Software, Software Development and other Atrocities

I am writing a paper on software development and structuration theory which has actually been accepted in the Journal of Systems Research and Behavioral Science (I am working on corrections now). The paper is based on my PhD thesis' contribution to knowledge (it sounds important but it isn't :P). To put it in short, simple terms, in my paper I explain how I developed a model of social issues in software development.

More in detail (read this if you have insomnia)

The model is situated within a theoretical framework of structuration of technology (you'll need to read Giddens and Orlikowski to understand this) and was generated from data I gathered from virtual communities of software developers (people like you who spend their time reading and posting in blogs and forums :P).

My model describes how developers' understanding of new situations (like new assignments) is dependent on their current mental structures, that is their past experiences and knowledge of certain practices. Giddens calls them social structures but because structures exist in the memory of people (and they come to life through human activity and interaction) I call them mental structures or preconceptions. So, preconceptions determine the way developers address new situations. That is, developers act on the social structures known to them to evaluate, design and implement software.

However, as new assignments possess new challenges (not every project is the same and neither is every developer), developers adapt their preconceptions to develop new software. This is a cyclic process as new situations will form part of developers' future preconceptions. Preconceptions and new situations carry out a number of human and social issues that the developers' have to deal with and address when they develop software. During my fieldwork I found out that the main sources of issues for developers where their own development environment, the practices or methodologies they had (or were forced) to use and their client organisations (we all have hated one or two users or maybe more?).

(Insomnia bit over)

Now, I submitted the paper and got positive feedback from the examiner. However I got one recommendation which I am dealing with at the moment. The examiner suggested I should address the issue of partitioning the software development task between human and computer-based agents. YES computer-based agents. Something like AI.

Ok if you don’t know what I mean by computer-based agents here you have an example. If you have ever been to amazon, you may have noticed the personalised suggestions you get there. That is a computer-based agent which tracks your preferences and purchases and by comparing other people’s preferences and purchases produces a list of suggestions. Although they are only pieces of software, to some people they may appear as humans. My examiner thinks we could produce computer-based agents to develop software.

I realise that by doing a PhD in management I have turned to the light side of the force. In my doctorate I study people producing software, and ignored the possibility that there can also be software producing more software. Software reproduction. Of course that would be another PhD and I am not interested. But, I wonder, how would software developers’ lives be if they had to deal with AI issues as well? Emotionless, unambiguous agents, but perhaps unpredictable like humans. Who knows???

We went to Leeds last weekend. We had a great night out with our friends: lunch at a Portuguese, Transformers (yes, with Optimus Prime and the gang! not my cup of tea, but what can I do if I go out with big children!), Guinness Red (less bitter than the original), then dinner at La Tasca (acceptable tapas and red wine, good music and excellent environment).

When we were walking to the car park, we witnessed an incident. All of a sudden, out of the blue, about 10 police officers appeared and ran towards a small crowd of drunks (which were not us of course). They arrested a guy and tried to contain the small crowd that was gathering there. In seconds 3 or 4 police patrols and vans came with more officers!!! Seriously, it looked like a movie. We walked by and stopped to talk to other lurkers. A man who had been there since the beginning told us that the police arrested a guy who had been weeing in the street...

I've never seen such a display of force to arrest a wee-r. I feel protected now. I don't mind terrorists and floods as long as I am free from the wee-rs.

Anyhow, I was wondering what kind of system the police have to detect wee-rs so quickly. Do you think it is cctv? It may involve the use of advanced video and audio equipment as well as a powerful smeller. It must be a network that covers the whole city centre. Or perhaps it was one of the Transformers (one with a huge nose, i.e. wee-dar?). oh what a weekend!

I went to the pub last night with my husband and a friend. There we met a guy who asked us to look after his dog - Jack - while he went to the toilet. The guy, Mark, seemed nice, and the dog was very cute so we said yes, no problem. When Mark came from the toilet we gave him Jack back and continued our conversation. We were talking about the America cup and Venezuela. All of a sudden Mark came to our table and joined our conversation. He told me you look like a mexican indian! :s I said nothing.... and he said yes really you look like an Aztec, and I couldn't avoid laughing. I said I am not from Mexico. And he didn't listen. He kept on talking about the Aztecs. He said he saw a TV show about the Aztecs recently. He said something about the "last aztec" who was living in London :s He then asked me if I knew about Moctezuma. And I said just a bit, he was an Aztec king who was defeated by the Spanish. And he said you should know more of your history! Oh my God I am not Mexican!


Well, Mark continued with his tale about the Aztecs, and then he changed the topic to his favourite movie: ¡Viva Zapata! Again he asked us if we knew about it. I said oh yes the leader of the Mexican revolution. My husband said something about Marlon Brandon (in Viva Zapata and the Godfather) and Mark bought it. Mark liked Zapata's horse and he asked us if we liked it too. We said yes his famous white horse. And then my husband said: like Alexander's the great horse. And then the guy got more excited. Oh yes Bucephalus I love Bucephalus how wonderful horse... and Alexander the great... I love him! He told us stories about Bucephalus and got even more excited...

After a while, I don't know how, we ended up talking about Russian literature. My friend happened to know a book that Mark had read: The Gulag Archipelago by Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn was a russian dissident and in his book he denounces the structure of repression of the soviet state. Systematic abuse by Lenin and Stalin. Awful stories about prisoners in concentration camps, etc. Apparently that book was a bit depressing, but of course Mark loved it... My friend and Mark discussed the book for a while until Mark got a bit emotional. I could see his eyes turning red... and it wasn't the effects of the pint of lager he was drinking!

It was late (and Jack was getting very bored and impatient) so we decided to go home. We said bye to Mark and he asked us to say hi to him next time we see him. He said he might not remember us but that we should remind him of our interesting conversation.

Unfortunately, Mark did not know anything about software development, otherwise we could've had some fun discussing windows vista, agile methodologies, and the new iPhone!!!! (which by the way is internet enabled, has an amazing user interface, and a multi-touch screen... just beautiful) ... I'm such a nerd!

¡Viva México cabrones!