Successful software engineering research

Rumination about what makes research successful is a strong indication that a researcher will not continue to do successful research. Nonetheless, the invitation to publish a short article in SEN on the occasion of being honoured by receiving SIGSOFT's "Outstanding Research Award" has led me to reflect on what I have done. I have been active in research on software design for more than 35 years; perhaps this is the time to pause and look back. I also want to look forward; I have some concerns about the direction being taken by many researchers in the software community and would like to offer them my (possibly unwelcome) advice.