[TimLangley]

Good post Ash (good to see the discussion being consolidated)

IMHO - it's usually due to the lack of "up front planning" by Managers / Analysts.

If you compare building software to more general "building endeavors" (for example building the Olympic stadium) then, IMHO, developers are really the "construction workers" (the people actually doing the work). However no intelligent Olympic committee would countenance starting work without (for example) an architect making an incredibly detailed plan (and even a working replica model).

IMHO the problem we suffer from as developers is most often diving in too fast because: a) we're the construction workers b) when we do use Architects they are "construction workers too" (as opposed to being a trained with 'different but complimentary skills - it would be hard to imagine Sir Norman Foster laying bricks)

[zb]

No! That was the orthodoxy for 40 years and it got us nowhere, because the construction metaphor is fundamentally wrong.