How Bad Things Happen … in Software Design & Development
The unintended but entirely predictable consequences of cutting corners and a lack of imagination, curiosity, standards, perspective, and discipline
Or “Look, fuckers. You people ain’t thinkin’ about this stuff.”
Everything is not fine. Your code’s not great. Your customer’s aren’t happy. This ship is sinking. And it’s your fault. M’kay?
This is the first in a series of articles about the sorry state of “modern” software development and how we got here. These articles will all be part of my Look, Fuckers publication here on Medium.
I typically write for a mixed audience of business and technical readers on topics ranging from Considerate Communication and accountability to business transformation to software requirements, architecture, and engineering. But here I’ll be primarily addressing a more technical (and therefore culpable) audience. Many of you may be offended. Most of you will be uncomfortable at some point. All of you will probably disagree with at least some of what I have to say. Fine.
If you’re wildly offended by the factual points I’m going to be making, please feel free to click the ellipsis (…) in the upper righthand corner of the page, select “Mute this author”, and get back to shlocking out crappy, barely functional software as quickly as possible. For everyone else, there may be hope for you yet. Thank you for sticking it out. I promise to try to make it worth the suffering.
Even though the subject matter here may be technical, I always try to write in a way that even non-technical people can follow and understand. I’m told I’m quite good at this. And as the more astute among you may have realized, this means that your non-technical managers and organizational leadership will be able to read all this too. That’s right; I’m ratting you out.
Who am I? As you can see from my Medium profile, I’m an experienced application software architect, who started out and has worked hard to remain day-to-day, hands-on technical, while absorbing a lot about the business world we technologists are meant to serve. I’ve designed and led teams to deliver large and small application software in many different industries for almost 30 years, and these days I operate a one-person business and technology consulting company.
I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve worked incredibly hard to understand how it all works — often figuring things out for myself and creating missing or much-improved techniques and tools — so that I can do it well, and I’m tired of seeing it done poorly. So buckle up, buttercup. It’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
