Bulldozer00's Blog

The figure below depicts a static structural bent SysML model of a small but non-trivial software program that I recently finished writing and testing. It’s a simulator harness that’s used to explore/test/improve candidate “Target Extractor” algorithms for inclusion into a revenue generating product.

On program launch, a user-created scenario definition file is read, parsed, error-checked, and then stored in an in-memory database. Subsequent to populating the database, the program automatically:

• Generates a simulated stream of target message fragments characterized by the scenario definition that was pre-specified by the user
• Injects the message stream into the target extractor algorithm under test
• Processes the message stream in accordance with the plot extraction state machine algorithm specification
• Records the target extractor output response message stream to disk

The figure above is a model that represents the finished product – which ended up being the third build in a series of incremental builds. The figure below shows the functionality in the first two builds of the trio.

Even though the construction process that I used appears to have progressed in a nice and tidy linear and sequential flow (like the left portion of the figure below depicts), it naturally didn’t work out that way. The workflow progressed in accordance with the right portion of the figure below, with lots of high frequency single-step feedback loops and (thankfully) only a few two-step and three-step feedback loops.

In a perfect world, the software construction process proceeds in a linear and sequential fashion. In the messy real world, mistakes and errors are always made, and stepping backward is the only way that these mistakes and errors can be corrected.

In standard textbook CCH orgs where an endless sea of linear and sequential thinking BMs rule the roost, going backwards is “unacceptable” because “you should have done it right the first time“. In these types of irrational macho cultures, fear of punishment reigns supreme – and nobody dares to discuss it. Fearful development teams either don’t go backwards to correct mistakes, or they try to fix mistakes covertly below the corpo radar. What type of org do you work for?