>Brooks, Ruven wrote: > >> Most models of software development, as backed up by my own personal >experience, indicte that requirements/specification work, not coding, >is the dominant programming actvity. Coding only accounts for at most >25% of development time. >Russel Winder wrote: >I am not sure what area you are working in but for me coders do not exist. such posts >died out in the 1970s when coding sheets and punch cards fell out of use.
As most disciplines mature there is a migration to a more hierarchical way of structuring jobs. Software development seems to have done it in reverse. It started out with a hierarchy and gradually it was eroded. For instance, in medicine we have doctors (trainee, registrar, surgeon), nurses (various grades), technicians etc. Why do developers tend to be such jack of all trades? Perhaps software development is really a cottage industry and not capable of being applied in a repeatable, organised way. Perhaps software developers have just to much intelligence and won't be pigeon holed. Now that would be an interesting psychology research study. Why has the field of software development (it does not yet deserve to be called engineering) not followed the usual path of new disciplines? >> People who are really good at writing clear, well structured code are >about the least valuable members of a programming team. Wow, you are lucky to be able to find such people. > They're the >ones we hire as contractors and let go as soon as the coding phase is >over. A good testor is worth three or four of a good coder. I would not have put it at more than one to one. >> The people we hang on to even when times are tough are the ones who can design >useful applications that are feasible to develop. Such people do know a great deal >about coding; otherwise, they couldn't design things that were feasible to implement. > More important, though, they understand application requirements and can translate >these into software architectures. That is economic reality. People with the domain specific knowledge you need are much rarer than people with coding skills. You are hanging on to the people who are the hardest to find. derek -- Derek M Jones tel: +44 (0) 1252 520 667 Knowledge Software Ltd mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Applications Standards Conformance Testing http://www.knosof.co.uk - Automatic footer for [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------- To unsubscribe from this list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] unsubscribe discuss To join the announcements list, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe announce To receive a help file, mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] help This list is archived at http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/ If you have any problems or questions, please mail [EMAIL PROTECTED]
