Software crazy

Ever wondered why there is all this bullshit around getting developers to write code? I mean sprints, standups, code review, detailed estimations and planning, endless navel gazing about productivity, yada yada.

When you hire a builder you don't micro manage them like this. The builder gives you a quote (which will probably inflate a bit) and then does the work (all going well).

What about this: people that want software written ask for a quote for the work. The developer inspects the job and provides a quote. Why doesn't the industry work like this?

I think there are several reasons:

• The industry is immature - most developers don't have that much experience.
• The industry is changing so fast that it's difficult to build up a knowledge-base that stays relevant across jobs.
• There are so few developers that big companies want to snatch them up and keep them as long as possible. Developers never get to see the big wide world.
• The industry is extreemely broad, yet we call it "engineering", or "programming" all the way from embedded up to clicking enterprise blocks together.

If you are a builder you need to know the technicalities of a few domains. To contrast, if you want to be a software developer that can take on any job you need to get a wide range of domain knowledge.