A Tale of Two Systems

From the discussions about the two systems there seem to be two major differences that filtered down to create the rest of the issues with the messy project and the successes of the more elegant one. The first and foremost in the author's mind seems to be that the first project failed because it lacked any sort of uniform design philosophy or goal, which he takes great pains to point out the second project had again and again.

I find two things odd about his presentation in this matter, however. Not once does he talk about the business pressures that were put on the second development story, just that "enough time" was given to the team to get the project done. Which strikes me as odd considering how often he seems to attack the first project for the constant efforts involved in meeting its unrealistic business deadlines. The other thing that tickles my mind about this is how much his experiences might have changed had he been with the messy product from the beginning. As he notes he came it later in its life cycle, and had to deal with all the issues listed, when he talks then about the wonderful experiences of the other project. If he'd been in those first initial meetings when the first project wasn't designed I think his attitude would change significantly.

The other main difference he highlights is the difference between standardization of the two projects, with the first project not experiencing any conformity, not even to the language and environments being used, to the supposedly total harmony he helped design in the wonderful project. Standardization of tools, naming conventions, and the rest is an extremely important step, not to mention standardization around a goal, and the first project definitely suffered for it heavily.

In the end though, his point that the first project was constructed for various business reasons on the shakiest of all foundations should not be lost. The issues of coupling, data storage, control, maintenance and everything else could have been much alleviated had the company not simply had the team stitch their various prototypes together.