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The way we make software is weird, especially compared to how the rest of the economy works. In the first season of Product Fundamentals, we'll unpack that history, and figure out how forces dating from the Industrial Revolution through the Space Race and on to the present collided to form the way we make software today.

For a show transcript, check out the podcast website at https://www.prodfund.com.

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For full show transcripts, links to sources, and ways to contact me, please see the show site at https://www.prodfund.com.

Intro and outro music by Jesse Spillane.

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To understand why we make software the way that we do, we start from the beginning, with the earliest programmable computers, exponential growth, NATO's first "software engineers," and Winston Royce's articulation of the Waterfall.

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For full show transcripts, links to sources, and ways to contact me, please see the show site at https://www.prodfund.com.

Intro and outro music by Jesse Spillane.

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While we may think of the Waterfall as the original way to make software, the philosophy of moving fast and making small changes -- called iterative and incremental development -- dates back just as far. Today we're tracking how IID got its start in classic early 20th century manufacturing and evolved through pioneering NASA projects into an important precursor of how we work today. Plus, we'll cover the first rise and fall of the "cross-functional team" at the US Navy and at a long-gone giant of the early computer industry.

Support the show

For full show transcripts, links to sources, and ways to contact me, please see the show site at https://www.prodfund.com.

Intro and outro music by Jesse Spillane.