Software Projects vs. Software Missions

For a while now I’ve been thinking that as an industry we need to find a better metaphor for the planning, execution and delivery of software projects. It seems that the concept of a project has changed from something with a beginning and an end to a lethargic undertaking to deliver something, but most importantly keep a whole bunch of under utilised and potentially under skilled people occupied.

I sometimes wonder what would happen if we applied a “mission” metaphor to software projects. A software mission would have clearly defined primary and secondary objectives and the team chosen to complete the mission would have been chosen because they have all the prerequisite skills. While there would be a chain of command the ranking officer would have all the situational awareness they need to make the correct decision in a limited amount of time.

Maybe thats not too different to your vision of a software project, but it does cast a very different light on the kinds of people that would be capable of doing the job. Would you have what it takes to be in the Software SAS?

Qantas Quick Check in Canberra

As a relatively frequent flyer, one of the best services that Qantas provides is the ability to check yourself in to your flight, then, if you have luggage drop it off without much hassle. Today when arriving at the Airport for my flight to Sydney I noticed that the QuickCheck queue seems to be a little bit longer than usual (i.e. there was a queue).

I went to one of the kiosks and got my boarding pass and took my place at the back of the line. It took about ten minutes to get to the head of the queue and drop my bag off. I can’t figure out why it was taking so long other than there was only one person doing the back drop (for cattle class).

Sigh – I am going to have to get myself a Qantas Club membership . . .

Update: Just a quick mid-flight update. Air traffic delays coming into Sydney, apparently only one of the runways into Sydney is operational.