Which Building is your Software?

It’s been (excessively) often noted that software is like a building. We do software construction, there’s software architects, we all wear hard hats at work (maybe that’s just my office though) and so on. So, which building exactly is your software most like?




The Pyramids
Software of great age built with ancient technologies (probably COBAL). Everyone admires it but no-one dare touch it and certainly no-one would every dream of extending it. It’s stood for years but for God sake don’t mess around with it.

Humber Bridge
An impressive feat of engineering. Ahead of its time but built for all the wrong reasons. Looks great but is an enormously over engineered solution to a problem that never existed in the first place.

The Gherkin
An impressive feat of architecture that is the top of its class. Has rapidly become iconic and sets the benchmark for all other endeavours in that field. Makes everyone one else feel a tiny bit anxious and inadequate.








The Sears Tower
Built by men, for men for a man’s reason. Huge, thrusting, enormous but pretty much bankrupts any company involved in it. If the project survives and doesn’t bring everyone involved down with it – it will be truly amazing. Brilliant but at great human cost.







Lumiere Tower (Leeds, UK)
Ambitious, stylish and visionary. All the design work done and the foundation laid but then suddenly cancelled. Like the Sears Tower but someone took a brave decision before it bankrupted everyone involved.





The Towering Inferno
A fantastic project. State of the art and impressive. Everyone wants to be associated with it. However fatal construction flaw comes to light too late and the entire thing bursts into flames. Sticking plasters required.






Grove Pub (Leeds, UK)
The tiniest end of terrace pub next to the biggest building in the city. A well established but minor project much loved by a small user base. Operates in same field as a new behemoth who desperately wants to squash it. However against all expectation the minor projects thrives more that ever. The value of user loyalty.

The above pciture shows the Grove Pub while Bridgewater Place (biggest Leeds building) was under construction. Now that Bridgewater Place has been completed it really does look like David and Golaith. Picture was provided by Russell J Smith on Flickr