bits from here to here”. One is clearly ridiculously hard with or without diesel-powered machinery, and the other one begs the question “how hard can it be?”. From that perspective, i think the software development profession is going to lose out, in terms of screen time, on the Egyptian Antiquities Channel (i love that channel, btw).

additionally, we need to seriously rethink the real value of Open Source and its place anywhere (except for research and academic environments). i think the Open Source movement, subsidized by hardware manufactorers who gain the most from minimized cost of stuff that makes their equipment useful, has done quite a lot to damage the perception of the value of intellectual property in software development.

i don’t think mere education will change the situation.; people will still think “this guy’s trying to rip us off… he’ll spend 3 weeks playing online poker, and then build this thing for us in a week, ’cause – how hard can it be?”. I think demonstration of underlying complexity must be tangible, visible, and reflect the effort that went into making that complexity disappear behind shiny buttons.

And i also think we should start wearing white lab coats to work.