Re: The software factory (was "Don't believe the hype?") (long)

[Dick Margulis <margulis -at- fiam -dot- net>]

Steve has a point and so does John.

Consider this scenario. A company manufactures cell phones.

At one level they have scientists in a lab puzzling over problems of 
metallurgy and circuit miniaturization and algorithm design--highly 
variable, unpredictable, creative efforts that may yield a breakthrough 
in one technology or another every couple of years.

At another level they feed those breakthroughs into a reasonably well 
oiled sausage grinder that can turn out a new product platform design in 
a fairly predictable cycle time. This might take a year of prototyping, 
testing, and regulatory approval.

At a third level, the marketing organization exploits the new platform 
to churn out product designs, one after another, to appeal to different 
audiences at different price points, with different feature sets and in 
different shell shapes and colors.

This third level of new product development really is repeatable and 
predictable, with known, deadline-driven cycle times. Mark Baker's model 
of automatically generated feature trees and button-pushing instructions 
is certainly applicable. At this level, new product development (and the 
associated tech writing) really does resemble manufacturing. It's almost 
an integrated part of the manufacturing cycle, because it constitutes 
the engine that keeps the factory churning out new products.

At the first and second levels, though, I think Steve's model begins to 
break down. Yes, you can have a defined process for managing an R&D 
operation. But no, you can't just write down some procedures for making 
new scientific discoveries and hire some kid off the street to run the 
procedure. You can't micromanage creative contributors. What you can do 
is give them a list of deliverables and negotiate deadlines with them, 
then manage to those deadlines. In other words, you can tell them what 
you want and when you want it, and then you can give them the resources 
to get the job done. But you can't tell them how to do their work or 
which tab goes in what slot, because doing so won't get you the results 
you want.

The kind of tech writing that corresponds with these levels requires 
some creativity and is unlikely to be reduced to a series of algorithms, 
in my opinion.

Dick

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