💻IT: Authorization (Definitions)

"Access privileges granted to a user, program, or process or the act of granting those privileges." (CNSSI 4009-2015)

"Authorization is defined as a process ensuring that correctly authenticated users can access only those resources for which the owner has given them approval." (Gartner)

"The granting or denying of access rights to a user, program, or process." (NIST SP 800-33)

[authorization to operate:] "The official management decision given by a senior official to authorize operation of a system or the common controls inherited by designated organizations systems and to explicitly accept the risk to organizational operations (including mission, functions, image, and reputation), organizational assets, individuals, other organizations, and the Nation based on the implementation of an agreed-upon set of security and privacy controls." (NIST SP 800-12 Rev. 1)

"The process of initially establishing access privileges of an individual and subse­quently verifying the acceptability of a request for access." (NISTIR 4734)

"The process of verifying that a requested action or service is approved for a specific entity."(NIST SP 800-152) 

"The right or a permission that is granted to a system entity to access a system resource."(NIST SP 800-82 Rev. 2)

💻IT: Crowdsourcing (Definitions)

"Obtaining information by tapping the collective knowledge of many people." (W Roy Schulte & K Chandy, "Event Processing: Designing IT Systems for Agile Companies", 2009)

"A model of problem solving and idea generation that marshals the collective talents of a large group of people." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"the act of outsourcing a task to an undefined, generally large group of people or community, typically in the form of some sort of post on the Internet." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"Tapping into collective online knowledge by inviting large numbers of people, via the Internet, to contribute ideas on different aspects of a business’s operations. A related concept is 'crowdfunding', which involves funding a project or venture by raising capital from individual investors via the Internet." (DK, "The Business Book", 2014)

"The process by which ideas, services, or other needs are solicited from predominantly amorphous and undefined large groups of people." (Evan Stubbs, "Big Data, Big Innovation", 2014)

"A method of resource gathering where interested potential customers pledge money to innovators for a product that has not yet been created." (Rachel Heinen et al, "Tools for the Process: Technology to Support Creativity and Innovation", 2015)

"The practice of outsourcing organisational tasks by placing a call on the internet and inviting all-comers to post submissions, often with the lure of a prize or commission for the 'best entry'." (Duncan Angwin & Stephen Cummings, "The Strategy Pathfinder" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"Dividing the work of collecting a substantial amount of data into small tasks that can be undertaken by volunteers." (Open Data Handbook)

💻IT: Product Information Management [PIM] (Definitions)

"The management of product master data, usually via a PIM hub, to avail a single version of the truth about product data to the business." (Evan Levy & Jill Dyché, "Customer Data Integration", 2006)

"MDM Systems that focus exclusively on managing the descriptions of products are also call PIM systems." (Martin Oberhofer et al, "Enterprise Master Data Management", 2008)

"Processes and technologies focused on centrally managing information about products, with a focus on the data required to market and sell the products through one or more distribution channels. A central set of product data can be used to feed consistent, accurate, and up-to-date information to multiple output media such as websites, print catalogs, ERP systems, and electronic data feeds to trading partners. PIM systems generally need to support multiple geographic locations, multilingual data, and maintenance and modification of product information within a centralized catalog to provide consistently accurate information to multiple channels in a cost-effective manner." (Janice M Roehl-Anderson, "IT Best Practices for Financial Managers", 2010)

"Processes and tools used to predict and evaluate success of products through marketing and sales efforts." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"Product Information Management (PIM) is the process, techniques and technology of gaining control over a company's product marketing information. The objective of PIM solutions is to remove inefficiency in the marketing supply chain by delivering information to sales channels more quickly and with fewer mistakes." (Digital Asset Management)

"Product information management (PIM) is the process of managing all the information required to market and sell products through distribution channels." (Wikipedia) [source]

"Product information management (PIM) is the software-based orchestration of data dissemination related to a business’s products and its suppliers’ products. PIM coordinates changing product information across all channels of communication, thus ensuring that a business’s entire ecosystem has consistent and up-to-date information." (Informatica)

"The processes and tools for managing product information, including: 1) data centralization and governance; 2) data onboarding from partners; 3) data and content creation and enrichment; and 4) content distribution/syndication." (Forrester)

💻IT: Information Security [IS] (Definitions)

"Secures the information assets of an organization." (David G Hill, "Data Protection: Governance, Risk Management, and Compliance", 2009)

