One of my favorite technical authors is Gerald Weinberg. He wrote in the ’70s through ’90s about systems analysis and software management and design. Among the books is a three-volume series on Quality Software Management.  I have most of his books and have given or loaned them out to co-workers. One of the more readable books is The Secrets of Consulting written in 1985. Unfortunately, I seem to have loaned it out and not gotten it back. Google to the rescue. My favorite quote is:

The Second Law of Consulting: “No matter how it looks at first, it is always a people problem.”

This hits home, since in my various consulting stints, I have seen this over and over again. Perhaps the best example was a project to develop a hydraulically powered exercise machine (a whole ‘nother story). I was brought in after the system was partially developed since I understood the rather obscure programming language it used (Forth). When I looked at the system architecture, it was strangely divided into three subsystems along with a complicated communications system between them. The division made no sense from a functional standpoint and added to both cost and complexity. After poking around for a while, I found out that the three engineers couldn’t stand each other.

Other quotes

• “Asking for efficiency and adaptability in the same program is like asking for a beautiful and modest wife.  Although beauty and modesty have been known to occur in the same woman, we’ll probably have to settle for one or the other. At least that’s better than nothing.”

• “If the software doesn’t have to work, you can always meet any other requirement.” (This fits with another software saying, “Schedule, cost, or quality – pick any two.”)

• “If builders built houses the way programmers built programs, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization.”

• “Things are the way they are because they got that way.”