Hitchhiker's Guide to Software Architecture and Everything Else - by Michael Stal

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Gravestone Inscriptions

Imagine a kind of e-cemetry for software projects that failed. How would the gravestone inscriptions look like?


"In affectionate remembrance of projext X which departed this life January 21st 2007 aged 2 years."


Or maybe:


"In loving memory of Windows 95, descendant  of Windows 3.11. Died 1st January 2003 aged 8 years."


We would probably congregate to bid farewell to our failed project with the quality manager being in charge to deliver a funeral eulogy, reminding us of all the nice aspects of the project but concealing all the more negative issues - learning from failure doesn't seem appropriate in the context of a funeral. 


And then  in quiet remembrance of the software system we would think of the last words of the project manager: Something  like "Why, the hell, didn't CMMI save our project?" or, maybe, something close to Ether Allans' last words (1789):  "Waiting are they?  Waiting are they?  Well--let 'em wait."


Hopefully, no one will demand hanging the architects and engineers.


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