The software craftsmanship movement is filling a void left by the collapse of confidence in the notion of software engineering. That's not surprising, because craft and engineering are often perceived as opposites. "Engineering" is not an appropriate metaphor for software, many believe, because it is instead a craft.

But craft and engineering are not incompatible. It's true that traditional software engineering leaves little room for the exercise of craftsmanship. The problem, though, is that traditional software engineering is not really engineering at all; it is a caricature of an engineering discipline. Real engineering principles, properly applied to the unique field of software, point to a very different kind of software engineering -- one in which craftsmanship plays a vital role.