[teampractices] "It will never work in theory"

[Chris McMahon]

On Mon, Jan 19, 2015 at 6:50 PM, Greg Grossmeier <greg at wikimedia.org> wrote:
>
>
> I disagree with the term "software engineering" to describe the software
> development that happens today. I don't think it's accurate, and indeed
> I think the concept's too much of a fantasy for the term to be used
> seriously about practicing developers do.


Back when I used to write about such things I argued that software
development expressly is not and can not be engineering*. (I have reasons
for believing this if you want to talk about it...) This is my favorite
piece, and even Andy Hunt said nice things about on on Twitter at the time,
which is apparently unusual:
https://pragprog.com/magazines/2010-11/writing-and-performing . I have a
few other bits along those lines in various places as well.

* As I understand it, it is illegal in Texas to call yourself a "Software
Engineer".  The State of Texas requires that anyone with the title
"Engineer" have a degree or certification from an accredited engineering
program, and "software engineering" is not acceptable.
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