TCS: And of course, since those early Web days of browser wars, we’re seeing whole industries being upended by the Internet: media, retailing, banking, the taxi, and hotel industries, and many more. What do you think that means for the way companies develop software, and whole Internet-based businesses that of course require software? Cusumano: I must admit that I don’t know much about how these companies develop software these days. But I don’t see software development as a problem for them. Whereas 30 years ago software development was a huge problem, the bigger problem now seems to be their strategy or business model. Perhaps software development is much less of a problem today because people have more knowledge of what good practices are, and that they’ve largely abandoned, although not completely, the old waterfall style. They have become much more careful about how and when they use the waterfall and are more eclectic in methods. In addition, a lot of big companies today have outsourced their software development. That’s another reason why it’s not a problem. These companies may have some lean in-house staffs, but outside specialists are building a lot of their software, although that might be different for defense companies or large banks, or small Internet startups. In general, once companies stopped trying to force square pegs into round holes, or force a methodology that might work for space shuttle software but is not necessary for a smartphone app, then software development got a lot easier for a lot of companies.