Enterprise Software Writers R US
Someone just accused me of writing Enterprise Software!!!!!
Well, the “someone” is Mahmoud Hashemi from PayPal, and I heard him on the Talk Python To Me podcast (episode 54). That whole episode is quite interesting - go listen to it.
Mahmoud makes a good case, presenting nine “hallmarks” of enterprise software (the more that apply, the more “enterprisy” your software is). Most of the work RelEng does easily hits 7 of the points. You can watch Mahmoud define Enterprise Software for free by following the link from his blog entry (link is 2.1 in table of contents). (It’s part of his “Enterprise Software with Python” course offered on O’Reilly’s Safari.) One advantage of watching his presentation is that PayPal’s “Mother of all Diagrams” make ours_ look simple! (Although “blue spaghetti” is probably tastier.)
Do I care about “how enterprisy” my work is? Not at all. But I do like the way Mahmoud explains the landscape and challenges of enterprise software. He makes it clear, in the podcast, how acknowledging the existence of those challenges can inform various technical decisions. Such as choice of language. Or need to consider maintenance. Or – well, just go listen for yourself.