Requirements quotes

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Christopher_Wolfgang_Alexander

Negative Requirements

“If we think of the requirements from a negative point of view, as potential misfits, there is a simple way of picking a finite set. This is because it is through misfit that the problem originally brings itself to our attention.”
Keywords: Design_quotes Requirements_quotes Incongruity_quotes Think_quotes Negative_quotes Point_quotes View_quotes Potential_quotes Misfit_quotes Simple_quotes Pick_quotes Finite_quotes Problem_quotes Original_quotes Attention_quotes

Robert_N_Britcher

Sources of Failures

“I never ran a test that didn't find at least one failure - not only is the software impure, but so are the requirements specifications. And every time we fix the software, there is a 10 percent chance - according to my anecdotal studies - we'll inject another fault. Those are the hardest to find: the faults that result from trying to get rid of them.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 56.
Keywords: Testing_quotes Failure_quotes Software_quotes Impurity_quotes Requirements_quotes Specification_quotes Repair_quotes Fix_quotes Fault_quotes Injection_quotes Hard_quotes Debugging_quotes Run_quotes Find_quotes Time_quotes Chance_quotes Anecdotal_quotes Study_quotes Result_quotes Try_quotes Rid_quotes

System Foresight

“No one can foresee how a system will unfold. No one gets it right the first time.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 154.
Keywords: Foresight_quotes Prediction_quotes Requirements_quotes Correctness_quotes First_Time_quotes System_quotes Unfold_quotes Right_quotes First_quotes Time_quotes

Requirements Testing

“Requirements testing is a subtle way of treating a nonlinear, unpredictable system as if it were a discrete symbol like a number or a word. The potential and the actual become muddled. Requirements are natural language statements, peppered in places with arithmetic. These are discrete and usually quite vague representations of the system as it might become. But the truth is that two teams writing requirements for the same system would describe them differently, and neither would get it quite right, simply because 'right' cannot be known until the system is built. ... Requirements testing is a little like trying to reduce crime in England by running a test for each line in the Magna Carta. In practice, rhetoric replaces the scientific method. As with mathematical proofs, the quest for 'true or not false' soon turns into a party - a not very cordial party - marked by endless debate over whether this sentence or that sentence has been verified by this moment of behavior or that.”
  • Source: Britcher, Robert N. (1999). The Limits of Software: People, Projects, and Perspectives. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. ISBN 0-201-43323-0. Page 157.
Keywords: Requirements_quotes Testing_quotes Nonlinear_quotes Unpredictable_quotes Prediction_quotes System_quotes Symbol_quotes Potential_quotes Actual_quotes Language_quotes Arithmetic_quotes Discrete_quotes Vagueness_quotes Representation_quotes Truth_quotes Team_quotes Writing_quotes Description_quotes Correctness_quotes Accuracy_quotes Knowledge_quotes Magna_Carta_quotes Rhetorical_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Mathematics_quotes True_quotes False_quotes Debate_quotes Verification_quotes Behavior_quotes Subtle_quotes Treat_quotes Number_quotes Word_quotes Muddle_quotes Natural_quotes Pepper_quotes Right_quotes Build_quotes Try_quotes Reduce_quotes Crime_quotes England_quotes Line_quotes Practice_quotes Proof_quotes Quest_quotes Party_quotes Cordial_quotes Sentence_quotes Moment_quotes

Fred_Brooks

Specification Hard

“Even perfect program verification can only establish that a program meets its specification. The hardest part of the software task is arriving at a complete and consistent specification, and much of the essence of building a program is in fact the debugging of the specification.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (1995). The Mythical Man-Month - Essays on Software Engineering (Anniversary Edition) | 1975/1995 (Anniv.). Boston. MA: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 0201835959. Chapter 16, page 195.
Keywords: Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Verification_quotes Debugging_quotes Project_quotes Project_Management_quotes Software_quotes Software_Management_quotes Perfect_quotes Program_quotes Establish_quotes Hard_quotes Difficult_quotes Task_quotes Management_quotes Arrive_quotes Complete_quotes Consistent_quotes Essence_quotes Build_quotes Fact_quotes Debug_quotes

Rapid Prototyping

“Today the software engineering discipline is much more sophisticated. We recognize that rapid prototyping is an essential tool for formulating precise requirements. Not only is the design process iterative; the design-goal-setting process is itself iterative.”
  • Source: Brooks Jr., F. P. (2010). The Design of Design. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Addison-Wesley. ISBN: 978-0-201-36298-5. Chapter 3, page 23.
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes Rapid_quotes Prototyping_quotes Tool_quotes Requirements_quotes Iterative_quotes Goal_quotes Design_quotes Today_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Discipline_quotes Sophisticated_quotes Recognize_quotes Essential_quotes Formulate_quotes Precise_quotes Process_quotes Set_quotes

Alistair_Cockburn

Formal Development

"In the formal development of communications software, in 1987, I was given the motivation, 'The problem with software development is that there is too much ambiguity in the problem statement and in the design description. Things will go better if we get people to work with mathematical formalisms.” After some work in this area, I discovered:
Problem 1. The people on the projects were not interested in learning our system.
Problem 2. They were successfully able to ignore us, and were still delivering software, anyway.
I shifted out of formal development, hearing my formal development colleagues saying, 'The problem lies in the training. Things will go better if we start training students in the necessary mathematics earlier, i.e., secondary school.' Based on what I have learned about people, I expect this will be a frustrated desire. It is not that I doubt certain advantages of formal development, but I do doubt our ability to coax 10**6 people to master it. The question should become, 'Under what circumstances, and with what assignment, should a formal specialist be called in?'"

