The WORST OF 2007

Now is the time of year when the editors of BZ Media’s SD Times begin working on our annual awards program, the SD Times 100. That’s where we recognize the greatest innovators and leaders in the software development industry – companies, organizations and individuals.

In the five years that we’ve been conducting the SD Times 100, the awards have become well established and respected by readers and the industry alike. We’ll be publishing the 6th SD Times 100 in our Jun. 1, 2008, issue. Reader nominations will open on Feb. 1, and will stay open through Mar. 1. (I’ll blog when the reader nominations open, and post a link to the online form.)

However, this year – inspired by comments by senior editor Alex Handy – we’re also going to ask readers to nominate the WORST OF 2007. That is, the anti-leaders and anti-innovators that affected the art of software development (and the software development industry) the most in 2007… the companies and organizations whose behavior and products were so bad that they significantly impacted software development, through tools, practices, platforms, policies, whatever.

The nominations for THAT singular dishonor are open NOW, and will remain open through Mar. 1. We welcome everyone and anyone to submit their nominations for the WORST OF 2007. Please link people to this blog post, so they understand the context (instead of just sending them to the nomination form).

To be honest, I’m not sure how we’ll publicize the winners. Maybe it’ll be part of the SD Times 100 report on Jun. 1, maybe it’ll be something different. We’ll figure that out later. Meanwhile, let the anti-nominations commence!