"The practice of protecting information in all its forms, whether written, spoken, electronic, graphical, or using other methods of communication." (Mark Rhodes-Ousley, "Information Security: The Complete Reference, Second Edition" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"Is the practice of protecting information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification or destruction. Information security encompasses both physical and electronic information." (David Sutton, "Information Risk Management: A practitioner’s guide", 2014)

"Protecting information and information systems from unauthorized access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, or destruction in order to provide integrity, confidentiality, and availability." ( Manish Agrawal, "Information Security and IT Risk Management", 2014)

"The preservation of confidentiality, integrity and availability of information [1]" (David Sutton, "Information Risk Management: A practitioner’s guide", 2014)

"The techniques and policies used to ensure proper access to data" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated" 6th Ed., 2015)

"The discipline of information security goes beyond simply restricting access to confidential business information. Information security can be defined as the implementation and management of the set of tools and processes whose goal is to preserve the three key elements of information security in the business: confidentiality, integrity and availability." (Sumo Logic) [source]

💻IT: Resilience (Definitions)

"The ability to cope with adversity and recover quickly from setbacks." (PMI, "Navigating Complexity: A Practice Guide", 2014)

"System resilience is an ability of the system to withstand a major disruption within acceptable degradation parameters and to recover within an acceptable time." (Denis Čaleta, "Cyber Threats to Critical Infrastructure Protection: Public Private Aspects of Resilience", 2016)

"The ability of an information system to continue to (1) operate under adverse conditions or stress, even if in a degraded or debilitated state, while maintaining essential operational capabilities; and (2) recover to an effective operational posture in a time frame consistent with mission needs." (William Stallings, "Effective Cybersecurity: A Guide to Using Best Practices and Standards", 2018)

"The ability of a project to readily resume from unexpected events, threats or actions." (Phil Crosby, "Shaping Mega-Science Projects and Practical Steps for Success", 2019)

"The ability of an infrastructure to resist, respond and overcome adverse events" (Konstantinos Apostolou et al, "Business Continuity of Critical Infrastructures for Safety and Security Incidents", 2020)

"The word resilience refers to the ability to overcome critical moments and adapt after experiencing some unusual and unexpected situation. It also indicates return to normal." (José G Vargas-Hernández, "Urban Socio-Ecosystems Green Resilience", 2021)

"Adaptive capacity of an organisation in a complex and changing environment’ (ISO Guide 73:2009)

"The ability to resist failure or to recover quickly following a failure" (ITIL)

"The ability of an information system to continue to: (i) operate under adverse conditions or stress, even if in a degraded or debilitated state, while maintaining essential operational capabilities; and (ii) recover to an effective operational posture in a time frame consistent with mission needs." (NIST SP 800-39)

"The ability to prepare for and adapt to changing conditions and withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions. Resilience includes the ability to withstand and recover from deliberate attacks, accidents, or naturally occurring threats or incidents." (NIST SP 800-37)

"The ability to quickly adapt and recover from any known or unknown changes to the environment through holistic implementation of risk management, contingency, and continuity planning." (NIST SP 800-34 Rev. 1)

💻IT: Grid Computing (Definitions)

"A grid is an architecture for distributed computing and resource sharing. A grid system is composed of a heterogeneous collection of resources connected by local-area and/or wide-area networks (often the Internet). These individual resources are general and include compute servers, storage, application servers, information services, or even scientific instruments. Grids are often implemented in terms of Web services and integrated middleware components that provide a consistent interface to the grid. A grid is different from a cluster in that the resources in a grid are not controlled through a single point of administration; the grid middleware manages the system so control of resources on the grid and the policies governing use of the resources remain with the resource owners." (Beverly A Sanders, "Patterns for Parallel Programming", 2004)

"Clusters of cheap computers, perhaps distributed on a global basis, connected using even something as loosely connected as the Internet." (Gavin Powell, "Beginning Database Design", 2006)

"A step beyond distributed processing. Grid computing involves large numbers of networked computers, often geographically dispersed and possibly of different types and capabilities, that are harnessed together to solve a common problem." (Judith Hurwitz et al, "Service Oriented Architecture For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2009)

"A web-based operation allowing companies to share computing resources on demand." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The use of networks to harness the unused processing cycles of all computers in a given network to create powerful computing capabilities." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

