Re: The Mythical Man-Month

Subject: Re: The Mythical Man-Month
From: <neilson -at- windstream -dot- net>
To: Techwr-l <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2007 15:24:02 -0400

Richard Lewis laments:
> "The Psychology of Computer Programming".

That's by Gerald Weinberg, about 25 years ago, and like TMMM, still
up to date.

> Needed: "The Neurosis of Requirements Analysis".

The key is to focus on the user view and not on the technology. This
paradigm even applies for products that are for very technical users,
in my opinion.

Weinberg recommends, if I remember correctly, that testing of software
include methods for testing the test method. Given that requirements
can (and usually do) contain errors, they too ought to be tested, and
the methods for testing requirements also should be tested, presumably
by feeding known erroneous requirement specifications into the testing
maw. As far as I know this is never done, and I might even be the first
to suggest it.

--Peter Neilson


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