Now is the time for industrialized software development
Recently, I received a letter from my car’s manufacturer alerting me to a recall. They had discovered a defective part and wanted to replace it.
It was easily fixed, and I might have forgotten all about it. But it’s precisely the banality of that recall that got me thinking. Car manufacturers know exactly what they put into their cars and can notify every affected customer if they discover a problem.
Why can it be challenging to trace and notify customers about issues within software components, regardless of their origin?
To understand the difference between software production and manufacturing, consider the lessons of the Industrial Revolution. In the late 1800s, factories with power tools and repeatable processes replaced the work of individual craftspeople. In the early 20th century, this revolution proceeded with the creation of the assembly line, the birth of industrial process engineering, and the systematic elimination of inefficiencies. Along with that came the ability to document and audit everything.
Then, in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, a third revolution transformed businesses. Computers, particularly the code, became one of the most significant factors affecting the production and distribution of goods.
The fact is, the vast majority of product innovations today come from software. Software rules how all products, not just digital ones, get distributed and purchased. Code is now at least as important as capital, labor, land, and knowledge.
The software paradox
The creation of software itself is still primarily done in pre-industrial ways by individual craftspeople working with a wide variety of tools.
The software “production line” is a tangled web of dependencies, resulting in brittleness and inefficiency. And the tools? Imagine Lego bricks, each with a unique and incompatible stud configuration. That’s the chaotic landscape we’re working in, creating unbelievable stress, costs, and confusion.
This environment fuels delays. A single bottleneck, like a developer’s absence or a team’s slow testing, can halt an entire project. Consider a major German bank’s digital transformation from 2016 to 2019. Its legacy systems required extensive security testing cycles of 3-4 months for each update, while competitors released updates every few days. This disparity in speed cost the bank significant market share
These delays compound existing inefficiencies. For instance, according to GitLab’s 2024 Global DevSecOps Report, 63% of developers report using six or more different tools.
The financial consequences of these inefficiencies are substantial.
It’s time to industrialize software production
Fortunately, the advent of artificial intelligence and DevSecOps (a combined approach to developing, securing, and operating software assets) is revolutionizing software production. This revolution won’t replace software developers, but it will systematize software creation and make it far more productive and efficient.
In the same way manufacturers have standardized the tools, techniques, and workflows they use, we now need to use DevSecOps to standardize how we develop software.
Many processes invented and optimized over a century of industry apply to modern, industrialized software development needs. Applying these principles will help us identify and remove inefficiencies and boost developer productivity.
It will also give software creators greater end-to-end visibility into their product’s components, enhancing security for the entire software supply chain. Just as every manufacturer today has an audit trail for the parts in their product, tomorrow’s software developers can account for every component of their software products.
Just as the Industrial Revolution transformed physical production, the 2020s will witness a seismic shift in software development. Companies that hesitate or resist this industrialization of software will face obsolescence within the decade.
Begin preparing for the transition. Automate ruthlessly, rationalize your processes, and organize software production with the precision of a modern assembly line. Embracing this software revolution is the only way to safeguard your enterprise’s future.