Programming with
a dose of satire.
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RULE 5: Build business softwalls that are architecture neutral. A softwall is a major business interface in your application that shields technology either side of it. A softwall is an interface based on your business APIs. A softwall allows you to measure efficiency and achieve scalability in both the development and run time phase of a project. Knowing the set of technical interfaces and business interfaces makes it possible to measure the efficiency of the project as the ratio of business interface to the codebase. With code automation tools that created a complete system, the efficiency of the software process can be measured as 1:1. Using a code automation tool called JGenerator, we created an EJB application based on the Microsoft Northwind database; the codebase weighed in at 1.5Mb of source code based on a tiny 15K business properties file. This meant if the code was created by hand the efficiency ratio would have been 1:100, not very productive. Building softwalls into your software is also important to enable your software to become scalable. Because the technology on either side of the softwall is unaware of each others' technology, it can be swapped to a more powerful technology with greater ease. Investing capital in a project is not just about hardware and software, it's also about people. From an accountants' perspective, developers can be viewed as both assets and liabilities. If a project is going to be profitable and cash flows are available then it makes sense to increase the developers on a project until the ROI drops to an unacceptable level.
Talkback: Message Index:
The Messages: good pointsInteresting thing mentioned on http://www.martinfowler.com/articles/xp2002.html - all 50 states have to implement a child-welfare tracking system, giving us the opportunity to see the "same" system implemented 50 times. In Florida, a team of 100 people expected to deliver their implementation of this system in 8 years [starting 1990], though it is now to expected to deliver after 15 years [2005]. The budget is of course around $140 million over the original estimate of $32. In Minnesota, a team of 10 people implemented their system in less than 2 years [starting 1999], using 10 people. Total cost $1.1 million. These systems have the same federal requirements, but Minnesota probably focused on the "essential" requirements. quote: The comparison is a startling illustration of Chet Hendrickson's statement that "inside every large system there's a small system trying to get out". Keith Ray keithray at mac dot com Tue Jul 09 01:10:12 BST 2002
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