Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Further, most serious software developed today is far too
large and complex to be developed by a single individual work
ing alone. Rather, computer programs are developed by teams of
people. Each team member has an important role, and the suc
cess of the entire enterprise requires that programmers coordi
nate their efforts. One person working in isolation may produce
interesting material, but that person's work may not fit into an
overall product without significant communication, coordina
tion, and effort.
To highlight this point further, for several years, I organized
panels of people from the computer industry to explain to educators
what hightechnology companies wanted in prospective employees.
Altogether, over three dozen industry professionals gave their views
on the most important qualities for those entering the computing
profession. Remarkably, every industry professional gave the same
two traits as being most important:
Programmers must have excellent communication skills.
Programmers must be able to work in teams effectively.
The computing industry professionals differed regarding
which of these qualities was most important and which was sec
ond, but every professional listed these as their top two traits.
Specific technical skills never ranked higher than third. This real
ity may be rather different than the stereotype of the isolated,
nonverbal programmer.
Sometimes it seems to be helpful; sometimes things
get worse.
A common traditional saying states, “If it isn't broken, don't fix
it.” The idea is that there is no point in tinkering with something
that works fine as it is.
For software, that question translates to “When should I con
sider my software broken?” Normally, software upgrades either fix
known errors, provide additional capabilities, enhance perfor
