On Jan 15, 2006, at 4:34 PM, Marc Krawitz wrote:
Earlier in my career I mainly focused on technology which I perceived to be 'the latest greatest, coolest, etc.'. However, after seeing about 80% of projects using such technology fail miserably, ...
Is this a case of misplaced blame? Could it be that 80% of all projects fail miserably? I suppose we all have our agendas, and part of mine is that the complexity of software systems developed using traditional methods is approaching the limits of what we can manage. Focusing on a single task and not allowing yourself to become burdened with the complexities of developing complex user interfaces within products designed to do other things can help -- to a point. But blaming user interfaces for the complexity and support costs of software misses the point. All software is complex and difficult to manage, and user interfaces are really nothing more than a convenient scapegoat. What we really need is the capability to work at a higher level of abstraction, and stop trying to build every new tool or application "from the ground up".
I have a new found respect for any system which is reliable, meets the needs of its users, and has adequate performance/scalability. VistA seems to score pretty well in these categories.
Generally, I agree.
Part of aforementioned failures stem from immature technology and jumping too quickly onto technological bandwagons which eventually fail to gain acceptance in the marketplace. Plenty of other reasons exist for the failures - mostly the same ones which existed when the term 'Software Crisis' was coined in the 60s.
The most successful technologies are those who have given us the ability to solve problems we haven't been able to solve before and brought about real change in the way we do things. I fear that many of us have bought into the idea that change is inherently bad, and that rejecting innovation is the key to success in software. That is what I am arguing against.
--Marc
=== Gregory Woodhouse
"Good acts are like good poems. One may easily get their drift, but they are not rationally understood." --Albert Einstein
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