"A distributed set of computers that can be allocated dynamically and accessed remotely. A grid is distinguished from a cloud in that a grid may be supported by multiple organizations and is usually more heterogeneous and physically distributed." (Michael McCool et al, "Structured Parallel Programming", 2012)

"the use of multiple computing resources to leverage combined processing power. Usually associated with scientific applications." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed., 2012)

"A step beyond distributed processing, involving large numbers of networked computers (often geographically dispersed and possibly of different types and capabilities) that are harnessed to solve a common problem. A grid computing model can be used instead of virtualization in situations that require real time where latency is unacceptable." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"A named set of interconnected replication servers for propagating commands from an authorized server to the rest of the servers in the set." (IBM, "Informix Servers 12.1", 2014)

"A type of computing in which large computing tasks are distributed among multiple computers on a network." (Jim Davis & Aiman Zeid, "Business Transformation: A Roadmap for Maximizing Organizational Insights", 2014)

"Connecting many computer system locations, often via the cloud, working together for the same purpose." (Jason Williamson, "Getting a Big Data Job For Dummies", 2015)

"A computer network that enables distributed resource management and on-demand services." (Forrester)

"A computing architecture that coordinates large numbers of servers and storage to act as a single large computer." (Oracle, "Oracle Database Concepts")

"connecting different computer systems from various location, often via the cloud, to reach a common goal." (Analytics Insight)

💻IT: Latency (Definitions)

"The fixed cost of servicing a request, such as sending a message or accessing information from a disk. In parallel computing, the term most often is used to refer to the time it takes to send an empty message over the communication medium, from the time the send routine is called to the time the empty message is received by the recipient. Programs that generate large numbers of small messages are sensitive to the latency and are called latency-bound programs." (Beverly A Sanders, "Patterns for Parallel Programming", 2004)

"The amount of time it takes a system to deliver data in response to a request. For mass storage devices, it is the time it takes to place the read or write heads over the desired spot on the media. In networks, it is a function of the electrical and software properties of the network connection." (Tom Petrocelli, "Data Protection and Information Lifecycle Management", 2005)

"The time delay it takes for a network packet to travel from one destination to another." (John Goodson & Robert A Steward, "The Data Access Handbook", 2009)

"The time it takes for a system to respond to an input." (W Roy Schulte & K Chandy, "Event Processing: Designing IT Systems for Agile Companies", 2009)

"A period of time that the computer must wait while a disk drive is positioning itself to read a particular block of data." (Rod Stephens, "Start Here!™ Fundamentals of Microsoft® .NET Programming", 2011)

"The measure of time between two events, such as the initiation and completion of an event, or the read on one system and the write to another system." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"The time period from start to completion of a unit of work." (Max Domeika, "Software Development for Embedded Multi-core Systems", 2011)

"The time it takes to complete a task - that is, the time between when the task begins and when it ends. Latency has units of time. The scale can be anywhere from nanoseconds to days. Lower latency is better in general." (Michael McCool et al, "Structured Parallel Programming", 2012)

"The amount of time lag before a service executes in an environment. Some applications require less latency and need to respond in near real time, whereas other applications are less time-sensitive." (Marcia Kaufman et al, "Big Data For Dummies", 2013)

"A delay. Can apply to the sending, processing, transmission, storage, or receiving of information." (Mike Harwood, "Internet Security: How to Defend Against Attackers on the Web" 2nd Ed., 2015)

"A period of waiting for another component to deliver data needed to proceed." (Faithe Wempen, "Computing Fundamentals: Introduction to Computers", 2015)

"The time it takes for the specified sector to be in position under the read/write head" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated" 6th Ed., 2015)

"The delay between when an action such as transmitting data is taken and when it has an effect." (O Sami Saydjari, "Engineering Trustworthy Systems: Get Cybersecurity Design Right the First Time", 2018)

💻IT: Automation (Definitions)

"The act of replacing control of a manual process with computer or electronic controls." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

[soft automation:] "automation that is configurable through software without requiring changes to the underlying code of the software itself." (Meredith Zozus, "The Data Book: Collection and Management of Research Data", 2017)

[hard automation:] "automation that requires computer programming to be altered if changes are required." (Meredith Zozus, "The Data Book: Collection and Management of Research Data", 2017)

[Decision Automation:] "This broad term refers to computerized systems that make decisions and have some capability to independently act upon them. Decision automation refers to using technologies, including computer processing, to make decisions and implement programmed decision processes." (Ciara Heavin & Daniel J Power, "Decision Support, Analytics, and Business Intelligence" 3rd Ed., 2017)

