Articles and Essays



On Dysfunctional Organizations

by | Essays

At Company S, The developers were incredibly capable of designing and implementing fabulous product. The company was started by all engineering/development people, and we didn’t know how to attract any other kind of marketing, or senior management capability to...

Male Morning-After Contraception

by | Essays

The author comments: This paper was composed as an exercise in criticizing the design of experiments. You may wish to test your scientific acumen by identifying as many fallacies as you can – then compare these with your favorite experiment in software...

Project Management in Haiku Form

by | Essays

Rick Brenner +-+-+ Project management? A complete course requires Ten simple haiku. – Jerry +-+-+ I Our project was late, so we added more people. The problem got worse. II When requirements changed, the schedule did not – were we headed for trouble? III...

A Guide to Fine Whines

by | Essays

In teaching software process improvement and discipline, I sometimes encounter a phenomenon I describe as “The Tsunami of Whining.” (Tsunami is a Japanese word for “Tidal Wave.”) Some students complain about certain issues and often do so in a...

Klingons on the Planet

by | Essays

A few years ago I was having dinner with some Canadian friends. They raised an interesting issue. “You Americans are an incredibly militaristic society! You declare a ‘War on Drugs’, a ‘War on Poverty’, a ‘War on Crime’. Your...

Giving to Those in Need

by | Essays

As an independent consultant, earning a living by helping organizations improve software development processes, I am blessed with a wonderful life where I get to experience a variety of places with the good and bad behaviors that make each one unique. Something that...

The Magic Delete Key

by | Essays

When consulting with organizations to establish a software process improvement program, one of my initial questions is, “Why do you want to do this?” The responses that I hear most often relate to the issue of software development productivity: “We...

Courage in the Workplace

by | Essays

An open letter to my friends embarking on a Corporate Change Project: If If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait...

A Model of Training

by | Essays

I’ve been reading the discussion on training with some interest. I have a few training models that I find helpful, that have been triggered by recent contributions. In local government we have frequent discussions about the proper use of bonds. The consensus...

My Days as a Barber

by | Essays

I shall take advantage of this opportunity to unburden myself on you with a little story. You know, before I was a programmer, I was a barber. One day I was sitting in my shop when a fellow came in carrying some shears that one might use to trim a hedge. He had long...

What’s So Special About Software?

by | Essays

© Dan Starr, 1998 We all know that software’s special. It’s a magical discipline that creates wonderful special effects, makes machines talk, controls both the motors in our cars and the robots that build those cars, and brings unlimited information and...

All Together Now! Making Group Decisions

by | Essays

© 1998, Beth Schmitz You enter the meeting room filled with people. The agenda lists The Big Decision. You feel the energy and excitement pulsing from person to person. You are exhilarated and scared — exhilarated because these people can move mountains; scared...

Specialist vs. Generalist

by | Essays

Marjan’s thread identifies an issue that many people will recognize. If I may, I would like to offer some analysis of the general problem of specialist verses generalist and the related problem of competence and understanding about competence in the real world....

A Perspective: The Weinberg Training

by | Essays

© Don Willerton Los Alamos National Laboratories The Pillows There’s a pile of pillows on the floor. Surrounding the pillows are about a dozen people, seated on the floor, giving their attention to an instructor who kneels within reach of the pile. Each person,...

Getting Some Good Out Of Bad Interviewing

by | Communication, Essays

©2007 Jerry Weinberg Contract professionals, on the average, change jobs more often than employees, so they are involved in lots of interviews.† One of our SHAPE forum threads was started by Pat Ferdinandi, an independent consultant, who complained: “I am continually...

The Virtual Cyber Cudgel

by | Essays, Quality

by Gerald M. Weinberg In 1977, Tom Gilb and I published a book called Humanized Input: Techniques for Reliable Keyed Input. We hoped to improve the pitiful state of input design for computer systems, and ten years later, we imagined we were beginning to see some...

Test Trimming: A Fable about Testing

by | Essays, Quality, Software

Throughout my career, I’ve watched in dismay as one software manager after another falls into the trap of achieving delivery schedules by trimming tests. Some managers shortcut test work by skipping reviewing and unit testing in the middle of their project. Others...