Source: Cockburn, A. A. R. (1999). Characterizing people as non-linear 1st order components in software development. HaT Technical Report 1999.03, Humans and Technology, Inc.. Retrieved 2019-06-29 from https://ameyakarve.wordpress.com/2012/07/22/characterizing-people-as-non-linear-1st-order-components-in-software-development-cockburn-us/.

Keywords: Formality_quotes Methodology_quotes Software_quotes Development_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Design_quotes Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Training_quotes Education_quotes Specialization_quotes Communication_quotes Motivation_quotes Problem_quotes Statement_quotes Description_quotes People_quotes Work_quotes Mathematics_quotes Learning_quotes Success_quotes Ignore_quotes Deliver_quotes Colleague_quotes Student_quotes School_quotes Frustration_quotes Desire_quotes Advantage_quotes Circumstance_quotes Assignment_quotes Master_quotes

Nigel_Cross

Designerly Ways

"I identified five aspects of designerly ways of knowing: Designers tackle ‘ill-defined’ problems. Their mode of problem-solving is ‘solution-focused’. Their mode of thinking is ‘constructive’. They use ‘codes’ that translate abstract requirements into concrete objects. They use these codes to both ‘read’ and ‘write’ in ‘object languages’."
Keywords: Design_quotes Knowledge_quotes Aspect_quotes Problem_quotes Requirements_quotes Solution_quotes Definition_quotes Thinking_quotes Constructive_quotes Code_quotes Translation_quotes Abstraction_quotes Object_quotes Mode_quotes Concrete_quotes Read_quotes Write_quotes

Edward_Emil_David

Explore_First

“Begin with skeletal coding: Rather than aiming at finished code, the first coding steps should be aimed at exploring.”
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes Programming_quotes Exploration_quotes Requirements_quotes Skeletal_quotes Coding_quotes Aim_quotes Finish_quotes

Competitive Rush

"Computing has one property, unique I think, that seriously aggravates the uncertainties associated with software efforts. In computing, the research, development, and production phases are often telescoped into one process. In the competitive rush to make available the latest techniques, such as on-line consoles served by time-shared computers, we strive to take great forward leaps across gulfs of unknown width and depth."
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes Computer_quotes Uncertainty_quotes Effort_quotes Research_quotes Development_quotes Production_quotes Telescope_quotes Process_quotes Competition_quotes Unknown_quotes Scope_quotes Requirements_quotes Property_quotes Unique_quotes Aggravate_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Phase_quotes Technique_quotes Console_quotes Timeshare_quotes Strive_quotes Forward_quotes Leap_quotes Gulf_quotes Width_quotes Depth_quotes

Paul_Davies

Hidden Links

"Finding hidden links between seemingly disparate phenomena is what makes the scientific method so powerful and compelling. The distinctive feature of science is that it is both broad and deep: broad in the way it tackles all physical phenomena and deep in the way it weaves them, economically, into a common explanatory scheme requiring fewer and fewer assumptions. No other system of thought can match its breadth and depth."
  • Source: Paul Davies, Cosmic Jackpot: Why Our Universe is Just Right for Life (2007)
Keywords: Hiding_quotes Link_quotes Relationship_quotes Phenomena_quotes Scientific_Method_quotes Power_quotes Feature_quotes Science_quotes Breadth_quotes Depth_quotes Explanation_quotes Scheme_quotes Requirements_quotes Assumption_quotes System_quotes Thinking_quotes Find_quotes Disparate_quotes Method_quotes Compelling_quotes Distinct_quotes Tackle_quotes Physical_quotes Deep_quotes Weave_quotes Economic_quotes

David_Deutsch

Program It Understand It

"If you can’t program it, you haven’t understood it."
  • Source: David Deutsch, The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World (2011).
Keywords: Programming_quotes Requirements_quotes Understanding_quotes

Edsger_Wybe_Dijkstra

Two Kinds of System Designers

“There are two classes of system designers. The first, if given five problems will solve them one at a time. The second will come back and announce that these aren’t the real problems, and will eventually propose a solution to the single problem which underlies the original five. This is the ‘system type’ who is great during the initial stages of a design project. However, you had better get rid of him after the first six months if you want to get a working system.”
Keywords: Class_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Problem_quotes Project_quotes Requirements_quotes Solve_quotes Real_quotes Underlie_quotes Initial_quotes Rid_quotes Work_quotes

Peter_Drucker

Systems Management

“Organizationally what is required - and evolving - is systems management.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices, New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 761.
Keywords: Organization_quotes Requirements_quotes Evolution_quotes System_quotes Management_quotes

A Better Tool

“A tool is not necessarily better because it is bigger. A tool is best if it does the job required with a minimum of effort, with a minimum of complexity, and with a minimum of power.”
  • Source: Peter F. Drucker, “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices”, New York: Harper & Row, 1973. p. 224.
Keywords: Tool_quotes Necessary_quotes Better_quotes Big_quotes Best_quotes Do_quotes Job_quotes Requirements_quotes Minimum_quotes Complexity_quotes Power_quotes Effort_quotes

