

Steve Reeves: Software engineers need to take hard look at their profession - jdm
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10593105&pnum=0

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dasil003
Decision makers need to come to terms with the hard realities of software
development. Software development is not a field comprised of well-defined
problems and stable environments. You simply can not bring scientific or
mathematical rigor to a field where A) software can encompass any conceivable
idea or concept that exists in the entirety of human knowledge, and B)
specifications for every single project are different, and can almost never be
firmly agreed upon before work begins even with the foremost world experts
involved.

Imagine trying to develop engineering practices if there were infinite
different realities each with their own bizarrely unique laws of physics. What
about building a medical knowledge database if every generation of humans was
built from a completely new DNA sequence.

Without some groundbreaking advancements like true AI there is not much hope
of the situation for huge projects improving across the board. I believe large
projects can succeed with the right leadership, but not adhering to the same
formal set of procedures across the board.

