Risk detection is the most valid justification to the Software Analysis and Measurement activity: identify any threat that can negatively and severely impact the behavior of applications in operations as well as the application maintenance and development activity. “Most valid justification” sounds great, but it’s also quite difficult to manage. Few organizations keep track of software issues that originate from the software source code and architecture so that it is difficult to define objective target requirements that could support a “zero defects” approach. Without clear requirements, it is the best way to invest one’s time and resources in the wrong place: removing too few or too much non-compliant situation in … Read More
Tag Archives: automated analysis and measurement
Fast or Nimble? Agile Should be Both
I was watching the gymnastics competition at the Olympics on Sunday night and on more than one occasion heard commentators applaud competitors for their agility. As I watched these gymnasts move swiftly and with exacting precision across the beam, floor, vault and bars, I could not help but marvel at their abilities and at how appropriate a descriptor “agile” was for them. Long before businesses tossed around the term “Agile” as a method of technology project management, it stood as a word that often affixed to people and objects that displayed a certain set of characteristics. People earning the moniker “agile” almost invariably were both fast and nimble – not … Read More
Mozzilla Thinks Crashes are a GOOD Thing…Really?
My six-year-old can tie her own shoes. I honestly did not realize how big of a deal that was until her teacher told me a few months ago that she had, for a short time, become the designated shoe tier in her classroom. Apparently, thanks to the advent of Velcro closures for kids’ shoes, nobody else in her kindergarten class knew how to tie their shoes. The problem with being a “star” of your kindergarten class, however, is that all the kids want their shoes tied by her. As a result, she was trying to tie shoes very fast – too fast, in fact – and started making mistakes, which … Read More
Android Application Failures Still Try Our Souls
Happy Independence Day everybody! I only hope those of you reading this on your Android device have not turned it sideways or performed some other seemingly innocuous action that has made this application fail. I say this because I recently read yet another blog about “workarounds” to compensate for application failures inherent in Android devices. These pieces have become almost ubiquitous over the past 18 months to the point where one would think Google would just go back and perform the structural quality analysis it needs to do to address the issues. Their failure to do so reminds me on this day before Independence Day of the opening lines of … Read More
The Personnel Side of Technical Debt
I have been an East-Coaster all my life. I’ve lived, worked and even attended college in states that all lie East of the Mississippi. However, throughout my 18 years working in the technology business, my clients have been spread out around the U.S. and abroad. I’ve found myself doing phone calls before the sun rises and well after it has set. That’s just the way it is in this business. While it is admittedly easier to write about companies that are located in another state, I the remote worker hardly begins and ends with us writers. More often than not I’m working with companies that have developers, architects, managers, directors … Read More
Foretelling Facebook’s IPO Failure
I’m not one who believes in fortune tellers or those who claim to be able to predict the future. Heck, I don’t even read my horoscope and cringe whenever someone attempts to force it upon me. Only when my wife has attempted to read me my horoscope have I offered even as much as a polite “hmm.” Nevertheless there are many out there who swear by those who claim to be able to predict the future, especially in the financial industry. And while there were those who predicted a rocky road for Facebook’s IPO, it is doubtful that anybody could have foreseen NASDAQ’s technical melt down that surrounded the Facebook IPO. … Read More
Great Expectations and How to Meet Them
There’s a very old mantra around project quality that says, “If you want something done right, do it yourself.” I disagree. We recently remodeled the bathroom in our master bedroom. Rather than taking my own sledgehammer to the walls, tub and toilet and then hanging my own sheet rock, my wife and I hired a local contractor who came in, did the demolition and reconstruction, and in the end we wound up with a room with which we’re very happy. I can tell you without reservation that had I done it myself the project would have turned out disastrous because I confess to a certain measure of incompetence when it … Read More