Dwight_D_Eisenhower

Crises and Balance

“Crises there will continue to be. In meeting them, whether foreign or domestic, great or small, there is a recurring temptation to feel that some spectacular and costly action could become the miraculous solution to all current difficulties. A huge increase in newer elements of our defenses; development of unrealistic programs to cure every ill in agriculture; a dramatic expansion in basic and applied research -- these and many other possibilities, each possibly promising in itself, may be suggested as the only way to the road we wish to travel. But each proposal must be weighed in the light of a broader consideration: the need to maintain balance in and among national programs, balance between the private and the public economy, balance between the cost and hoped for advantages, balance between the clearly necessary and the comfortably desirable, balance between our essential requirements as a nation and the duties imposed by the nation upon the individual, balance between actions of the moment and the national welfare of the future. Good judgment seeks balance and progress. Lack of it eventually finds imbalance and frustration.”
  • Source: Dwight D. Eisenhower, Farewell address (17 January 1961).
Keywords: Crisis_quotes Balance_quotes Action_quotes Miracle_quotes Solution_quotes Difficulty_quotes Defense_quotes Cure_quotes Program_quotes Research_quotes Possibility_quotes Consider_quotes Weighing_quotes Private_quotes Public_quotes Economy_quotes Cost_quotes Advantage_quotes Nation_quotes Necessary_quotes Comfort_quotes Desire_quotes Requirements_quotes Duty_quotes Individual_quotes Future_quotes Judgment_quotes Welfare_quotes Progress_quotes Frustration_quotesContinue_quotes Foreign_quotes Domestic_quotes Great_quotes Small_quotes Recurring_quotes Temptation_quotes Feel_quotes Spectacular_quotes Element_quotes Development_quotes Unrealistic_quotes Ill_quotes Agriculture_quotes Dramatic_quotes Expansion_quotes Basic_quotes Applied_quotes Promise_quotes Road_quotes Travel_quotes Proposal_quotes Need_quotes Essential_quotes Imbalance_quotes

Forbes_Tech_Council

Business Requirements

“One of the reasons software projects fail is the lack of understanding of the business’ needs... Assigning a seasoned business leader to the project team is essential for success.”
Keywords: Reason_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Fail_quotes Lack_quotes Understand_quotes Need_quotes Requirements_quotes Assign_quotes Business_quotes Leader_quotes Team_quotes Essential_quotes Success_quotes

Customer Needs

“Sometimes software projects begin with a great idea... only for developers to discover that the problem they solved wasn’t actually the problem their customer needed to be solved.”
Keywords: Sometime_quotes Software_quotes Project_quotes Great_quotes Idea_quotes Developer_quotes Discover_quotes Problem_quotes Solve_quotes Customer_quotes Need_quotes Requirements_quotes

Henry_Ford

Faster Horse

“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”
  • Source: Henry Ford as reported by his great-grandson William Clay ‘Bill’ Ford Jr. in an investor conference call on 2006-01-23. Transcript of Q4 2005 Ford Motor Company Earnings Conference Call, key Speaker Bill Ford, Chairman & CEO, Ford Motor Company, Congressional Quarterly Transcriptions (NewsBank Access World News).
Keywords: Ask_quotes Customer_quotes Want_quotes Say_quotes Faster_quotes Horse_quotes Requirements_quotes

Donald_C_Gause

Want Problems Solved

“Not too many people, in the final analysis, really want their problems solved.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Want_quotes People_quotes Analysis_quotes Problem_quotes Solution_quotes Requirements_quotes Final_quotes

Know What They Want

“In spite of appearances, people seldom know what they want until you give them what they ask for.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Appearance_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Want_quotes Give_quotes Ask_quotes Requirements_quotes

Gordon_Glegg

Problem Discovery

“Sometimes the problem is to discover what the problem is.”
  • Source: Glegg, G. L. (1969). The Design of Design. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN: 978-0-511-79996-9. Chapter 1 page 5.
Keywords: Problem_quotes Discovery_quotes Requirements_quotes

Eugene_Grace

Great Engineers

“Thousands of engineers can design bridges, calculate strains and stresses, and draw up specifications for machines, but the great engineer is the man who can tell whether the bridge or the machine should be built at all, where it should be built, and when.”
Keywords: Engineering_quotes Engineer_quotes Bridge_quotes Stress_quotes Specification_quotes Machine_quotes Requirements_quotes Purpose_quotes Design_quotes Calculate_quotes Strain_quotes Draw_quotes Great_quotes Man_quotes Should_quotes Build_quotes

Robert_M_Graham

Wright Brothers Construction

“We tend to go on for years, with tremendous investments to find that the system, which was not well understood to start with, does not work as anticipated. We build systems like the Wright brothers built airplanes — build the whole thing, push it off the cliff, let it crash, and start over again.”
Keywords: Software_Engineering_quotes System_quotes Investment_quotes Cost_quotes Understanding_quotes Requirements_quotes Anticipation_quotes Prediction_quotes Airplane_quotes Cliff_quotes Crash_quotes Repeatability_quotes Tend_quotes Year_quotes Work_quotes Build_quotes WrightBrothers_quotes