"Automation is machine-controlled execution of actions, based on artificial intelligence and machine learning that do not require human intervention. It enables speed to action to help reduce time taken by human operators." (Heru Susanto et al, "Data Security for Connected Governments and Organisations: Managing Automation and Artificial Intelligence", 2021)

"refers to the technology where procedures or processes are performed with minimal human intervention. Machines can be configured based on an explicit set of rules or algorithms." (Accenture)

"performing all or part of a set of tasks with a machine rather than through human effort (NRC 1998)

[Intelligent Automation:] "refers to an automation solution that is enhanced with cognitive capabilities that enable programs and machines to learn, interpret and respond." (Accenture)

💻IT: Gateway (Definitions)

"A network software product that allows computers or networks running dissimilar protocols to communicate, providing transparent access to a variety of foreign database management systems (DBMSs). A gateway moves specific database connectivity and conversion processing from individual client computers to a single server computer. Communication is enabled by translating up one protocol stack and down the other. Gateways usually operate at the session layer." (Microsoft Corporation, "SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit", 1999)

"Connectivity software that allows two or more computer systems with different network architectures to communicate." (Sybase, "Glossary", 2005)

"A generic term referring to a computer system that routes data or merges two dissimilar services together." (Paulraj Ponniah, "Data Warehousing Fundamentals for IT Professionals", 2010)

"A software product that allows SQL-based applications to access relational and non-relational data sources." (DAMA International, "The DAMA Dictionary of Data Management", 2011)

"An entrance point that allows users to connect from one network to another." (Linda Volonino & Efraim Turban, "Information Technology for Management" 8th Ed., 2011)

[database gateway:] "Software required to allow clients to access data stored on database servers over a network connection." (Craig S Mullins, "Database Administration: The Complete Guide to DBA Practices and Procedures" 2nd Ed., 2012)

"A connector box that enables you to connect two dissimilar networks." (Faithe Wempen, "Computing Fundamentals: Introduction to Computers", 2015)

"A node that handles communication between its LAN and other networks" (Nell Dale & John Lewis, "Computer Science Illuminated, 6th Ed.", 2015)

"A system or device that connects two unlike environments or systems. The gateway is usually required to translate between different types of applications or protocols." (Shon Harris & Fernando Maymi, "CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide" 8th Ed., 2018)

"An application that acts as an intermediary for clients and servers that cannot communicate directly. Acting as both client and server, a gateway application passes requests from a client to a server and returns results from the server to the client." (Sybase, "Open Server Server-Library/C Reference Manual", 2019)

💻IT: Interprocess Communication (Definitions)

"A method of letting threads and processes transfer data and messages among themselves; used to offer services to and receive services from other programs (for example, named pipes)." (Owen Williams, "MCSE TestPrep: SQL Server 6.5 Design and Implementation", 1998)

"A system by which threads and processes can transfer data and messages among themselves. Interprocess communication (IPC) is used to offer and receive services from other programs." (Microsoft Corporation, "SQL Server 7.0 System Administration Training Kit", 1999)

"A mechanism through which operating system processes and threads exchange data and messages. IPCs include local mechanisms, such as Windows shared memory, or network mechanisms, such as Windows Sockets." (Anthony Sequeira & Brian Alderman, "The SQL Server 2000 Book", 2003)

"A mechanism of an operating system that allows processes to communicate with each other within the same computer or over a network." (Sybase, "Open Server Server-Library/C Reference Manual", 2019)

"The ability of one task or process to communicate with another in a multitasking operating system. Common methods include pipes, semaphores, shared memory, queues, signals, and mailboxes." (Microsoft, "SQL Server 2012 Glossary", 2012)

"A tool designed for developers to allow communication and sharing of data between applications." (Mike Harwood, "Internet Security: How to Defend Against Attackers on the Web 2nd Ed.", 2015)

ITIL: Change Request (Definitions)

"Any request submitted by a customer (buyer or users) for a change to alter the system. These appear in various forms and include software trouble reports (STRs) and baseline change requests (BCRs). BCRs request changes to the system’s specification." (Richard D Stutzke, "Estimating Software-Intensive Systems: Projects, Products, and Processes", 2005)

"Requests to expand or reduce the project scope, modify policies, processes, plans, or procedures, modify costs or budgets, or revise schedules." (Project Management Institute, "Practice Standard for Project Estimating", 2010)

