[LINK] Where Are the Software Engineers of Tomorrow?

[steve jenkin]

Danny Yee wrote on 13/1/08 1:02 PM:
> All of this is true about plumbing and plumbers, or about teaching
> and teachers, and probably about most professions.  I suspect that
> airline pilots are an extreme case here here.
>
> Danny.
>   ---------------------------------------------------------
>   http://dannyreviews.com/ - over nine hundred book reviews
>   http://danny.oz.au/ - civil liberties, travel tales, blog
>   ---------------------------------------------------------
>   
There are very few industries, plumbers included, that can actually give
you any information on
"the State of Practice".

Even surgery, the branch of medicine where all activity & their outcomes
are recorded, doesn't consolidate and mine the information available. It
doesn't systematically assess practitioners nor report on its "State of
Practice".
See todays' "Background Briefing" by the author of "Complications - A
Surgeon's notes on an imperfect science", Atul Gawande.
<http://www.abc.net.au/rn/backgroundbriefing/stories/2008/2122487.htm>

His research has identified 3 factors necessary in providing great outcomes:
- Diligence, Surveillance (metrics) and Ingenuity.

Aviation appears to be an extreme (thanks - well spotted).
Since WWII it has evolved systems to track and improve all its important
metrics.
The large bomber/fighter/transport fleets of WWII created the need for
comprehensive Change & Release Management, as well as Reliability
Engineering.

Aviation is by far and away the best example about what can be achieved
within an entire industry across multiple Professions.
Since WWII  Safety has improved, as has Flight Performance and Financial
Performance.

Catching a commercial flight is now routine and boring - but only
because of an industry-wide culture of learning and improvement.

This is provable by demonstration:
 - The safety of General Aviation has barely improved over the last
30-40 years. Private pilots don't embrace the culture.
 - Not all countries have the same high standards, but buy the same
equipment. Viz: Indonesia

Yes, Aviation is an *extreme* example. But shouldn't it be a example we,
the IT industry, should aspire to?
Isn't IT just as, or more, important to the global economy than Aviation?

-- 
Steve Jenkin, Info Tech, Systems and Design Specialist.
0412 786 915 (+61 412 786 915)
PO Box 48, Kippax ACT 2615, AUSTRALIA

sjenkin at canb.auug.org.au http://members.tip.net.au/~sjenkin