Grace_Hopper

Millisecond

“I normally drive all of my bosses totally nuts. Because I won't do anything until I understand what I have been told to do. So, when you tell me to do something I start asking questions until I get a clear picture of what I've been told to do... so I naturally said, ‘What's a millisecond?’ Well they told me it's a thousandth of a second, and I had a problem immediately. I can see a second go by on a clock but darned if I could see a thousandth of it. So, I said, ‘Please show me a millisecond.’ And nobody but nobody would show me a millisecond. Time went on with me still fussing 'til somebody stuck a finder in one of my programs and said, ‘Hey, you wasted five microseconds’ and I said ‘So what? What's a Microsecond?’ Well, they told me it's a millionth of a second, and again I had a problem. In the first place I didn't know what a million of anything was. The biggest check I had ever seen was less than a thousand dollars. I didn't know what a million was, and if I didn't know what a million was, I didn't know what a millionth was. And I fussed and fumed because I wanted to know what a microsecond was. I got nowhere. Pretty soon over in the engineering building they started talking about circuits that act in nano seconds, billionths of a second. Well that really had me on the ropes, because in the first place I didn't know what a billion was. I don't think most of those guys up in Washington do either. And if you don't know what a billion is, how on earth do you know what a billionth is? I fussed and fumed. Finally, one morning in total desperation I called over to the engineering building and I said, ‘Please cut off a nanosecond and send it over to me.’ And I brought you some today. Now what I wanted when I asked for a nanosecond was, I wanted a piece of wire which would represent the maximum distance that electricity could travel in a billionth of a second. Of course, it wouldn't really be through wire. It would be out in space at the velocity of light. So, if you start at the velocity of light and use your friendly computer, you discover that a nanosecond is 11.8 inches long/ The maximum limiting distance that electricity can travel in a billionth of a second. Well, I was real[ly] happy with my nanosecond. I looked at it from all angles. I thought about it. I looked at wall switches and counted the distance some of those lights went on. Geez, these may have taken a couple of thousand nanoseconds. Finally at the end of about a week I called back and said, ‘Look. I need something to compare this to. Could I please have a microsecond?’ I've only got one microsecond so I can't give you each one. There's a microsecond. 984 feet. I sometimes think we ought to hang one over every programmer's desk so they'll know exactly what they're throwing away when they throw away a microsecond. I hope you all get some of these nanoseconds. I've got lots of them with me. They're absolutely marvelous for explaining to wives and children, and admirals and generals. You may find yourself in a spot where you have to explain why two pieces of equipment have to be close together, Or explain to an admiral why it takes so damn long to send a message via satellite because there are an awful lot of nanoseconds... But I said I wanted to add in 300 picoseconds. Now a picosecond is a thousandth of a nanosecond. The best way to make picoseconds is to get one of those big pepper grinders and you can make picoseconds all over the table.”
  • Source: Grace Hopper in a lecture delivered 1982-08-19 at the NSA (National Security Agency). Video available at YouTube as “NSA Releases Internal 1982 Lecture by Computing Pioneer Rear Admiral Grace Hopper”, channel The Black Vault Originals, online at <https://youtu.be/_bP14OzIJWI?si=wcUTl04b4p4scY6k>, posted 2024-08, retrieved 2024-08. Quote in video at 40:25.
Keywords: Boss_quotes Do_quotes Understand_quotes Told_quotes Question_quotes Requirements_quotes Millisecond_quotes Microsecond_quotes Nanosecond_quotes Picosecond_quotes Wire_quotes Electricity_quotes Speed_quotes Velocity_quotes Light_quotes Pepper_quotes Grind_quotes Analogy_quotes

Edwin_Hubble

Scientific Judgments

“Science deals with judgments on which it is possible to obtain universal agreement. These judgments do not concern individual facts and events, but the invariable association of facts and events known as the laws of science. Agreement is secured by observation and experiment — impartial courts of appeal to which all men must submit if they wish to survive. The laws are grouped and explained by theories of ever increasing generality. The theories at first are ex post facto — merely plausible interpretations of existing bodies of data. However, they frequently lead to predictions that can be tested by experiments and observations in new fields, and, if the interpretations are verified, the theories are accepted as working hypotheses until they prove untenable. The essential requirements are agreement on the subject matter and the verification of predictions. These features insure a body of positive knowledge that can be transmitted from person to person, and that accumulates from generation to generation.”
  • Source: Edwin Powell Hubble. From manuscript on English Science in the Renaissance (1937), Edwin Hubble collection, Box 2, Huntington Library, San Marino, California. As cited by Norriss S. Hetherington in 'Philosophical Values and Observation in Edwin Hubble's Choice of a Model of the Universe', Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences (1982), 13, No. 1, 41. (Hetherington comments parenthetically that the references to court, judgment and appeal may be attributable to his prior experiences as a Rhodes Scholar reading Roman law at Oxford, and to a year's practice as an attorney in Louisville, Kentucky.)
Keywords: Science_quotes Judgment_quotes Universal_quotes Agreement_quotes Survival_quotes Fact_quotes Association_quotes Event_quotes Law_quotes Observation_quotes Experiment_quotes Court_quotes Explanation_quotes Theory_quotes Generality_quotes Ex_Post_quotes Plausibility_quotes Interpretation_quotes Data_quotes Prediction_quotes Verification_quotes Hypothesis_quotes Falsification_quotes Proof_quotes Requirements_quotes Feature_quotes Positive_quotes Knowledge_quotes Transmission_quotes Accumulation_quotes Generation_quotes

Patterson_Hume

Requirements Reaction

“One must be careful to avoid over-reacting to individual users.”
Keywords: Careful_quotes Reaction_quotes Requirements_quotes Individual_quotes User_quotes

Hans_Hüttel

English Ambiguous

“English has the disadvantage of being semantically ambiguous so one has to be extremely careful, as many software developers will know.”
  • Source: Written by Hans Hüttel in the journal article entitled “On Program Synthesis and Large Language Models”, in Communications of the ACM, volume 68, number 1, 2025-01. DOI:10.1145/3680410.
Keywords: English_quotes Disadvantage_quotes Semantically_quotes Ambiguous_quotes Extreme_quotes Careful_quotes Software_quotes Developer_quotes Know_quotes Requirements_quotes

Steve_Jobs

Deciding

“Deciding what not to do is as important as deciding what to do.”
  • Source: Steve Jobs in “Motivating Thoughts of Steve Jobs”, published by Prabhat Prakashan in 2020. ISBN: 9789351869191.
Keywords: Decide_quotes Do_quotes Important_quotes Requirements_quotes

Michael_Sean_Mahoney

Software Crisis and Software Engineering

“Let me say a bit more about the ‘software crisis’. It emerged in the late 1960s as an increasing number of large projects experienced large cost overruns, missed deadlines and failures to meet specifications. Some had to be canceled altogether. One response was calls for a discipline of ‘software engineering’”
  • Source: Michael S. Mahoney in a paper entitled The Histories of Computing(s). Published 2005 in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, volume 30, number 2, pages 119–135. DOI: 10.1179/030801805X25927.
Keywords: Software_quotes Crisis_quotes Project_quotes Experience_quotes Cost_quotes Overrun_quotes Deadline_quotes Failure_quotes Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Cancel_quotes Software_Engineering_quotes Engineering_quotes

Alister_McGrath

Why is the Kettle Boiling?