"A document requesting a change for a project." (Bonnie Biafore, "Successful Project Management: Applying Best Practices and Real-World Techniques with Microsoft® Project", 2011)

"An official document requesting modification of existing features, requirements or functions or new ones. Change Request should contain description of the current solution, justification for a change and suggested (desired) solution." (IQBBA, "Standard glossary of terms used in Software Engineering", 2011)

"An appeal to the change review board for a modification to the project by any stakeholder. The request typically includes the justification, relationship of the change to the project goal and objectives, description of the change and deliverables, and effect on project risk." (Bonnie Biafore & Teresa Stover, "Your Project Management Coach: Best Practices for Managing Projects in the Real World", 2012)

"Change management notification for change in current process/environment." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed, 2012)

"A formal proposal to modify any document, deliverable, or baseline." (For Dummies, "PMP Certification All-in-One For Dummies" 2nd Ed., 2013)

"1. Written request or proposal to perform a specific change for a development product or to allow it to be implemented. 2. A request to change some software artifact due to a change in requirements." (Tilo Linz et al, "Software Testing Foundations" 4th Ed, 2014)

"Change management notification for a change in current process/environment." (Bill Holtsnider & Brian D Jaffe, "IT Manager's Handbook" 3rd Ed", 2012)

#️⃣Software Engineering: Programming (Part XV: Rapid Prototyping - Introduction)

Software Engineering Series

Rapid (software) prototyping (RSP) is a group of techniques applied in Software Engineering to quickly build a prototype (aka mockup, wireframe) to verify the technical or factual realization and feasibility of an application architecture, process or business model. A similar notion is the one of Proof-of-Concept (PoC), which attempts to demonstrate by building a prototype, starting an experiment or a pilot project that a technical concept, business proposal or theory has practical potential. In other words in Software Engineering a RSP encompasses the techniques by which a PoC is lead.

In industries that consider physical products a prototype is typically a small-scale object made from inexpensive material that resembles the final product to a certain degree, some characteristics, details or features being completely ignored (e.g. the inner design, some components, the finishing, etc.). Building several prototypes is much easier and cheaper than building the end product, they allowing to play with a concept or idea until it gets close to the final product. Moreover, this approach reduces the risk of ending up with a product nobody wants.

A similar approach and reasoning is used in Software Engineering as well. Building a prototype allows focusing at the beginning on the essential characteristics or aspects of the application, process or (business) model under consideration. Upon case one can focus on the user interface (UI) , database access, integration mechanism or any other feature that involves a challenge. As in the case of the UI one can build several prototypes that demonstrate different designs or architectures. The initial prototype can go through a series of transformations until it reaches the desired form, following then to integrate more functionality and refine the end product gradually. This iterative and incremental approach is known as rapid evolutional prototyping.

A prototype is useful especially when dealing with the uncertainty, e.g. when adopting (new) technologies or methodologies, when mixing technologies within an architecture, when the details of the implementation are not known, when exploring an idea, when the requirements are expected to change often, etc. Building rapidly a prototype allows validating the requirements, responding agilely to change, getting customers’ feedback and sign-off as early as possible, showing them what’s possible, how the future application can look like, and this without investing too much effort. It’s easier to change a design or an architecture in the concept and design phases than later.

In BI prototyping resumes usually in building queries to identify the source of the data, reengineer the logic from the business application, prove whether the logic is technically feasible, feasibility being translate in robustness, performance, flexibility. In projects that have a broader scope one can attempt building the needed infrastructure for several reports, to make sure that the main requirements are met. Similarly, one can use prototyping to build a data warehouse or a data migration layer. Thus, one can build all or most of the logic for one or two entities, resolving the challenges for them, and once the challenges solved one can go ahead and integrate gradually the other entities.

Rapid prototyping can be used also in the implementation of a strategy or management system to prove the concepts behind. One can start thus with a narrow focus and integrate more functions, processes and business segments gradually in iterative and incremental steps, each step allowing to integrate the lesson learned, address the risks and opportunities, check the progress and change the direction as needed.

