Don’t you want to take responsibility for your designs?
In Critical Software Redesign: Creating the Environment for Large Scale Change , we presented the story of the TaxGlobe company as a series of signals. We invited you, the reader, to consider how you would react to each signal, as if you were an architect at TaxGlobe. This is of course only an exercise. In reality, the signals wouldn’t be listed in writing, and you’d have to observe them over…
There’s a moment where it’s too soon to invest in a radical new software design for your system. And then you reach a moment where it’s too late, too expensive to change it. Is there a sweet spot in between, a point where pivoting the software design is the right choice, at the right time? As a leader, you are constantly resolving problems involving the software architecture, making technical…
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/OO_Modeling_languages_history.jpg Wikipedia's view of object analysis and design methods pre- and post- UML In my previous post , I explored whether standardizing on UML killed modeling innovation. At the time of UML’s inception, object technology was in its heyday, and distributed object systems using CORBA technology were gaining in popularity.…
I unearthed this report from an OOPSLA 1997 panel titled, “UML: the language of blueprints for software?” We panelists, John Artim, Viktor Ohnjec, Erick Rivas, Jim Rumbaugh, and myself, discussed potential benefits and drawbacks of this new modeling language, called UML, to describe software systems and prognisticated on how standardizing on notation might affect software development. UML stands…
I’ve been making some of my earlier work more accessible by publishing it on my website. The latest addition is my very first patterns paper, published in 2006—a collection of Problem Frame Patterns . Problem Frames are an analysis technique invented by Michael Jackson. Jackson’s problem frames build on a recognition of generic problem types, based on structures and relationships between domains,…
Software quality doesn't happen by chance, it requires attention I’ve been working on making some of my interesting but rather obscure work more accessible by compiling topical collections on my website. Agile Quality Patterns is a collection about how to infuse quality assurance activities and roles, as well as system quality-related activities into software development projects. For a short…
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/2_2x.png Exactitude is one form of software model rigor. I like the way the word exactitude sounds. But it's really just a synonym for exactness. When your software performs calculations based on physical laws or mathematical formulas exactitude isn't arbitrary. Exactitude is also highly desirable when performing financial transactions or calibrating an oscilloscope…
Ausschnitte aus 'Rigor Mortis - Der Tod steht uns gut' Theater Akzent …rigor is a sham if your software is merely performing 'rigor theatre' This blog post is based on a talk on model rigor I gave at DDDEu 2024 . Before we dive into model rigor, let’s define it. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, definitions for rigor range from strictness or severity to shivering or trembling or…
Jordan Wirfs-Brock Last week ¾ of the family Wirfs-Brock present the talk, “Discovering Your Software Umwelt” , at the Onward! Essay track of the SPLASH 2024 conference. You can find the essay on which we based our talk here or in a more easy-to-read format, here . The back story on how we wrote our essay: Initially, we had no idea what we could write about together… but the idea of a Wirfs-Brock,…
PLoP 2024 Group Photo The 31st Pattern Languages of Programs, People, and Practice (PLoP) conference is a wrap! PLoP brings together practitioners and researchers who share an interest in exploring the power of patterns. Our four-day event is an opportunity for pattern enthusiasts to gather, discuss, and learn from each other. Originally, PLoP conferences focused on software-related patterns and…