How Good Is Software Construction?

0 7 4 0 7 4 5 9 / 0 2 / $ 1 7 . 0 0 © 2 0 0 2 I E E E I n his May/June From the Editor column, Steve McConnell asked, How good is software construction? In a word, it stinks. You would think it would be better given that so much has been researched and written. Unfortunately, most people haven’t progressed past their first year of work experience. They don’t read the literature. The same mistakes are being made in IT shops all over the place. A recent boss of mine said he hadn’t opened an IT book since he left school 25 years ago. It showed. I moved on to a huge project that didn’t track schedules against deadlines nor adjust the project plan, and they didn’t review code. They were hugely over budget, and the quality was terrible. After an impressive interview process for my current job, I was looking forward to it—until I got here. The code is terrible. They’re trying to test it into shape. The data schema doesn’t support the client’s needs, and they just try to work around it. The system is fragile, and things break every day. No one manages the team’s work or ensures product quality. So, the state of IT is terrible, yes? Well, yes and no. Professionally, the industry is terrible. Personally, it’s great. The fact that no one else is paying attention to the literature makes it easy to look good. Please don’t try to improve things.