You Don’t Need Me to Tell You that Software Development is Still in the Dark Ages

Let’s face it – despite all the advances in technology and engineering, software development (and it’s big sister, Product Development) often still feels like it’s stuck in the dark ages. We’ve all experienced the frustration of bloated, buggy, overly complex applications. Software projects that take five times as long and cost three times as much as anticipated. Monolithic legacy codebases that no one fully understands and everyone is afraid to touch.

Common Failings

The root causes of these issues stem from the common failings in our assumptions about how software should be designed, built, and managed. Developers are forced to rely on primitive beliefs, tools and processes that feel ancient compared to what’s possible today. We cling to habits and methods that should have been discarded long ago.

Do we really need to keep building everything from scratch, gluing together frameworks and duct-taping components with code? Why do basic changes still require major rewrites instead of flexible configuration? Can we only measure velocity by lines of code produced, when we know that says nothing about business value delivered?

Ways Forward

There are brighter ways forward. Emerging technologies like #NoSoftware, low-code platforms, AI-assisted development, infrastructure-as-code, and more can provide the building blocks for fully modern practices. Approaches like Quintessence, FlowChain, Product Aikido, Organisational Psychotherapy and the Antimatter Transformation Model help teams incrementally deliver immediate value, not just write code.

Real Change

But real change requires looking beyond the tools. It means evolving development cultures and processes that have calcified into dogma. Challenging shared assumptions and beliefs baked into how organisations plan, organiise, fund and incentivise work. Rethinking what it means to be a great business, and building diverse, empowered teams.

The reality is software delivers immense impact on lives and business today. It deserves to be created with care, craft and state-of-the-art techniques – not left languishing in the dark ages. The solutions are out there, if we’re bold enough to cast off antiquated ways.

Astounding Potential

You and I know the status quo isn’t working. It will take all of us pushing for change to bring work into the 21st century. The potential waiting to be unlocked is astounding. Here’s to no longer building the future with the assumptions and beliefs of the past.