Rapid prototyping can prove to be a useful tool when given the chance to prove its benefits. Through its iterative and incremental approaches it allows to reach the targets efficiently

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#️⃣Software Engineering: Programming (Part XIV: Good Programmer, Bad Programmer)

Software Engineering Series

The use of denominations like 'good' or 'bad' related to programmers and programming carries with it a thin separation between these two perceptional poles that represent the end results of the programming process, reflecting the quality of the code delivered, respectively the quality of a programmer’s effort and  behavior as a whole. This means that the usage of the two denominations is often contextual, 'good' and 'bad' being moving points on a imaginary value scale with a wide range of values within and outside the interval determined by the two.

The 'good programmer' label is a idealization of the traits associated with being a programmer – analyzing and understanding the requirements, filling the gaps when necessary, translating the requirements in robust designs, developing quality code with a minimum of overwork, delivering on-time, being able to help others, to work as part of a (self-organizing) team and alone, when the project requires it, to follow methodologies, processes or best practices, etc. The problem with such a definition is that there's no fix limit, considering that programmer’s job description can include an extensive range of requirements.

The 'bad programmer' label is used in general when programmers (repeatedly) fail to reach others’ expectations, occasionally the labeling being done independently of one’s experience in the field. The volume of bugs and mistakes, the fuzziness of designs and of the code written, the lack of comments and documentation, the lack of adherence to methodologies, processes, best practices and naming conventions are often considered as indicators for such labels. Sometimes even the smallest mistakes or the wrong perceptions of one’s effort and abilities can trigger such labels.

Labeling people as 'good' or 'bad' has the tendency of reinforcing one's initial perception, in extremis leading to self-fulfilling prophecies - predictions that directly or indirectly cause themselves to become true, by the very terms on how the predictions came into being. Thus, when somebody labels another as 'good' or 'bad' he more likely will look for signs that reinforce his previous believes. This leads to situations in which "good" programmers’ mistakes are easier overlooked than 'bad' programmers' mistakes, even if the mistakes are similar.

A good label can in theory motivate, while a bad label can easily demotivate, though their effects depend from person to person. Such labels can easily become a problem for beginners, because they can easily affect beginners' perception about themselves. It’s so easy to forget that programming is a continuous learning process in which knowledge is relative and highly contextual, each person having strengths and weaknesses.

Each programmer has a particular set of skills that differentiate him from other programmers. Each programmer is unique, aspect reflected in the code one writes. Expecting programmers to fit an ideal pattern is unrealistic. Instead of using labels one should attempt to strengthen the weaknesses and make adequate use of a person’s strengths. In this approach resides the seeds for personal growth and excellence.

There are also programmers who excel in certain areas - conceptual creativity, ability in problem identification, analysis and solving, speed, ingenuity of design and of making best use of the available tools, etc. Such programmers, as Randall Stross formulates it, “are an order of magnitude better” than others. The experience and skills harnessed with intelligence have this transformational power that is achievable by each programmer in time.

Even if we can’t always avoid such labeling, it’s important to become aware of the latent force the labels carry with them, the effect they have on our colleagues and teammates. A label can easily act as a boomerang, hitting us back long after it was thrown away.

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#️⃣Software Engineering: Programming (Part XIII: Misconceptions about Programming II)

Continuation

One of the organizational stereotypes is having a big room full of cubicles filled with employees. Even if programmers can work in such settings, improperly designed environments restrict to a certain degree the creativity and productivity, making more difficult employees' collaboration and socialization. Despite having dedicated meeting rooms, an important part of the communication occurs ad-hoc. In open spaces each transient interruption can easily lead inadvertently to loss of concentration, which leads to wasted time, as one needs retaking thoughts’ thread and reviewing the last written code, and occasionally to bugs.

Programming is expected to be a 9 to 5 job with the effective working time of 8 hours. Subtracting the interruptions, the pauses one needs to take, the effective working time decreases to about 6 hours. In other words, to reach 8 hours of effective productivity one needs to work about 10 hours or so. Therefore, unless adequately planned, each project starts with a 20% of overtime. Moreover, even if a task is planned to take 8 hours, given the need of information the allocated time is split over multiple days. The higher the need for further clarifications the higher the chances for effort to expand. In extremis, the effort can double itself.

Spending extensive time in front of the computer can have adverse effects on programmers’ physical and psychical health. Same effect has the time pressure and some of the negative behavior that occurs in working environments. Also, the communication skills can suffer when they are not properly addressed. Unfortunately, few organizations give importance to these aspects, few offer a work free time balance, even if a programmer’s job best fits and requires such approach. What’s even more unfortunate is when organizations ignore the overtime, taking it as part of job’s description. It’s also one of the main reasons why programmers leave, why competent workforce is lost. In the end everyone’s replaceable, however what’s the price one must pay for it?