“The distinguished geologist Frank Rhodes made this point back in 1965, using the analogy of a boiling kettle. So why is the kettle boiling? Rhodes notes that two types of explanation might be given. At the scientific level, energy is being supplied, which raises the temperature of the water to its boiling point. Yet another answer can be given. 'The kettle is boiling because I put it on to make a cup of tea.' Rhodes makes a point which some of you may find predictable, but is none the less important. Here is what he says: 'Now these are different answers. But both are true, both are complementary and not competitive. One answer is appropriate within a particular frame of reference, the other within another frame of reference. There is a sense in which each is incomplete without the other.”
  • Note: Frank Rhodes gave credit for the kettle analogy to Dr. Douglas Spanner.
Keywords: Geology_quotes Analogy_quotes Boil_quotes Kettle_quotes Explanation_quotes Science_quotes Energy_quotes Level_quotes Temperature_quotes Water_quotes Answer_quotes Cup_quotes Tea_quotes Prediction_quotes Importance_quotes Differences_quotes True_quotes Complement_quotes Competition_quotes Appropriate_quotes Frame_quotes Reference_quotes Incomplete_quotes Perspective_quotes Bias_quotes Requirements_quotes Rhodes(topic)_quotes

John_von_Neumann

Gradual Development of Theory

“What is important is the gradual development of a theory, based on a careful analysis of the ... facts. ... Its first applications are necessarily to elementary problems where the result has never been in doubt and no theory is actually required. At this early stage the application serves to corroborate the theory. The next stage develops when the theory is applied to somewhat more complicated situations in which it may already lead to a certain extent beyond the obvious and familiar. Here theory and application corroborate each other mutually. Beyond lies the field of real success: genuine prediction by theory. It is well known that all mathematized sciences have gone through these successive stages of evolution.”
  • Source: John von Neumann, 'Formulation of the Economic Problem' in Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1964), 8. Reprinted in John Von Neumann, F. Bródy (ed.) and Tibor Vámos (ed.), The Neumann Compendium (2000), 416.
Keywords: Importance_quotes Gradual_quotes Development_quotes Theory_quotes Careful_quotes Analysis_quotes Fact_quotes Application_quotes Elementary_quotes Problem_quotes Result_quotes Doubt_quotes Requirements_quotes Early_quotes Stage_quotes Service_quotes Corroborate_quotes Complexity_quotes Situation_quotes Lead_quotes Obvious_quotes Familiar_quotes Mutual_quotes Success_quotes Genuine_quotes Prediction_quotes Mathematics_quotes Science_quotes Evolution_quotes Beyond_quotes

Manfred_Paul

Customer Knowledge

“The customer often does not know what he needs, and is sometimes cut off from knowing what is or what might be available.”
Keywords: Customer_quotes Client_quotes User_quotes Requirements_quotes Knowledge_quotes Availability_quotes Need_quotes Cut_quotes

Alan_Perlis

Iterative Simulation Design

“1. A software system can best be designed if the testing is interlaced with the designing instead of being used after the design.
2. A simulation which matches the requirements contains the control which organizes the design of the system.
3. Through successive repetitions of this process of interlaced testing and design the model ultimately becomes the software system itself.
I think that it is the key of the approach that has been suggested, that there is no such question as testing things after the fact with simulation models, but that in effect the testing and the replacement of simulations with modules that are deeper and more detailed goes on with the simulation model controlling, as it were, the place and order in which these things are done.”
Keywords: Software_quotes System_quotes Design_quotes Process_quotes Interlace_quotes Testing_quotes Usage_quotes Simulation_quotes Match_quotes Requirements_quotes Control_quotes Organize_quotes Repetition_quotes Iteration_quotes Model_quotes Key_quotes Approach_quotes Suggestion_quotes Question_quotes After_quotes Fact_quotes Effect_quotes Replace_quotes Module_quotes Deep_quotes Detail_quotes Order_quotes Place_quotes Do_quotes Ultimate_quotes

Useful Software Systems

“We recognize that a practical problem of considerable difficulty and importance has arisen: The successful design, production and maintenance of useful software systems. The importance is obvious and the more so since we see only greater growth in demands and requirements in the future. The consequences of poor performance, poor design, instability and mismatching of promise and performance are not going to be limited to the computing fraternity, or even their nearest neighbors, but will affect considerable sections of our society whose ability to forgive is inversely proportional to their ignorance of the difficulties we face. The source of difficulty is distributed through the whole problem, easy to identify, and yet its cure is hard to pinpoint so that systematic improvement can be gotten.”
Keywords: Usefulness_quotes Practical_quotes Problem_quotes Difficulty_quotes Importance_quotes Arise_quotes Success_quotes Design_quotes Production_quotes Maintain_quotes Software_quotes System_quotes Obvious_quotes Great_quotes Growth_quotes Demand_quotes Requirements_quotes Consequence_quotes Poor_quotes Performance_quotes Instability_quotes Mismatch_quotes Promise_quotes Go_quotes Limitation_quotes Computing_quotes Fraternity_quotes Near_quotes Neighbor_quotes Affect_quotes Considerable_quotes Section_quotes Society_quotes Ability_quotes Forgiveness_quotes Inverse_quotes Proportion_quotes Ignorance_quotes Face_quotes Source_quotes Distributed_quotes Easy_quotes Identify_quotes Cure_quotes Hard_quotes Pinpoint_quotes Improve_quotes

