Explore the fascinating legacy of Winston W. Royce and his misunderstood waterfall model. Discover how metaphors can mislead in software development and learn six tips for better visual communication. Delve into the cultural biases tied to upward and downward trends, shaping our perceptions of success. Hear about the reality of iterative design and the inevitability of setbacks in the development journey. Finally, find out how chunking information can improve understanding and retention in learning through effective visual aids.
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insights INSIGHT
Royce's Ironic Legacy
Ironically, Royce's paper advocating for iterative development was misinterpreted as supporting the waterfall model.
His warnings about the waterfall model's simplicity and likelihood of failure were largely ignored.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Misleading Waterfall Metaphor
The downward flow of Royce's diagram, influenced by English reading habits, created a misleading "waterfall" metaphor.
A more accurate metaphor would depict the project struggling up a waterfall, reflecting the effort involved.
insights INSIGHT
Up is Good, Down is Bad
Humans metaphorically associate "up" with good and "down" with bad, influencing chart design and even Trump's 9/11 comments about building height.
This bias reinforces the flawed waterfall model, where downward progress implies negative connotations.
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Some Limits on Our Capacity for Processing Information
George A. Miller
In this influential paper, George A. Miller discusses the limitations of human cognitive processing, focusing on tasks such as distinguishing between different stimuli and recalling items from memory. He famously proposed that humans can process about seven units of information, plus or minus two, at any given time. This concept has had significant impacts on fields like psychology and user interface design.
Leprechauns of Software Engineering
How folklore turns into fact and what to do about it
Laurent Bossovy
Metaphors We Live By
Mark Johnson
George Lakoff
In 'Metaphors We Live By,' George Lakoff and Mark Johnson argue that metaphor is not just a figure of speech but a fundamental mechanism of the mind that allows us to use our physical and social experiences to understand more abstract concepts. The book introduces the concept of 'conceptual metaphors' and demonstrates how these metaphors structure our perceptions, thoughts, and actions. It challenges traditional views in Western philosophy and linguistics by showing that metaphor is pervasive in everyday language and thought, influencing how we think about concepts like love, arguments, and truth.
In 1970, Winston W. Royce published a paper “Managing the Development of Large Software Systems.” Later authors cited it as the justification for what had come to be called the "waterfall process." Yet Royce had quite specifically described that process as one that is "simplistic" and "invites failure."
That's weird. People not only promoted a process Royce had said was inadequate, they cited him as their justification. And they ignored all the elaborations that he said would make the inadequate process adequate.
What's up with that? In this episode, I blame metaphor and the perverse affordances of diagrams.
I also suggest ways you might use metaphors and node-and-arrow diagrams in a way that avoids Royce's horrible fate.
In addition to the usual transcript, there's also a Wiki version.
Oddly Influenced 
