Along the lines of my idea to use FEM-like analysis on code, I realized that it should be possible to model the things that cause the architecture and design of the software over time as physical forces.
Case in point: My team is currently working on adding multi-lingual and multi-currency support to a fairly large app. Adding this predictably requires changes across the board, and led me to visualize all the places we're pushing and pulling at the current design/architecture to make this happen.
Could this instead be considered a single external force acting on the elements of the system? Can we study the "material properties" of the code under such forces and "sum up" the forces?
If we could do that, it would certainly move us out of the current dark ages where cost of change is still measured as a list of things to change per a specific change plan.
Case in point: My team is currently working on adding multi-lingual and multi-currency support to a fairly large app. Adding this predictably requires changes across the board, and led me to visualize all the places we're pushing and pulling at the current design/architecture to make this happen.
Could this instead be considered a single external force acting on the elements of the system? Can we study the "material properties" of the code under such forces and "sum up" the forces?
If we could do that, it would certainly move us out of the current dark ages where cost of change is still measured as a list of things to change per a specific change plan.
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