Cargo Cult Software Engineering (2000)
📰 Hacker News · srirangr
Learn to distinguish between effective software engineering and cargo cult practices that mimic the form but lack substance, to improve your development process
Action Steps
- Read the article 'Cargo Cult Software Engineering' by Steve McConnell to understand the concept
- Analyze your current development process to identify potential cargo cult practices
- Apply process-oriented development principles, such as careful planning and skillful use of software engineering best practices
- Evaluate the effectiveness of your development process and make adjustments as needed
- Consider adopting a commitment-oriented approach, but beware of the potential drawbacks, such as burnout and lack of sustainability
Who Needs to Know This
Software engineers, team leads, and project managers can benefit from understanding the differences between process-oriented and commitment-oriented development to optimize their workflows and avoid cargo cult practices
Key Insight
💡 Cargo cult software engineering mimics the form of effective development practices but lacks the substance, leading to ineffective results
Share This
💡 Distinguish between effective software engineering and cargo cult practices to improve your development process #softwareengineering #processoriented
Full Article
Title: Cargo Cult Software Engineering | Steve McConnell
URL Source: https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/
Published Time: 2017-08-06T22:13:59+00:00
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Cargo Cult Software Engineering[Natalie Nygren](https://stevemcconnell.com/author/natalie/)2019-09-27T17:14:30+00:00
**_Issue:_**March/April 2000 | [PDF](https://stevemcconnell.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CargoCultSoftwareEngineering.pdf)
# Cargo Cult Software Engineering
> _In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head for headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas—he’s the controller—and they wait for the airplanes to land. They’re doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn’t work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential, because the planes don’t land.
>
> — Richard Feynman_
I find it useful to draw a contrast between two different organizational development styles: “process-oriented” and “commitment-oriented” development. Process-oriented development achieves its effectiveness through skillful planning, use of carefully defined processes, efficient use of available time, and skillfull application of software engineering best practices. This style of development succeeds because the organization that uses it is constantly improving. Even if its early attempts are ineffective, steady attention to process means each successive attempt will work better than the previous attempt.
Commitment-oriented development goes by several names including “hero-oriented development” and “individual empowerment.” Commitment-oriented organizations are characterized by hiring the best possible people, asking them for total commitment to their projects, empowering them with nearly complete autonomy, motivating them to an extreme degree, and then seeing that they work 60, 80, or 100 hours a week unt
URL Source: https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/
Published Time: 2017-08-06T22:13:59+00:00
Markdown Content:
[Skip to content](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/#content)
[LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevemcc "LinkedIn")[Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/SteveMcConnellConstrux/ "Facebook")[X](https://twitter.com/stevemconstrux?lang=en "X")[Email](mailto:stevemcc@construx.com?subject=Mail%20from%20Steve%20McConnell's%20website "Email")
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* [Books & Articles](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/#)
* [Books](https://stevemcconnell.com/books/)
* [Articles](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/)
* [Forecasting & Estimation](https://stevemcconnell.com/cdc-covid-19-forecast-evaluations/)
* [Media Kit](https://stevemcconnell.com/bio/)
* [Get in Touch](https://stevemcconnell.com/contact/)
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[](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/#)
* [Books & Articles](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/cargo-cult-software-engineering/#)
* [Books](https://stevemcconnell.com/books/)
* [Articles](https://stevemcconnell.com/articles/)
* [Forecasting & Estimation](https://stevemcconnell.com/cdc-covid-19-forecast-evaluations/)
* [Media Kit](https://stevemcconnell.com/bio/)
* [Get in Touch](https://stevemcconnell.com/contact/)
Cargo Cult Software Engineering[Natalie Nygren](https://stevemcconnell.com/author/natalie/)2019-09-27T17:14:30+00:00
**_Issue:_**March/April 2000 | [PDF](https://stevemcconnell.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/CargoCultSoftwareEngineering.pdf)
# Cargo Cult Software Engineering
> _In the South Seas there is a cargo cult of people. During the war they saw airplanes with lots of good materials, and they want the same thing to happen now. So they’ve arranged to make things like runways, to put fires along the sides of the runways, to make a wooden hut for a man to sit in, with two wooden pieces on his head for headphones and bars of bamboo sticking out like antennas—he’s the controller—and they wait for the airplanes to land. They’re doing everything right. The form is perfect. It looks exactly the way it looked before. But it doesn’t work. No airplanes land. So I call these things cargo cult science, because they follow all the apparent precepts and forms of scientific investigation, but they’re missing something essential, because the planes don’t land.
>
> — Richard Feynman_
I find it useful to draw a contrast between two different organizational development styles: “process-oriented” and “commitment-oriented” development. Process-oriented development achieves its effectiveness through skillful planning, use of carefully defined processes, efficient use of available time, and skillfull application of software engineering best practices. This style of development succeeds because the organization that uses it is constantly improving. Even if its early attempts are ineffective, steady attention to process means each successive attempt will work better than the previous attempt.
Commitment-oriented development goes by several names including “hero-oriented development” and “individual empowerment.” Commitment-oriented organizations are characterized by hiring the best possible people, asking them for total commitment to their projects, empowering them with nearly complete autonomy, motivating them to an extreme degree, and then seeing that they work 60, 80, or 100 hours a week unt
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