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I was doing some software history research and stumbled on this absolutely FASCINATING letter from 1964: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/... Some random defense contractor writes in to say "You should deliver a minimal prototype as fast as possible to get feedback and involve users at every stage of labor"

dl.acm.orgSome observations concerning large programming efforts | Proceedings of the April 21-23, 1964, spring joint computer conference

22/9/25, 8:40 pm18 reposts74 likes

instantviking.bsky.social

@instantviking.bsky.social

23 Sept 2025

I do sometimes feel like we're in an industry that absolutely refuses to learn anything from anyone, including our past selves.

Hillel

@hillelwayne.com

22 Sept 2025

"Also estimates are deeply untrustworthy and adding people to a late project makes it later", so he preempted Mythical Man Month too

Alex Miller

@alexmillerdb.bsky.social

22 Sept 2025

Do you think he’s just been “I told you so”-ing people since 1964? 😂

Cool find!

@leocomerford.bsky.social

26 Sept 2025

FWIW (& you may know these already), a few other bits and pieces about the "Some observations concerning large programming efforts" paper. It did get some attention: it's listed in William E. Riddle's 103-page 1972 "Annotated Bibliography of Software Architecture" slac.stanford.edu/vault/collva... …

slac.stanford.eduslac.stanford.edu

Leo R. Comerford

@leocomerford.bsky.social

26 Sept 2025

which was CGTM (Stanford Computation Research Group Technical Memo ahro.slac.stanford.edu/resources/di... ) no. 138. (Riddle was championing the name 'software architecture' over 'software engineering'.)

ahro.slac.stanford.eduStanford Computation Research Group Technical Memos (CGTMs), 1965-1992 | SLAC Archives, History & Records Office

Leo R. Comerford

@leocomerford.bsky.social

26 Sept 2025

It also got a mention in /Datamation/'s writeup of the 1964 Spring Joint Computer Conference, in the "Command and Control" session highlights (/Datamation/ April 1964, pp. 76-77 www.bitsavers.org/magazines/Da... ).

bitsavers.orgbitsavers.org