Trainings are offered typically within running projects as they can be easily billed. Besides the fact that this behavior takes time unnecessarily from a project’s schedule, it can easily make trainings ineffective when the programmers can’t immediately use the new knowledge. Moreover, considering resources that come and go, the unwillingness to invest in programmers can have incalculable effects on an organization performance, respectively on their personal development.

Organizations typically look for self-motivated resources, this request often encompassing organization’s whole motivational strategy. Long projects feel like a marathon in which is difficult to sustain the same rhythm for the whole duration of the project. Managers and team leaders need to work on programmers’ motivation if they need sustained performance. They must act as mentors and leaders altogether, not only to control tasks’ status and rave and storm each time deviations occur. It’s easy to complain about the status quo without doing anything to address the existing issues (challenges).

Especially in dysfunctional teams, programmers believe that management can’t contribute much to project’s technical aspects, while management sees little or no benefit in making developers integrant part of project's decisional process. Moreover, the lack of transparence and communication lead to a wide range of frictions between the various parties.

Probably the most difficult to understand is people’s stubbornness in expecting different behavior by following the same methods and of ignoring the common sense. It’s bewildering the easiness with which people ignore technological and Project Management principles and best practices. It resides in human nature the stubbornness of learning on the hard way despite the warnings of the experienced, however, despite the negative effects there’s often minimal learning in the process...

To be eventually continued…

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#️⃣Software Engineering: Programming (Part XII: Misconceptions about Programming - Part I)

Software Engineering Series

Besides equating the programming process with a programmer’s capabilities, minimizing the importance of programming and programmers’ skills in the whole process (see previous post), there are several other misconceptions about programming that influence process' outcomes.

Having a deep knowledge of a programming language allows programmers to easily approach other programming languages, however each language has its own learning curve ranging from a few weeks to half of year or more. The learning curve is dependent on the complexity of the languages known and the language to be learned, same applying to frameworks and architectures, the scenarios in which the languages are used, etc. One unrealistic expectation is that the programmers are capablle of learning a new programming language or framework overnight, this expectation pushing more pressure on programmers’ shoulders as they need to compensate in a short time for the knowledge gap. No, the programming languages are not the same even if there’s high resemblance between them!

There’s lot of code available online, many of the programming tasks involve writing similar code. This makes people assume that programming can resume to copy-paste activities and, in extremis, that there’s no creativity into the act of programming. Beside the fact that using others’ code comes with certain copyright limitations, copy-pasting code is in general a way of introducing bugs in software. One can learn a lot from others’ code, though programmers' challenge resides in writing better code, in reusing code while finding the right the level of abstraction.  

 

There’s the tendency on the market to build whole applications using wizard-like functionality and of generating source-code based on data or ontological models. Such approaches work in a range of (limited) scenarios, and even if the trend is to automate as much in the process, is not what programming is about. Each such tool comes with its own limitations that sooner or later will push back. Changing the code in order to build new functionality or to optimize the code is often not a feasible solution as it imposes further limitations.

Programming is not only about writing code. It involves also problem-solving abilities, having a certain understanding about the business processes, in which the conceptual creativity and ingenuity of design can prove to be a good asset. Modelling and implementing processes help programmers gain a unique perspective within a business.

For a programmer the learning process never stops. The release cycle for the known tools becomes smaller, each release bringing a new set of functionalities. Moreover, there are always new frameworks, environments, architectures and methodologies to learn. There’s a considerable amount of effort in expanding one's (necessary) knowledge, effort usually not planned in projects or outside of them. Trainings help in the process, though they hardly scratch the surface. Often the programmer is forced to fill the knowledge gap in his free time. This adds up to the volume of overtime one must do on projects. On the long run it becomes challenging to find the needed time for learning.

In resource planning there’s the tendency to add or replace resources on projects, while neglecting the influence this might have on a project and its timeline. Each new resource needs some time to accommodate himself on the role, to understand project requirements, to take over the work of another. Moreover, resources are replaced on project with a minimal or even without the knowledge transfer necessary for the job ahead. Unfortunately, same behavior occurs in consultancy as well, consultants being moved from one known functional area into another unknown area, changing the resources like the engines of different types of car, expecting that everything will work as magic.

Continued…

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