Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Story of the Spider Web Software (Part 1)

This article is a long story line of software projects, practices and cultures that contributed to the failure aspect of software development. The story of the Spider Web Software is all about how you and I have turned software engineering institution into a chaotic industry. This is not Blame, nor one of those cries, because you and I needs to accept the fact that we are not following due-diligence.

Not anymore do people , engineers , end-users and business owners whose daily interactions with software have diminished could say a good thing about that new solution. People are loosing their confidence, end-users are sticking to their manual processes instead of living with crappy solutions that we once persuaded them to use (Dictatorship, you must use it to be compliant with the world => this is a big lie).

Software industry is experiencing a vote of no confidence from all angles of the industry, just because of what ? because we built what we are asked to build => "The Spider Web Software" . If you do not build it their way, you are an enemy of state with all eyes on you, the only way out is to join the Open source community. From a disciplined industry into a free for all industry, Software industry will continue to suffer these pathetic problems mutilating the profession. I am ashamed to call myself a software enthusiast , i cry inside for several failed projects which could have been avoided at the initial stage.

Not every software is a piece of crap, not every pragmatic development is wasted; not every solution meets the users need. But at least, in the systems development front, there have been more successful software stories and many software have experienced growth from its initial version 0.0.0.1 to 0.0.x.2, at least a quantum leap. Get ready for the story, close your eyes, open them, close it again .... wala :

In the land of Spidery

Once upon a time (time - time), in the ancient town of spidery in faraway land, there lived a the very strong people of the land blessed with shelter, shields (anti-virus), clothing's and a massive web which connects and support the foundation of the land. For 1000 years, the people of this land have lived and conquered their challenges, all have worked in a team spirit fashion to the successful of their legacies.

Happy, these people were, until modernization came into the lime light, the stories of how cities were emerging reached the land of Spidery. The king summoned his cabinets, and they decided to follow the trends rather than taking the step at a time, they wanted to dive into modernization straight away.

It was a good idea says one cabinet member, at least in one day we will have trains (Bakerloo , waterloo), sky scrappers, parks and standard environment, that would make life easy. Do not get me wrong, the Spidery kingdom is very rich (Milk and honey flows on the land). The cabinets and the king all agreed, that it was time they change the kingdom in one day. News of the changes had reached the entire world. Even the Spidery Kingdom have a way of celebrating their successes even before the success.

Now, when the integration starts, many loop holes where discovered, and instead of going back to the drawing board to re-design the architecture of the new modern spidery land, they insist on going on. At a point the people of the kingdom saw the direction where modernization is taking them, they realized that everything that is glued together can easily fall apart if one of it fails, it was too late to change the designs to separation of concerns , the train line , city centers shops , bars , buses , electricity , houses , airports are all linked together with a very tightly coupled manner , that if one fails others would not run. Its was a bad moment for the people of spidery, the preferred to be in their olden and conservative lifestyles rather than leaping into modernization in one day , it was a day that they will never forget.



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