History Of People Issues In Software

The original works looking at people issues associated with software were Brooks's The MythicalManMonth; before that, there was HarlanMills's ChiefProgrammerTeam paper. These were followed by GeraldWeinberg[A], TomDeMarco & TimLister[B], and LarryConstantine[C].

But the "people side of objects" has been hidden in workshops and papers for quite some time. Only recently have we begun to see it addressed explicitly.

SteveFrasier? lead a panel session at OOPSLA '94 titled something like "Do Objects Structure Organizations or Do Organizations Structure Objects." Hidden in that discussion was the reality that the health of the organization needs to be addressed before you can answer the questions.

JimCoplien's and WardCunningham's pattern languages [D], [E] explicitly discuss how people can be organized to produce object-oriented systems.

NormKerth and EileenAndreason? [F] applied family systems theory to explain the behavior we see from people as they move through the process of mastering objects.

At OOPSLA '95, NormKerth offered a Birds-Of-A-Feather session titled, "The Psychology of OO Folk." The room was packed, many people had to stand. The variety of interests in various psychological and sociological issues was rich and interesting. During the wrap-up, we agreed to propose a day long workshop for OOPSLA '96 (PeopleSideOfObjectTechnology?).

[A] ThePsychologyOfComputerProgramming

[B] PeopleWare

[C] SoftIssuesAndOtherHardProblems

[D] http://www.bell-labs.com/cgi-user/OrgPatterns/OrgPatterns

[E] http://c2.com/ppr/episodes.html

[F]