Tackling the discovery costs of evolving software systems
Dennis M. Mancl, William F. Opdyke, Steven Fraser · 2002
If software is so easy to create, why is it so difficult to change existing software to keep up to date with changing requirements? Discovery costs --- the costs of learning what one needs to know in order to evolve an existing software system --- has proven to be the dominant (but often unrecognized) cost in many software systems.This subject was discussed in a previous OOPSLA panel session: "Do Patterns and Frameworks Reduce Discovery Costs?" at OOPSLA '97. This workshop will take a fresh look - five years later --- at how organizations are coping with discovery costs.