Tom DeMarco, author of Peopleware, has written a reflective article for the latest IEEE Software Magazine entitled: "Software Engineering: An Idea Whose Time Has Come and Gone?" If you haven't read it yet, take a moment to do so - it's short (two pages) and I think it will be quoted and discussed for a long time. The discussion's already started: Coding Horror has blogged about it, and it's been an active topic on Twitter.
Here is one of my favorite quotes from the article:
"For the past 40 years, for example, we've tortured ourselves over our inability to finish a software project on time and on budget. But as I hinted earlier, this never should have been the supreme goal. The more important goal is transformation, creating software that changes the world or that transforms a company or how it does business."
After reading this article, the new xkcd comic is ever so timely, and good for a chuckle.
What do you think about DeMarco's points?