Program Purpose

“Every program has (at least) two purposes: the one for which it was written and another for which it wasn't.”
Keywords: Requirements_quotes Program_quotes Programming_quotes Writing_quotes Purpose_quotes

Programming Special Cases

“In programming, everything we do is a special case of something more general - and often we know it too quickly.”
Keywords: Exception_quotes Special_Case_quotes Programming_quotes Do_quotes Requirements_quotes Generality_quotes Knowledge_quotes Quick_quotes

Specifications

“It is easier to change the specification to fit the program than vice versa.”
Keywords: Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Easy_quotes Change_quotes Fit_quotes Program_quotes Project_quotes Vice_quotes Versa_quotes

Failure and Success

“Dealing with failure is easy: Work hard to improve. Success is also easy to handle: You've solved the wrong problem. Work hard to improve.”
Keywords: Deal_quotes Failure_quotes Easy_quotes Work_quotes Hard_quotes Improve_quotes Success_quotes Handle_quotes Solution_quotes Wrong_quotes Problem_quotes Requirements_quotes

Ingenuity and Analysis

“Programmers are not to be measured by their ingenuity and their logic but by the completeness of their case analysis.”
Keywords: Programmer_quotes Measurement_quotes Ingenuity_quotes Logic_quotes Completion_quotes Case_quotes Analysis_quotes Requirements_quotes

Douglas_T_Ross

Requirements Prespecification

“The most deadly thing in software is the concept, which almost universally seems to be followed, that you are going to specify what you are going to do, and then do it. And that is where most of our troubles come from. The projects that are called successful, have met their specifications. But those specifications were based upon the designers’ ignorance before they started the job.”
Keywords: Deadly_quotes Software_quotes Conceptual_quotes Universal_quotes Seem_quotes Follow_quotes Specification_quotes PreSpecification_quotes Do_quotes Trouble_quotes Project_quotes Success_quotes Requirements_quotes Design_quotes Ignorance_quotes Start_quotes Job_quotes

Carl_Sagan

Science Arouses Wonder

“Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (1996), 6.
Keywords: Science_quotes Arise_quotes Soar_quotes Wonder_quotes Pseudoscience_quotes Sparse_quotes Poor_quotes Popularity_quotes Abandon_quotes Ecology_quotes Niche_quotes Prompt_quotes Fill_quotes Wide_quotes Understanding_quotes Claim_quotes Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Adequate_quotes Evidence_quotes Before_quotes Acceptance_quotes Room_quotes

Extraordinary Claims

“What counts is not what sounds plausible, not what we would like to believe, not what one or two witnesses claim, but only what is supported by hard evidence rigorously and skeptically examined. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”
  • Source: Carl Sagan, Cosmos: Encyclopedia Galactica, (video program), Episode 12
    • Sagan, C., Druyan, A., & Soter, S. (Writers) (1980). Encyclopedia galactica [Television series episode]. In Andorfer, G. & McCain R. (Executive Producers), Cosmos. Los Angeles, CA: PBS.
    • Online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f77B2gRZhSo at about 1:00.
Keywords: Count_quotes Sound_quotes Plausible_quotes Like_quotes Preference_quotes Belief_quotes Witness_quotes Claim_quotes Support_quotes Hard_quotes Evidence_quotes Rigorous_quotes Skepticism_quotes Examination_quotes Extraordinary_quotes Requirements_quotes Bias_quotes

Herbert_Simon

Operational Research Restrictions

“The powerful algorithms associated with OR impose a strong mathematical structure on the decision problem. Their power is bought at the cost of shaping and squeezing the real-world problem to fit their computational requirements.”
Keywords: Power_quotes Algorithm_quotes Association_quotes Operation_quotes Research_quotes Strength_quotes Mathematics_quotes Structure_quotes Decision_quotes Problem_quotes Cost_quotes Buy_quotes Shape_quotes Squeeze_quotes World_quotes Fit_quotes Computation_quotes Requirements_quotes Real_quotes

Understanding Problems

“Understanding problems in domains that have rich semantics requires prior knowledge of the domain.”
Keywords: Understanding_quotes Problem_quotes Domain_quotes Rich_quotes Semantic_quotes Requirements_quotes Prior_quotes Knowledge_quotes

Shannon_Vallor

Computer Does

“The computer did precisely what we told it to do, just not what we thought we had told it to do. Much of software engineering is simply figuring out how to close the gap between those two things.”
  • Source: From the book “The AI Mirror” by Shannon Vallor. Published 2024 by Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0197759066. Chapter 2, page 45.
Keywords: Computer_quotes Precision_quotes Told_quotes Do_quotes Thought_quotes Software_quotes Engineering_quotes Simple_quotes Figure_quotes Close_quotes Gap_quotes Between_quotes Requirements_quotes

