DBA update

I see that I last wrote on this topic four weeks ago. Since then, there have been quite a few changes. As I noted then, I spent a few days of the Passover holiday 'bulking up' the literature review. After a few days break, I started work on expanding the introduction and the methodology chapters, ending up with a document about 50 pages long; I sent this to my supervisor a week ago.

A few days ago, I received another letter from my supervisor; I characterised this as containing some sage advice, some points which I don't yet understand, and some things which left me baffled. The 'baffled' group includes formatting remarks (e.g. don't use 'Ibid'), remarks about topics which I have covered (e.g. I am forced to use opportunistic sampling) and a few other similar remarks.

The sage advice was about 'horizontal' software and SME flexibility. I had written on the first page of the introduction At first glance, it would seem that EEM is merely a special case of Engineering Change Management (ECM); whilst there are similarities, there are also significant differences which will be discussed in the critical review section of the literature survey. The management of feature development within 'horizontal' programs (those which are applicable to a wide variety of usages) such as Microsoft Word or Microsoft Excel might seem similar, but again there are distinct differences.

My supervisor suggested expanding on the second sentence of that paragraph, so I embarked on another hunt for literature on the subject of 'horizontal' software. It took me some time to find suitable search terms, but when I did, I found several papers which I can write about. I wrote a page over the weekend, but I have plenty more to write about. The more important part of what I have to write will be in the literature synthesis, where I can write freely about the differences between how I develop code in Priority and how Excel was written. I started off the section by noting that Priority enhancements are akin to writing macros or code in Visual Basic for Excel, as opposed to programming features in Excel. Another difference  occurs to me now: enhancements (and Excel macros) exist only in the user's implementation; another company using Priority would not have those enhancements. Developments made by Microsoft to Excel, or by Priority Software to Priority, exist in all implementations.

I also have some new material on topics which I have previously covered, so the thesis is going to expand by several pages over the next few weeks. Strange as it may seem, the only time I get to work on the thesis is either Friday afternoon or Saturday morning; the latter time slot is often taken up by my grand-daughter.