Evolution of software architecture with the co-creator of UML (Grady Booch)

Welcome to The Pragmatic Engineer! Today, I’m thrilled to be joined by Grady Booch, a true legend in software development. Grady is the Chief Scientist for Software Engineering at IBM, where he leads groundbreaking research in embodied cognition. He’s the mind behind several object-oriented design concepts, a co-author of the Unified Modeling Language, and a founding member of the Agile Alliance and the Hillside Group.

Grady has authored six books, hundreds of articles, and holds prestigious titles as an IBM, ACM, and IEEE Fellow, as well as a recipient of the Lovelace Medal (an award for those with outstanding contributions to the advancement of computing).

In this episode, we discuss:
• What it means to be an IBM Fellow
• The evolution of the field of software development
• How UML was created, what its goals were, and why Grady disagrees with the direction of later versions of UML
• Pivotal moments in software development history
• How the software architect role changed over the last 50 years
• Why Grady declined to be the Chief Architect of Microsoft – saying no to Bill Gates!
• Grady’s take on large language models (LLMs)
• Advice to less experienced software engineers
• … and much more!

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The Pragmatic Engineer deepdives relevant for this episode:
• The Past and Future of Modern Backend Practices https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer....
• What Changed in 50 Years of Computing https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer....
• AI Tooling for Software Engineers: Reality Check https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer....

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Where to find Grady Booch:
• X: https://x.com/grady_booch
• LinkedIn:   / gradybooch  
• Website: https://computingthehumanexperience.com

Where to find Gergely:
• Newsletter: https://www.pragmaticengineer.com/
• LinkedIn:   / gergelyorosz  
• X: https://x.com/GergelyOrosz

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In this episode, we cover:
00:00 Intro
01:56 What it means to be a Fellow at IBM
03:27 Grady’s work with legacy systems
09:25 Some examples of domains Grady has contributed to
11:27 The evolution of the field of software development
16:23 An overview of the Booch method
20:00 Software development prior to the Booch method
22:40 Forming Rational Machines with Paul and Mike
25:35 Grady’s work with Bjarne Stroustrup
26:41 ROSE and working with the commercial sector
30:19 How Grady built UML with Ibar Jacobson and James Rumbaugh
36:08 An explanation of UML and why it was a mistake to turn it into a programming language
40:25 The IBM acquisition and why Grady declined Bill Gates’s job offer
43:38 Why UML is no longer used in industry
52:04 Grady’s thoughts on formal methods
53:33 How the software architect role changed over time
01:01:46 Disruptive changes and major leaps in software development
01:07:26 Grady’s early work in AI
01:12:47 Grady’s work with Johnson Space Center
01:16:41 Grady’s thoughts on LLMs
01:19:47 Why Grady thinks we are a long way off from sentient AI
01:25:18 Grady’s advice to less experienced software engineers
01:27:20 What’s next for Grady
01:29:39 Rapid fire round

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See the transcript and other references from the episode at https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer....

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