Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
repetitive tasks, and a strict division of labor. The assumption was that
a complex computer program like the SAGE control system could be
neatly broken down into simple, modular components that could be
easily understood by any programmer with the appropriate training and
experience. Programmers in the software factory were mere machine
operators; they had to be trained, but only in the basic mechanisms of
implementing someone else's design. In the SDC hierarchy, managers
made all of the important decisions. 33
The hierarchical approach to software development was attractive to
SDC executives for a number of reasons. To begin with, it was a familiar
model for managing government and military subcontractors. Engineering
management promised scientifi c control over the often-unpredictable
processes of research and development. It allowed for the orderly pro-
duction of cutting-edge science and technology. 34 In the language used
by the managers themselves, it was a solution that “scaled” well, meaning
that it could accommodate the rapid and unanticipated growth typical
of cold war-era military research. Scientifi c management techniques and
production technologies could be substituted for human resources. It was
not a system dependent on individual genius or chance insight. It replaced
skilled personnel with superior process. For these and other reasons, it
seemed the perfect solution to the problem posed by the mass production
of computer programs. (Coincidentally, it was easier to justify billing the
government for a large number of mediocre low-wage employees than a
smaller number of excellent but expensive contractors.)
It is important to note that the SDC approach did not attempt to solve
its programmer personnel problem by reducing the number of program-
mers it required. On the contrary, the SDC software factory strategy (or
as detractors dismissively referred to it, the “Mongolian Horde” approach
to software development) probably demanded more programmers than
was otherwise necessary. But the programmers that SDC was interested
in were not the idiosyncratic “black artists” that most employers were
desperately in search of. SDC still expected to hire and train large
numbers of programmers, yet it hoped that these programmers would
be much easier to identify and recruit. Most of its trainees had little or
no experience with computers; in fact, many managers at SDC preferred
it that way. 35
The solution that SDC ultimately employed to identify and recruit
potential programmers was to become standard practice in the industry.
Building on techniques pioneered at RAND and MIT's Lincoln Laboratory
in the early 1950s, SDC developed a suite of aptitude tests and psycho-
logical profi les that were used to screen large numbers of potential
Search WWH ::




Custom Search