• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Shaping Software

Enduring Ideas in the Realm of Software

  • About
  • Topics
  • Best Software Engineering Books
  • Lessons in Software
  • Archives
  • JD Meier.com

Process

5 Reasons Why the Manufacturing Metaphor Doesn’t Work

Is building software the same as manufacturing a physical product?  Can you really create an assembly line for software?   In the book A Practical Guide to Enterprise Architecture (Coad Series), James McGovern, Scott W. Ambler, Michael E. Stevens, James Linn, Vikas Sharan, and Elias K. Jo write about how you should use the metaphor with …

Read more5 Reasons Why the Manufacturing Metaphor Doesn’t Work

Engineering Practices Frame

One of my earlier projects on the patterns & practices team at Microsoft was originally called Life-Cycle Practices.  Later, I renamed it to Life-Cycle Templates.  Finally, I settled on Engineering Practices.   Engineering Practices became a key organizing theme for our work and served as the foundation for our ALM frame. Knowledge AreasThe Engineering Practices Frame …

Read moreEngineering Practices Frame

patterns & practices Solution Engineering

This is one of my favorite figures that shows how we do solution engineering in patterns & practices at Microsoft:   Architectural Scenarios It all starts with a scenario.  It has to be a meaningful problem.  You can’t evaluate an architecture in a vacuum.  In order for us to build useful baseline architectures, we need …

Read morepatterns & practices Solution Engineering

Extreme Programming (XP) at a Glance

Extreme Programming (XP) is a lightweight software development methodology based on principles of simplicity, communication, feedback, and courage.   I like to be able to scan methodologies to compare approaches.  To do so, I create a skeleton of the activities, artifacts, principles, and practices.    Here are my notes on XP: Activities Coding Testing Listening Designing Artifacts …

Read moreExtreme Programming (XP) at a Glance

Microsoft Solution Framework (MSF) at a Glance

The Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF) provides people and process guidance—the proven practices of Microsoft—to help teams and organizations become more successful in delivering business-driven technology solutions to their customers.  Note that this MSF is not the same as the MSF Agile process included in VSTS.  I like to be able to scan process methodologies.  To …

Read moreMicrosoft Solution Framework (MSF) at a Glance
  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to page 4
  • Next