You are correct, but I would point out that this does not detract from the argument considering the time scale. Software engineering could be 150 years old, and still not have the close to the history of traditional engineering.
Is it always? In dollar amounts, I really do not know that it always is. "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good" and all. As a developer, I am always going to be the one push for better tests, more efficient systems, etc. but pg's post a month or two ago about scaling without automation (very rough paraphrasing) points to the fact that this does not always hold.
> The latest trendy programming language won't make your hard problem all that much easier to solve.
Maybe not the latest, but I would think that it was way easier to develop a desktop app in C++ than Fortran, develop a website in PHP than C++, develop a web app in Ruby than PHP, etc. Tech definitely improves over time. Jumping on every third bandwagon seems to be worthwhile.
> A complex system can't be properly integrated and tested in two weeks (as recent news reports have shown).
> The CEO setting an arbitrary deadline doesn't magically alter the laws of physics.
These are not engineering problems, but political/administration problems that have been around forever and in every endeavor. I am certain that stone masons building cathedrals dealt with the same sorts of incompetent management, despite a dedication to craftsmanship and engineering.
We don't have three generations of programming, really.
The majority of people involved in making decisions and programming right now haven't been doing this professionally for 30+ years. And for those who have (I'm closing in on 20), the culture that they grew up in was not shaped by people with experience programming.
The examples of "programming" and "lessons" from IBM/etc in the 1960s hardly affected anyone outside of those few small teams with respect to learning lessons re: software development.
IMO, "modern" development didn't really start until the early-mid 90s, when networking really started to take off at the small business and consumer level. This has meant that people who'd never dealt with making software decisions before now are - most of the clients that I have who are in their 30s and 40s have had 'website' duties thrown in their laps, and it's just another item on a checklist.
The lessons and timetables are still new to these people - certainly the mentors and bosses they had 15 years ago never had to deal with this stuff, so they were never exposed to it. The last 15-20 years have been huge in terms of businesses getting crash courses in software experience (whether they wanted it or not). It'll be another 15-30 years (imo) before these maxims are taken to heart by organizations when planning, because they'll have had 2-3 generations of institutional successes and failures to draw on. MOST orgs don't have that yet.
