Assessment is not a new activity

Assessment is an old activity. In fact is as old as decision making. And in software engineering, it is there since the very beginning.

There used to be a time when the code fit in what the mind could crunch. There used to be a time when most tackled problems were describable on a board. This time has long gone. Now we are left with many details that add on top of each other to form a difficult to penetrate space of linked concepts.

Even when the code was small, engineers still needed to solve problems and make the code accommodate their solutions. Even then decisions needed to be made. But, because the cost of understanding the state of the system was small compared to the time spent on designing and implementing the solution, it was Ok to ignore it.

Now, the cost of assessment has grown significantly to be equal to the forward engineering cost. Because of that we cannot afford to ignore it anymore.

Assessment is not a new activity. Assessment is an old activity. In fact is as old as decision making. And in software engineering it is there since the very beginning. It is time to approach it explicitly.