Cost

Untyped vs. strongly typed languages

Imagine trying to get from A to B on a road network where none of the road signs have anything written on them.

May 7, 2020 George Hadjiyiannis

12 minutes read

In a previous article I explained why I generally do not think it is worth debating the relative merits of one computer language over another, while at the same time pointing out one major exception: whether the language in question is untyped vs. strongly typed. Unlike the other properties of a language, I believe its ability to guarantee the type of each variable in the code base is extremely important in the lifetime cost of software written in that language. Like many of the other posts,…

How to (really) build customer centric products

Customer centricity is not about doing whatever the customer says: that's customer servitude!

October 2, 2019 George Hadjiyiannis

10 minutes read

Customer centricity is another one of those points that is constantly talked about but often rarely actually reasoned about. As a result, most of the discussion out there is usually trivial and essentially consists of the equivalent of “Go ask what the customer wants, then go build it”. I would respectfully offer the opinion that that is not customer centricity, but rather, customer servitude! There are three fundamental mistakes in the idea of “Go ask what the customer wants,…

Understanding the cost of software

Software is expensive. The only way to succeed is to understand the cost structure, and trade-offs involved.

August 21, 2019 George Hadjiyiannis

25 minutes read

The standard cliché in our industry is that software projects always take twice as long, and cost twice as much. Of the two factors, however, it's the financial one that does the most damage. Usually, timing does little damage in itself, other than making a company run out of money.