Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Armies of Programmers
The fi rst concerted attempts to manage software development projects
using established management techniques occurred at the government-
and military-sponsored SAGE air-defense project. The SAGE project was
the heart of an ambitious early warning radar network intended to
provide an immediate and centralized response to sneak attacks from
enemy aircraft. The plan was to develop a series of computerized track-
ing and communications centers that would coordinate observation and
response data from a widely dispersed system of interconnected perime-
ter warning stations. First authorized by Congress in 1954, by 1961 the
SAGE system had cost more than $8 billion to develop and operate,
and required the services of over two hundred thousand employees. The
software that connected the specially designed, real-time SAGE comput-
ers was the largest programming development then under way. SDC, a
RAND Corporation spin-off company responsible for developing this
software, had to train and hire almost two thousand programmers. In
the space of a few short years the personnel management department at
SDC effectively doubled the number of trained programmers in the
United States.
In order to effectively organize an unprecedented number of software
developers, SDC experimented with a number of different techniques for
managing the programming process. For the most part, however, SDC
relied on a hierarchical structure that located most programmers at the
lowest levels of a vast organizational pyramid built with layer on layer
of managers.
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The top of this hierarchy was occupied by nontechnical
administrators. The middle layers were peopled by those EDP personnel
who had exhibited a desire or aptitude for management. In other words,
the managers in the SDC hierarchy were self-selected as being either
uninterested or uncommitted to a long-term programming career. The
management style in this hierarchical structure was generally autocratic.
Managers made all of the important decisions. They assigned tasks,
monitored the progress of subordinates, and determined when and what
corrective actions needed to be taken.
This hierarchical approach to management was attractive to SDC
executives for a number of reasons. First of all, it was a familiar model
for government and military subcontractors. Second, it was often easier
to justify billing for a large number of mediocre low-wage employees
than a smaller number of excellent but expensive contractors. Finally,
and perhaps most important, the “Mongolian horde” approach to
