Chapter 1.1. A Cooperative Game of Invention and Communication: Evolution

I once thought that software development was unique in its being a cooperative game of invention and communication. As I gave talks on the subject, however, business executives started telling me that their own professional lives fit that description. Business, it turns out, is very much a cooperative (and competitive!) game of invention and communication. So are law, journalism, conference organization, entertainment, and running governments. More surprising to me, personally, was discovering that engineering is also largely a cooperative game of invention and communication.

Researching the topic of engineering, I found that, possibly due to the success of applied physics in World War II, it lost its original association with craft and experiment only quite recently. Reconsidering engineering in its more historical interpretation, as a combination of applied science, craft, experiment, and case lore, gives it a new and richer meaning. This view of engineering shows us how to reconstruct "software engineering" in a way that both provides a good educational base and is practical on live projects.

A Cooperative Game of Invention and Communication: Evolution

THE SWAMP GAME		49
COMPETITION WITHIN COOPERATION		50
OTHER FIELDS AS COOPERATIVE GAMES		52
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING RECONSTRUCTED		53
	Where the Term Came From	53
	Where We Went Wrong	53
	Reconstructing Software Engineering	56
	Craft	56
	Cooperative Games	57
	Lean Manufacturing	58
	Software Engineering Reconstructed	61
	Collaboration in Other Engineerings	62
	Collaborative Engineering and ECN, by Professor Stephen C-Y. Lu, David Packard Chair in Manufacturing Engineering, University of Southern California	62