Iterative and agile development methods are truly a paradigm shift from the traditional waterfall methods. The skeptics are afraid of change. They are the people sitting atop of the waterfall knowledge pyramid and do not want to let go their position. I always like to reference an old IBM commercial that had a storyline along the lines of “Adapt or Die”, and that is certainly true when it comes to people resisting technology.

I believe that there is very little use for the waterfall methodology when it comes to software (especially SaaS) development. Waterfall methodology is borrowed from traditional project management techniques used in construction, and manufacturing type projects. It was not tailored or adapted for software development; it is primarily used as is.

Waterfall methodology is very static and therefore only works well on static projects. Waterfall methodology assumes that given the same set of inputs (requirements, architectural design, resources, and time) all projects will output the same exact results. Sure, that might be true when manufacturing toasters or building homes; however, anyone that has worked on software projects can attest that is certainly not the case.

Every software project is different, even if you are building the same “thing” with the same set of inputs; the results are almost guaranteed to differ. Software development is a very dynamic process that is constantly adapting to new technology, market changes, and newfound knowledge. It simply does not make sense to constrain and manage a dynamic process using a static methodology. Using a waterfall methodology to manage software projects is like putting square wheels on a car and expecting it to roll smoothly. It’s just not gonna happen.

This past week I quit my job in favor of becoming a product manager at eBay. I am very excited about working for eBay however I feel like an emigrant that is moving away from his home. My current soon to be x employer is a startup primarily owned by a good friend that has been with me for several years now. My decision came as a blow that appears to have severed our relationship. Too bad.

Decisions, decision… I had two solid job offers from companies in the Valley, SkyRider, a web based P2P music sharing soon to be video sharing company made me an offer to lead their UI development team for a very good rate. eBay also came through with an offer to bring me is as a product manager in their trust and safety division for just as lucrative of a rate. No brainier, I chose eBay.

In Arabic, we have a saying “extend your feet no longer than the length pf our bed”. This means that you should not spend more than you can afford. In other words, this says you should settle for what you have.

I say bullshit.

Humans are highly adaptive; this means we can settle for anything as long as we have enough to live. Look at Africa, Gaza, Cuba and others. They are all alive, but hardly by our western standards. That does not mean that we shall abide by the status quo. We should not just accept what we are.

I say we need to challenge ourselves. We must overextend ourselves. Only then can we achieve greatness and success.

Like the poor millionaire, we must believe that we are great in order to really become so.

America is all business. You have to earn everything you do. It seams that no matter what you do here, you have to slave for it. Everything costs money, and lots of it. Home, health, happiness, family, time, it is all expensive. No matter what it is, it has a monetary value. Bullshit.