Rewards of Taking the Path Less Traveled

The software-engineering industry has hordes of professionals all following one of a half-dozen or so well-trod ?>lemming paths?>. Following the lemmings, leads to making blind decisions. The alternate choices are: getting an eagle-eye perspective, or taking the path less traveled. This chapter discusses in detail, the third choice: path less traveled. The proven techniques along the path less traveled include some incredibly simple ideas: talk to the customers; build prototypes; doing trade-off analyses; playing with formal models; reviewing, walking through, and inspection; and salvaging. All the six are low-cost, low-risk ideas. Every one of them will have a positive effect on the quality of product, productivity, and the ability to satisfy customers' needs. It is true that the effect will not be as dramatic as those claimed by the proponents of fad technologies, but there is no better way to beat low cost and risk.