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The Whiz of Silver Bullets

ChelleChelle writes "In an entertaining yet well thought-out article, software architect Alex E. Bell of The Boeing Company lashes out at the so-called 'Silver Bullets' and those who rely on them to solve all their software development difficulties. From the article: 'the desperate, the pressured, and the ignorant are among those who continue to worship the silver-bullet gods and plead for continuance of silver-fueled delusions that are keeping many of their projects alive.'"

2 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Well... by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If Vendors would stop preaching that they are the next 'silver-bullet' then perhaps this would stop. It is not the techs who decides what comes in and what goes out. It is normally driven by cost. And when companies say they can do all of X,Y, and Z at a lower cost then any competitor, the IT department gets screwed, and management looks at them with wonder because they provided a 'silver-bullet' solution to them.

    --
    There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
  2. Bullets don't kill people... by PinkyDead · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... - As the saying goes.

    The problem with Silver Bullets is not the bullet itself - but the idiot behind the trigger.

    Most of these Silver Bullets are great ideas, but give them to some moron who half knows how they work (and yet claims to be an expert) and they do the exact opposite of what they were intended to do, and because some PHB reads about in the industry pages, they just keep hanging in there like a millstone around our respective necks.

    For any technology you can see outstanding implementations. But for every one of those there are ten other complete disasters.

    And as the other saying goes - if you don't know who the moron is.....

    --
    Genesis 1:32 And God typed :wq!