We've all experienced it - the "get it out the door" mentality that seems to
be the driving force behind many software application deliveries - a prime
example of the software industry's immaturity that favors completion over
quality, and an end user's preference for hot new features over stable,
reliable systems. Deferring the QA process is an expensive way to operate and
corporations are taking a financial hit for these software errors. According
to the Washington, D.C., National Institute of Standards and Testing (NIST),
software errors cost the U.S. economy $60 billion per year. This report was
issued back in 2002 and, since then, the software industry has done little to
improve the situation.
Why are software bugs so pervasive? We don't accept these same poor standards
in other industries, so what makes software exempt? Some say it's the
inherent complexity of... (more)
Nigel Cheshire's Blog
Amiram Hayardeny wrote a thought-provoking post yesterday in which he applies
the broken window theory to software quality. The broken window theory
suggests that neighborhoods where minor evidence of decay (broken windows,
deteriorating building exteriors, etc.) do not get fixed quickly start to
deteriorate more rapidly. Hayardeny suggests that the same theory can be
applied to software development teams: “Evidence of decay (large defect
backlogs, no documentation, no code reviews) remains in the system for a
reasonably long period of time. Quality or... (more)
Nigel Cheshire's Blog
From the many reports of software glitches this week, (including an outage at
all-the-rage social networking site Facebook), I decided to focus on a couple
of interesting (to me, anyway) stories that have one thing in common: speed.
The world of Formula One racing is not familiar to many Americans, and yet it
is a wildly popular sport in other parts of the world. It also is seen as a
crucial testing ground for many new automotive technologies that eventually
find their way into the cars that we drive. Being an ex-European, I like to
keep an eye on that sport... (more)
Bad code abounds, and the cost to fix it is expensive. A 2002 federal study
found that software errors and bugs in code cost the U.S. economy nearly $60
billion a year. And a study conducted by The Standish Group reports a
27-month backlog on end-user requests for application enhancements.
With bugs and enhancements coming out of the same budgets, only the loudest
voices are heard. Many organizations with overrun projects have development
teams that spend most of their time fixing bugs, fighting fires and leaping
from one crisis to the next. Meanwhile, the “too little, too
... (more)
Nigel Cheshire's Blog
I’m at JavaOne this week, where the talk from Sun is all about mobile,
or JavaFX and JavaFX Script. I’m not sure the world needs another
scripting language, but then what do I know?
I know it's a bit off-topic, but the thing that struck me about JavaOne this
year is just how busy it is. I didn’t hear any numbers yet, but there
are a lot of people here. And, more surprisingly to me at least, is that the
product pavilion is packed with people. I would have thought that in this day
and age, the old trade show formula would be getting old by now... (more)