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The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

The Human Dimension of Software Engineering

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The Role of Quality Assurance in Software Development

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Growing Up With Quality Assurance

I grew up in Italy in a household where “Engineering” and “Quality Assurance” (QA) were terms commonly used at the dinner table. My dad, now 92 years old, is an Electronic Engineer who specialized in quality assurance of space technology. He worked for over 30 years in a large company called Officine Galileo as Director of Quality Assurance. Officine Galileo was founded in 1864 to produce military aiming, tracking and firing equipment, before extending its production to include space equipment. ... 

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7 Strategies to Avoid Software Growth Zero, AKA Drowning in Maintenance

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

The Software Garden

Software is like a garden. Both software and gardens require a lot of work, craftsmanship, and artistry to envision and create, especially when starting from scratch. They both evolve, and they both need constant maintenance, even if you don’t make any significant improvement.

If you are a reader of my blog, you know that I use a character called Bolbo as my mental framework for the quintessentialsoftware developer. You might remember that he has a square jaw, messy black hair, round glasses, a cynical sense of humor and a snarky attitude. I wrote about him in “A day in the life of a software engineer.” In this post, I will talk to you about Bolbo’s brother Polbo, who is a gardener. I will tell you about his journey in the creation of a formal garden. ... 

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7 Ranks of Coderhood: Coder, Programmer, Computer Scientist, Developer, Engineer, Architect

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Reading Time: 13 minutes

The Many Names of a Software Builder

In my blog, I have been using the terms coder, programmer, software developer and software engineer interchangeably. I do that mainly to avoid linguistic repetitions. However, I believe that there are differences between those words and similar others.

In this article, I will discuss a set of nouns commonly used to refer to someone who writes code. I will also give my interpretation of how those terms relate to engineering skill levels.

Interpretation of the meaning

The definitions that I will present here are not official. There are no formal definitions that I am aware of or trusted body to create such a thing. However, there are lots people with strong opinions on the matter. My understanding of what each of the terms implies is based on three decades spent in the software industry, but I fully expect that other people will disagree with my interpretation. ... 

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16 Best Source Code Gems [Collection]

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Developer’s personalities shine in odd ways. One them is in a (sometimes) subtle sense of humor, choice of words and attitude that you can find in code, code comments, and error messages. It often feels like a stream of consciousness that reflects the human reality of a moment in time.

I collect those gems and here I am sharing with you some of my favorites. Some I found myself in the code I worked with. Others, I collected from various sources. All have been stripped of anything that could be considered IP. ... 

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12 Reasons To Avoid Individual Code Ownership

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Reading Time: 7 minutes

Coding is a form of art, and artists are very attached to their pieces. That visceral attachment is what makes programmers passionate and intense. That can be a good thing, but it can also lead to problems.

Unless the entire development organization has only one or two developers, individual code ownership is a dangerous disease. I do not recommend it, nor encourage it for many reasons.

#1 – Emotional Attachment to Code Hurts The Collective Wisdom.

Programmers that identify with their code become attached to it. That emotion causes code to become untouchable by anybody else, and it generates dogmas that grow into turf wars. When emotions are involved, code reviews are difficult. It becomes impossible to make improvements unless the owner of the code approves the changes. ... 

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