Patrick_Vlaskovits

Faster Horse

“However, even if Ford didn’t verbalize his thoughts on customers’ ostensible inability to communicate their unmet needs for innovative products — history indicates that Henry Ford most certainly did think along those lines... Henry Ford froze the design of the Model T... Ford had no compelling reason to innovate in any other sphere other than cost and price reduction... But everything changed with the onset of the innovations introduced by General Motors in the 1920s, which took the direct opposite of Henry Ford’s tack of “Any color … so long as it is black” and is best summed up by Alfred Sloan’s consumer-research driven “A Car for Every Purse and Purpose”... In 1921, the Ford Motor Company sold about 2/3 of all the cars built in the U.S. By 1926, this share had fallen to approximately 1/3. And in 1927, when Ford belatedly responded (at tremendous financial cost and internal strife) to changes in the market’s tastes and competitive innovation by shutting down production temporarily to re-tool his factories and bring the Model A to the market, that percentage fell to about 15%... Yes, some customers in certain types of businesses are quite capable of verbalizing precisely what sort of innovative product one could build and sell them. And of course, customers in other types of businesses are wholly incapable of verbalizing, with any sort of fidelity whatsoever, what they need and why they need it. An innovator should have understanding of one’s customers and their problems via empirical, observational, anecdotal methods or even intuition. They should also feel free to ignore customers’ inputs. Because by now it should be clear that Ford’s adherence to his vision of the mass-market car and how to materialize that vision was instrumental in both his early success in growing Ford Motor Company as well as his later failure to respond in a timely and effective manner to rapid innovation in the marketplace.”'
Keywords: Ford(topic)_quotes Sloan(topic)_quotes Verbalize_quotes Thinking_quotes Customer_quotes Requirements_quotes Ostensible_quotes Inability_quotes Communication_quotes Unmet_quotes Need_quotes Innovation_quotes Product_quotes History_quotes Freeze_quotes Design_quotes Model_T_quotes Automobile_quotes Compel_quotes Sphere_quotes Cost_quotes Price_quotes Reduction_quotes Change_quotes General_Motors_quotes Consumer_quotes Research_quotes Opposite_quotes Color_quotes Black_quotes Car_quotes Purse_quotes Ford_Motor_quotes Build_quotes United_States_quotes Share_quotes Market_quotes Belated_quotes Respond_quotes Tremendous_quotes Financial_quotes Internal_quotes Strife_quotes Taste_quotes Competition_quotes Shut_quotes Production_quotes Tool_quotes Factory_quotes Model_A_quotes Percentage_quotes Type_quotes Business_quotes Capable_quotes Precise_quotes Sort_quotes Sell_quotes Incapable_quotes Fidelity_quotes What_quotes Why_quotes Understand_quotes Problem_quotes Empirical_quotes Observation_quotes Anecdotal_quotes Method_quotes Intuition_quotes Feel_quotes Free_quotes Ignore_quotes Input_quotes Clear_quotes Adherence_quotes Vision_quotes Mass_quotes Innovator_quotes Materialize_quotes Instrumental_quotes Success_quotes Early_quotes Grow_quotes Later_quotes Failure_quotes Timely_quotes Effective_quotes Manner_quotes Rapid_quotes Marketplace_quotes Horse_quotes Faster_quotes

Gerald_Weinberg

Want Problems Solved

“Not too many people, in the final analysis, really want their problems solved.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Want_quotes People_quotes Analysis_quotes Problem_quotes Solution_quotes Requirements_quotes Final_quotes

Know What They Want

“In spite of appearances, people seldom know what they want until you give them what they ask for.”
  • Source: Are Your Lights On?: How to Figure Out What the Problem Really Is by Donald C. Gause and Gerald M. Weinberg
Keywords: Appearance_quotes People_quotes Knowledge_quotes Want_quotes Give_quotes Ask_quotes Requirements_quotes

Multiple Specifications

“When there are multiple users, there are multiple specifications. When there are multiple specifications, there are multiple definitions of when the program is working.”
  • Source: Chapter 2. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: User_quotes Multiple_quotes Specification_quotes Requirements_quotes Definition_quotes Acceptance_quotes Correctness_quotes Ambiguity_quotes Program_quotes Working_quotes

True Consensus on Group Goals

“To achieve true consensus on group goals, there is no better method than having the group set the goals itself... To be sure, not every programming team can be permitted to set whatever goals it happens to fancy at any moment. A team is usually constituted to accomplish some task which has probably been set down before the team was even assembled. But programming tasks are not usually specified too precisely until much later than team formation, so that unless the upper management is very overbearing, much meaningful and interesting goal setting can be done by the team members in concert. The greatest danger is the manager who has come up through the programming ranks and wants to define every bit and byte before the team even sees the problem. Nothing is more sure to dampen the team enthusiasm and make them feel that they are 'mere coders... Of course, it is best if each team can have a single clearly defined goal, but the world is seldom so simple... When a team is not fully apprised of the emphasis to be placed on each factor, the members of that team may very well be working at cross purposes.”
  • Source: Chapter 5. Weinberg, G. M. (2011). The Psychology of Computer Programming (Silver anniversary edition) | 1971. Weinberg & Weinberg.
Keywords: True_quotes Achievement_quotes Consensus_quotes Group_quotes Goal_quotes Methodology_quotes Empowerment_quotes Programming_quotes Team_quotes Assignment_quotes Task_quotes Precision_quotes Later_quotes Before_quotes Management_quotes Overbearing_quotes Meaning_quotes Cooperation_quotes Danger_quotes Rank_quotes PreSpecification_quotes Requirements_quotes Problem_quotes Enthusiasm_quotes Coder_quotes Mere_Coders_quotes Clarity_quotes Singleness_quotes World_quotes Simplicity_quotes Complexity_quotes Emphasis_quotes Factor_quotes Work_quotes Cross_Purpose_quotes Assemble_quotes Interesting_quotes Concert_quotes Define_quotes Dampen_quotes Feel_quotes Member_quotes Cross_quotes Purpose_quotes

Edward_Yourdon

Prototyping Analysis Design

“Everyone knows the benefits of building a prototype for an end user who is unsure of his or her requirements, but prototyping cannot eliminate the need for formal analysis and design work on large, complex projects.”
  • Source: Edward Yourdon in the book “Decline and Fall of the American Programmer”. Published in 1992 by Prentice Hall. ISBN: 0-13-203670-3. Chapter 2, section 2.4, page 30.
Keywords: Everyone_quotes Know_quotes Benefit_quotes Build_quotes Prototyping_quotes End_quotes User_quotes Requirements_quotes Eliminate_quotes Need_quotes Formal_quotes Analysis_quotes Design_quotes Work_quotes Complex_quotes Project_quotes

