IT SHOPKEEPING

MVC (Model-View-Controller) is the latest fad in Microsoft .NET development. As Agile and Scrum sweep the industry, a need has grown for continuous integration and deployment, requiring automated unit testing. Conventional ASP.NET architecture makes unit testing of page functionality difficult because form controls are tightly coupled to back end code-behind logic. That is, to simply unit test the selection of a dropdown list along with a Submit button isn’t straightforward. Enter MVC. By clearly delineating front end form functionality, the View, from back end business …

Pragmatic Programmers’ Ship It! by Jared Richardson and William Gwaltney(2006) still hasn’t gone out of style. It lays an IT Shop 101, 202 foundation that’s extensible by the modern flavors of Agile, Scrum, etc.    The upshot:

The dramatic glass-enclosed Waterfront Square Atrium at Atlantic Wharf is the site of an exhibition of slow-moving dynamic digital painting, digital animation, and algorithmically generated software that explores fluid dynamics and digital and artificial life. Works included by Brian Knep, Andrew Neumann, Robert Arnold, Dennis Miller and Dan Hermes.  Details here

A HealthcareSource spinoff startup, Healthcaresource.com, enlisted me to help build a new product for them called Sourcing Manager.  It’s now done and successfully brought to market.  Users are clamoring for demos and signing on to for year-long license contracts.  The value this product provides is so significant that users can recoup the costs of the product in a matter of weeks.  Not bad, HealthcareSource.
Congratulations Troy Hatlevig and team!  Special thanks to Susane, Sindhura, Todd, Heather, and Les.

The reasons can be many, and require a full analysis of the shop to determine the cause. Look first at the project plan. Is there one? Does it take all phases of development into account: analysis, QA, installation? Is there a clear process of requirements gathering or are new features developed as they arise? Is the project too large for the team? Do details seem to get lost due to tracking problems? Is the product delivered only to find that more requirement arise or new defects are found?
Break down the …