Quoting Laurie Voss
What Changed
Laurie Voss notes that the cost of writing code has collapsed, but the cost of reviewing, fixing, and operating software is rising and will continue to do so. She argues that the remaining cost of software development is the effort to understand user needs, define requirements precisely, and create a pleasant user experience. Voss suggests that as the amount of software grows without limit, this user‑centric cost will dominate the overall expense of software production.
Why It Matters
Enterprise architects must prioritize user‑experience design and requirement clarity to control long‑term costs. Investing in robust governance and automated review processes can mitigate the increasing operational burden. The shift means architecture decisions should focus on scalability of user‑feedback loops rather than just code efficiency.
The Limitation
The analysis assumes that the cost of user‑centric work will continue to rise uniformly across all software projects, which may not hold for highly standardized or low‑touch applications.
What You Can Do
Implement a structured user‑feedback and requirement‑definition process early in the development lifecycle.