Software Process Improvement Network
(A-SPIN)
Finding Process Leverage in Your Development Team,
by Jeff Smith, AP Technical Services / IBM
Overview:
Few software organizations ever realize the productivity they could. Even the best organizations commonly ''leave money on the table''. Software engineers have talked about agility in recent years, but have the new methods really produced the improvements we desire? Many would argue that quality has suffered... or that agile methods might really work, if your people are good enough. In the final analysis, we are after improved feature velocity. Managers want to find the process that will pay off; Developers want their lives back; Companies want to realize aggressive production schedules, product quality, and return on investment. And too often we burn the midnight oil again, because the toolset at our disposal has been tapped. Are we missing something?
This presentation is about finding missed opportunity in your development staff. It presents alternate ways of thinking about code production and leveraging the minds of your people... Not just with motivational ideas, but with specific new ways for each individual to approach the development burden and process challenges. It is about teaching the developer to think like his manager, and the manager to recognize the disposition of his team. It contemplates not just how you write code, but what code you write, and why you may be failing to leverage your team. Some traditional values are questioned, some comparisons made, and some real techniques are presented. Most are applicable no matter what your work environment and process.
About the Speaker:
Jeff Smith has worked many roles(Solution Manager, Software Architect, Team Lead, Project Manager, Process Advisor, Developer, Release Manager) in large companies and fast-paced startups. Jeff has over 20 years experience in technology, initially taking his BSEE on the road as a hardware designer with LTV Aerospace & Defense, Recognition Equipment, and Amdahl Corp. After some graduate work in Computer Science and Organizational Behavior, he moved to Austin(1989) and redirected his career toward software development and process, working at Dell Computer, Trilogy, IBM, the Texas Attourney Generals Office, Journee Software, Expresiv Technologies, and others.
Jeff lives in Austin, Texas with a short-haired grey tabby, a huge drumset, a few odd plants, and too many books. These days he spends perhaps too much time with dancing and home rennovation.