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Exploring Solution Spaces, Keith Ray's blog on Software development and other topics.
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2004.Oct.09 Sat
Writing software to do something that hasn't been done before is a knowledge creation activity. In many respects, it is like artistic creation. And therein lies the rub. Artistic creation is a messy activity involving trying some things and throwing away the things that don't work. Inspiration does not respect age or seniority. Sparks fly from collaborative agreement and disagreement, but not from command-and-control.
Can you imagine a group of people composing music in an hierarchical chain of command: a chief composer, with middle-manager-composers, and squads of junior composers? "Sorry boss, we tried to make the eighth-note triplets work like your plan, but the rhythm's off." The boss replies: "You gotta make them work. We have a schedule, and the base line needs to be integrated with your part by the end of this week -- and we don't have time to do it over."
Of course, writing software isn't just like writing music, nor is it just like anything else that isn't writing software. In some environments, doing things that are very similar to what has been done before, a team can create or customize software predictably and without much fuss. Still, even on those projects, on the level of an individual's or pair's effort for any one hour, there will probably be some creativity, some trying things, some throwing away of ideas that don't work, some sparks and inspiration.