IT Shopkeeping

Project managers and analysts converge on Boston in October for a conference on management and specifications for software. Software consultant Dan Hermes will speak on the topic of human communication in the software industry, presenting material from his publication How to Interact with People.
Mastering Human Communication Patterns by Dan Hermes
Project Summit & Business Analyst World
October 21, 2013, 3:45pm
Boston Marriott Burlington Hotel
details

Video from Dan Hermes’ talk on human communication in the software industry at MIT. The material is from Mr. Hermes’ book How to Interact with People.

The Back Bay Large Installation System Administration(BBLISA) group featured Dan Hermes as a speaker on March 13th, 2013, 7:00pm at MIT.  He covered material from his forthcoming book, How to Interact with People: Human Communication in the Software Industry.  For details, see: http://www.bblisa.org/
When: March 13th, 2013, 7:00pm
Where:MIT, Building E51, Room 149, 70 Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA
Schedule:
7:00 – Announcements & Introductions
7:30 – Formal presentation
Topic: Mastering Human Communication Patterns
Missed human connections in the software industry account for most of our project failures.  Improving communication can dramatically improve individual and team performance.
Typical Frustrations
They …

So they just don’t get it?  Here’s what to do.  Miscommunication usually boils down to this: someone wants someone to do something they either don’t want to do or something they don’t understand.  Here are three ways to fix it:

At the heart of our country’s founding is the idea that personal integrity is central to our professional success.   Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson wrote a lot about it. So what does character have to do with software development?
The recent debacle of Apple Maps offers a clue. If the manager of Apple Maps, Richard Williamson, had the personal integrity to stand up in a high-level meeting and divulge that the project was in jeopardy before the release date, this could have prevented the CEO of Apple, …

The Waterfall model has become the whipping boy of 20th century software development.  The idea that analysis, development, and testing are separate, distinct phases of a development project, where time must be allocated to each, and one must be completed before the next begins, is history.  Although it was seldom actually practiced, with time and budget constraints compressing schedules and steps, it was often an ideal to shoot for.  There was some integrity in it, as I recall.  For a long time, we regarded the model as a sign of …

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

It’s easy for a software team to become so mired in their daily concerns that they lose sight of the ball.  What is the ball in Softwareball?  Let us answer with another question:  Why do people work in a software shop?
Most people work in the IT industry because it can be a reliable way to make a living.  Making a living requires a paycheck.  This paycheck is the difference between hackers coding on their own time and professionals in the software industry.  Where does this money come from that ends …

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 …

Who are those other people running around your office with numbers on their backs? What base do they play?  Which way should you turn to throw to them?  Who’s on first?  Knowing your own job is fine, but it won’t make you an MVP.  An all-star knows what everyone around them is doing and how to make plays on a team.