[SIGCIS-Members] software modernization failures

[Brian E Carpenter]

Jonathan,

Well, this goes back a long way - the phrase "second system syndrome" was coined by Brooks in "The Mythical Man Month" in 1975. Of course, it's got worse and worse as systems became bigger and more complex.

I'm sure there must be many analyses in the software engineering literature. There are new examples almost weekly; I recently noticed this one: https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/03/edinburgh_uni_senate_report/

It seems pretty clear that the modern fad for outsourcing feeds the problem, because it leads to very ambitious replacement projects implemented by mercenaries who have no long-term interest at stake, so they make the sort of mistakes described in that article. In-house developers who want to keep their jobs are much more likely to do incremental changes, with proper testing, and to cover undocumented corner cases. External consultants will just stick to the specifications, which for large projects are always deficient.

Regards
    Brian Carpenter

On 05-May-23 11:56, Jonathan Coopersmith via Members wrote:
> Any suggestions for a book or article on software modernization failures, especially for large projects?  Why do they seem common -- and apparently remain so?
> Thank you.
> 
> Stay sane,
> 
> Jonathan
> 
> Jonathan Coopersmith
> Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
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