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IT Manager's Handbook
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Windows Vista Resource Kit
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Metaphors between
Metaphors between engineering in its traditional forms and software engineering are often used to argue for or against the maturity of the industry. I agree that we don't have the several hundred years of experience that went into the development of civil engineering practices, and even the civil engineers are occasionally defeated by "the user". The recent levee failures in the USA as a result of flooding weren't engineering failures: the flood levels were simply higher than their design could cope with. The user, presumably, decided that the cost of handling a "hundred-year event" flood too high.
Given the parallels and your comments however, I'd be interested to know what you think of the extreme programming "do the simplest thing that could possibly work" mantra and the shunning of "big up-front design". Extreme programming is a way of maintaining forward progress, but it's less likely to result in engineering standards. In short, everyone might end up with their own individual railway gauge. What's your opinion?
PS: Your blog's extraction of a title from the front of a comment isn't terribly meaningful, in preview at least.