Shoshana_Zuboff

Know-How

“The agenda for scientific management was to increase productivity by streamlining and rationalizing factory operation from cost accounting and supervision to the dullest job on the shop floor. Efficiency was the mania, and to achieve efficiency, it would be necessary to penetrate the labor process and force it to yield up its secrets. In order that effort be rationalized, the worker's skills had to be made explicit. In many cases, workers' perceptions of their own interests prevented them from articulating their know-how, but there was yet another involuntary barrier. These skills did not easily yield themselves to explication; they were embedded in the ways of the body, in the knacks and know-how of the craftworker.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 42. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Knowledge_quotes Requirements_quotes Agenda_quotes Scientific_Management_quotes Productivity_quotes Reason_quotes Efficiency_quotes Drudgery_quotes Mania_quotes Achievement_quotes Labor_quotes Process_quotes Secret_quotes Rational_quotes Worker_quotes Skill_quotes Explicit_quotes Perception_quotes Interest_quotes Articulation_quotes Involuntary_quotes Barrier_quotes Embedded_quotes Body_quotes Subconscious_quotes Mind_quotes Craft_quotes Taylorism_quotes Science_quotes Management_quotes Increase_quotes Streamline_quotes Factory_quotes Operation_quotes Cost_quotes Accounting_quotes Supervision_quotes Dull_quotes Job_quotes Shop_quotes Floor_quotes Penetrate_quotes Force_quotes Yield_quotes Case_quotes Prevent_quotes Know-how_quotes Explication_quotes Knack_quotes Craftworker_quotes

Automated Evaluation

“The system automatically computed efficiency ratings for each worker by comparing the amount of time it took to complete a job had been priced. Such calculations with the amount of time for which it could have been generated only by a computer system, since 'we could never have enough clerks to compute these kinds of ratios.' The ratings were considered management information and were not accessible to the craftworkers. Many foremen cautioned against taking the ratings at face value. The most experienced craftsperson frequently was loaded with the most difficult assignments. That individual might show the worst efficiency rating simply because his or her assignments were the most complex and required more than the assigned time.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 331. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: System_quotes Automation_quotes Evaluation_quotes Efficiency_quotes Rating_quotes Time_quotes Calculation_quotes Computer_quotes Management_quotes Information_quotes Accessibility_quotes Transparency_quotes Worker_quotes Craft_quotes Supervision_quotes Surveillance_quotes Experience_quotes Difficulty_quotes Assignment_quotes Individuality_quotes Complexity_quotes Requirements_quotes Computation_quotes Compare_quotes Amount_quotes Job_quotes Price_quotes Clerk_quotes Ratio_quotes Craftworker_quotes Foremen_quotes Face_quotes Value_quotes Frequent_quotes Load_quotes Worse_quotes

Learning Environment

“The demands of a learning environment can reduce the psychological distance between the self and the organization because active engagement in the social processes associated with interpretation requires more extensive participation of the human personality. In a traditional approach to work organization, employees could be treated as objectively measurable bodies, and in return, they could give of their labor without giving of their selves. The human being as wage earner and the human being as subjective actor could remain separate.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 401. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Demand_quotes Learning_quotes Environment_quotes Psychology_quotes Self_quotes Organization_quotes Activity_quotes Engagement_quotes Society_quotes Process_quotes Interpretation_quotes Requirements_quotes Participation_quotes Humanity_quotes Personality_quotes Tradition_quotes Work_quotes Employee_quotes Treatment_quotes Object_quotes Measurement_quotes Labor_quotes Body_quotes Compensation_quotes Wage_quotes Subject_quotes Actor_quotes Separation_quotes Reduce_quotes Distance_quotes Associate_quotes Approach_quotes

Breed of American Worker

“There is a breed of American worker who cherishes the autonomy and sense of self-control afforded by his or her skills and protected by the union contract. When these workers contemplate the prospect of the socially integrated high-technology workplace, they feel despair. They anticipate a loss of their unique identities, of freedom and autonomy, and of well-defined rights and responsibilities. They fear that without the traditional sources of protection provided by their job descriptions and their contract, they will become prey to every capricious whim of their superiors. They understand that the managers' world requires the body as a political instrument for self-presentation and influence, but they know that these are talents they have not developed and toward which they feel more than a little distaste.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 404. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: America_quotes Worker_quotes Autonomy_quotes Self_quotes Control_quotes Skill_quotes Protection_quotes Union_quotes Society_quotes Integration_quotes Technology_quotes Workplace_quotes Despair_quotes Anticipation_quotes Loss_quotes Uniqueness_quotes Identity_quotes Freedom_quotes Rights_quotes Responsibility_quotes Fear_quotes Tradition_quotes Job_quotes Description_quotes Contract_quotes Prey_quotes Supervision_quotes Management_quotes World_quotes Requirements_quotes Body_quotes Political_quotes Instrument_quotes Preservation_quotes Influence_quotes Talent_quotes Development_quotes Disgust_quotes Breed_quotes Capricious_quotes Whim_quotes Superior_quotes Distaste_quotes

Informating Strategy

“There are several lessons to be learned here. First, the requirements of an informating strategy support existing work-improvement efforts, such as the high commitment approach to work force management, with its emphasis on self-managing teams, participation, and decentralization.”
  • Source: Zuboff, S. (1988). In The Age Of The Smart Machine: The Future Of Work And Power. New York, NY: Basic Books, p. 413. ISBN:0465032125.
Keywords: Informating_quotes Strategy_quotes Lesson_quotes Learning_quotes Requirements_quotes Work_quotes Improvement_quotes Effort_quotes Commitment_quotes Force_quotes Management_quotes Self_quotes Participation_quotes Decentralization_quotes Human_Resources_quotes Team_quotes
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