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DE Of Victims and Perpetrators: Jobs and education, along with tax cuts, rank high on the list of our politicians' election promises. But I'm more inclined to believe in the combined efforts of Santa Claus, Father Christmas, and the Easter Bunny than in the fact that these promises will actually be followed by action...
Project Management
Miscalculated! When anchors cause a project to capsize.
One of the most common frustrations in project work is the ruthless miscalculation of effort and costs. The more complex the project, the more ruthless this becomes. The problem is exacerbated when the pace of innovation is so rapid that past experiences are difficult to apply to new projects, or...
Hormonal emergencies in projects
Don't worry, you don't necessarily need to see an endocrinologist if your software project is in crisis. However, it's certainly helpful to understand the connection between hormones and project work. In any case, this knowledge will help you in the next...
The Economics of Thought
If you're looking for the perfect excuse for failed projects, you'll find it in the following sections. Whether it's miscalculations, overlooked errors, neglected testing, or sloppy documentation, it all stems from—and now comes a term you absolutely must know...
In the beginning was the image
The success of software development depends primarily on how well we manage to translate conceptual models into technical systems. Graphical or model-based programming tools are invaluable in this regard. Unfortunately, the mental model we use is often very one-sided and...
Scope for ideas
Everyone has a mental cube of ideas. I could jokingly suggest that the frequent tilting, frantic shaking, or frequent tapping of this body part while brooding serves to set this cube in motion. Unfortunately, the cube in our head is often very one-sided...
What a bunch of characters!
Are you more of a "natural," "true," or "proper" software developer? Just for fun, think about this question with me and consider the implications of the answer. Gunter Dueck, mathematician and lateral thinker at IBM, introduced this classification in his book "Omnisophy" (a neologism...).
Communication barbarians
How often are you interrupted at work each hour? It can be incredibly frustrating, especially when you're working on a tough problem that demands your full attention. It's not uncommon for victims of interruptions to be the perpetrators themselves. A good...
How software errors become visible
After hours of pondering and trying, despair triumphs over developer pride. The depressed software engineer slouches over to his colleague to explain his problem. The colleague casually examines the listing, spontaneously points to the...
Project crises and the sinking of the Titanic
Crisis meeting: The customer has angrily berated the boss. The recently delivered machine is malfunctioning intermittently. The boss is visibly agitated. He shouts, accompanied by a powerful slam of his fist on the table: "The machine isn't running properly! The customer is threatening...".
Are you head or stomach?
Is intuition a divine revelation, an energetic message from beyond, does it come "from our gut," or is it "in our urine"? As an engineer, I prefer the following explanation: Intuition is the result of a highly complex, interconnected logic that runs through billions of processes over a lifetime...
Paths to a flash of inspiration
Why do we often rack our brains for hours on end, unsuccessfully trying to solve complex problems, only to be surprised by a flash of inspiration at a completely unexpected moment? Does this sound familiar? You spend hours racking your brain searching for the missing piece...