One of the most salient features of our Tech Hiring culture is that there is so much bullshit. Everyone knows this. Each of us contributes his share. But we tend to take the situation for granted.
It felt like the author made a huge attempt at wishful thinking, describing what he thought software development ought to be like rather than the impure thing it is.
Your article explains very well why the analogy falls flat.
Since we write code, my analogy would perhaps be that we are trying to write a giant wiki with additional requirements:
we write it in a language that is not our mother tongue
the wiki is so large that no one has time to understand it completely or in part
therefore we write it as a team and try to have each other back
also the readers are knee-jerks and the smallest typo or broken link get them upset
I tried to read Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction, Second Edition: McConnell, Steve but I gave up after two or three chapters.
It felt like the author made a huge attempt at wishful thinking, describing what he thought software development ought to be like rather than the impure thing it is.
Your article explains very well why the analogy falls flat.
Since we write code, my analogy would perhaps be that we are trying to write a giant wiki with additional requirements:
Thanks for sharing. For a slightly better read, try A Philosophy of Software Design.