Dark Side of Software Engineering - Revision history

Admin: /* Part 1 */

2017-06-15T18:31:36Z

Part 1

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:31, 15 June 2017
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	Great quote: "Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done. - p. 85"		Great quote: "Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done. - p. 85"

	Gotta have that hustle - and that ability to say, I probably need some help, or a reference.		Gotta have that hustle - and that ability to say, I probably need some help, or a reference, maybe from my own website.

	==Subversion==		==Subversion==

Admin: /* Part 1 */

2017-06-15T18:31:20Z

Part 1

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:31, 15 June 2017
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	Great quote: "Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done. - p. 85"		Great quote: "Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done. - p. 85"

	Gotta have that hustle.		Gotta have that hustle - and that ability to say, I probably need some help, or a reference.

	==Subversion==		==Subversion==
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	* decr. workload		* decr. workload
	* lying has more advantages than telling truth		* lying has more advantages than telling truth














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Admin at 18:30, 15 June 2017

2017-06-15T18:30:37Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:30, 15 June 2017
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	=Part 1=		=Part 1=

			Great quote: "Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done. - p. 85"

			Gotta have that hustle.

	==Subversion==		==Subversion==

Admin: /* Subversion */

2017-05-15T08:50:03Z

Subversion

← Older revision		Revision as of 08:50, 15 May 2017
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	* ''There is a gray borderline between subversion and conflicting interests.''		* ''There is a gray borderline between subversion and conflicting interests.''

			==Lying==

			Motivating example: illustrates a situation in which multiple lies are told.

			Management of software project with a problem.
			* Lie 1: committed to schedule that was near impossible to achieve
			* Lie 2: employees, afraid to say no to management, agreed to unreasonable plan/commitment.
			* Lie 3: after a manager realizes a certain breakthrough approach could possibly result in project deadline being met, asks specialist to explore use of technology; specialist is convinced breakthrough cannot achieve this, but agrees to try.
			* Lie 4: project lead continues to tell management that schedule will be met
			* Lie 5: When scheduled date passes, making it obvious schedule is not being met, team expresses surprise
			* Lie 6: team says it will try harder as project continues
			* Lie 7: after project staggers to halt, project lead gives project manager phony reason for project inability to meet schedule
			* Lie 9: communal lie, no one will admit to anyone else that the problem was the original, impossible schedule, and that they did the best they could. The same problem will occur on future projects.

			Lying - intentionally distorting the truth.

			{{Quote\|
			There is reason to believe... that the number of incidents of lying is increasing. For example, in the popular psychology magazine ''Psychology Today,'' an article by Allison Kornet (1997) took the position that "the quintessential sin of the 1990s might just have been lying." (Kornet came to that conclusion after noting the "cliche" that "the 1980s was the decade of greed.")
			}}

			Not much about lying in the scientific literature...
			* Schein (204): "lying is not per se a moral issue" (moral relativist)
			* Smith (2004): "deceit is normal, natural, and pervasive"
			* Thomas Aquinas, Immanuel Kant - condemn lying in all of its forms

			{{Quote\|
			In the perhaps better-known NASA space shuttle Challenger disaster story, an article in ''IEEE Transactions on Professional Communication (1988)'' found what it called "miscommunication" as the key cause of the problem, resulting partly from this fact: "Thiokol engineers concluded that the O-Ring problems were serious before their management did. However, in their written communication, they varied the extent to which they voiced that seriousness, depending on whether the audience was internal or external."

			- p. 83
			}}

			{{Quote\|
			One of the company principles in the (CONFIRM) case sent a letter to employees, saying among other things, "Our CONFIRM problem has many roots - one more serious than the other. Omse poeple did not disclose the true status of the project in a timely manner. This has created more difficult problems - of both business ethics and finance - than would have existed if those people had come forwards with accurate information."

			(Note the polite euphemisms chosen to avoid using the confrontational term "lying" - even when people are visibly angry, they really work hard to avoid using the "L-word").

			- p. 84
			}}

			{{Quote\|
			Lying... an take many forms in the computing and software fields. One of those forms is simply claiming to have done something that you haven't, in fact, done.

			- p. 85
			}}

			Survey of professional software folks about lying:
			* 86% of respondents said they had encountered incidents of lying on software projects
			* Most common three reasons were, lying about project cost and schedule estimation, lying about status reporting, and political maneuvering

			Who lies (regarding estimation lying)?
			* Mainly management or project leads, but also developers and marketing
			* Many people know estimates are wrong (developers, project leads) without doing anything about it
			* 42% of respondents said the motivation of the person doing the lying was to cave in to someone with more power

			How to change the behavior:
			* 21% suggested improved management techniques
			* 18% suggested changing the "who" (who did the estimation)
			* 15% were about improved estimation process

			Status reports:
			* 77% of respondents said had experienced lying in status reports
			* Project lead is key player for status reporting
			* Developers know more than the managers about who's telling lies

			Motivations:
			* incr. sales
			* tell em what they wanna hear
			* decr. workload
			* lying has more advantages than telling truth














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Admin at 08:18, 15 May 2017

2017-05-15T08:18:47Z

Show changes

Admin at 07:43, 15 May 2017

2017-05-15T07:43:21Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 07:43, 15 May 2017
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	* Hard-headed hardware hit-man		* Hard-headed hardware hit-man
	* A lighthearted anecdote		* A lighthearted anecdote







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Admin: Created page with "List of chapters: Part 1: * Subversion - focuses on people who wish the software project to fail; gives statistics on motivations for subversion, examples of situations, and..."

2017-05-15T07:43:09Z

Created page with "List of chapters: Part 1: * Subversion - focuses on people who wish the software project to fail; gives statistics on motivations for subversion, examples of situations, and..."

New page

List of chapters:

Part 1:
* Subversion - focuses on people who wish the software project to fail; gives statistics on motivations for subversion, examples of situations, and suggestions for dealing with subversion.
* Lying - lying is a chilling but ubiquitous activity, with outcomes that range in seriousness; the chapter explores survey results on motivations for lying and various responses to deal with it.
* Hacking - covers examples of hacking, definitions, important concepts, intellectual property, hacker subculture, how hackers make money, social engineering; specific mention of Operation Aurora
* Theft of Information - ranges from subtle to blatant; often done to accomplish a specific goal; opens a much broader discussion of intellectual property.
* Espionage - not a common occurrence, even in banking/defense, at least on software projects; but included nonetheless.
* Disgruntled employees and sabotage - this topic focuses on the "who," not on the "what" - a disgruntled employee may utilize a number of methods, but the book spends a chapter discussing the particulars of disgruntled employees.
* Whistle-blowing - this is not an act of wrong-doing, but an act of ''exposing'' wrong-doing; but whistle-blowing is not always an inherently ''good'' activity; it can be misguided; leaks are sometimes driven by ulterior motives

Part 2: Opinions, predictions, and beliefs
* Automated crime
* Playing make-believe
* Dark, light, or another shade of grey?
* Rational software developers as pathological code hackers

Part 3: Personal anecdotes
* Officer and gentleman confronts dark side
* Less carrot and more stick
* Virtual software teams
* To lie on a software project
* Merciless control instrument
* Forest of Arden
* Hard-headed hardware hit-man
* A lighthearted anecdote