Beyond | IT : software development methods

Microsoft to give out development tools to students | Markets | Markets News | Reuters

john.mullinax — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:02:45 GMT

Historically, Microsoft's free development tool software program for students has been controlled by computer science departments. This has probably been one of multiple reasons that comp sci students have disproportionately taken advantage of Microsoft's previous free software program for students. Now, there's a new program, called DreamSpark, that seems like it will reduce the administrative burden for schools and students while also effectively extending the opportunity to get free development software to students in all types of college and university programs (something that was already allowed, but didn't get used as much as you might expect).

If you've read my posts on computing as a liberal art, you can guess I think this is a great thing! :-)

As a coincidence, I happen to sit right next to one of the guys on Microsoft's "academic team" who is intimate with this program. We've chatted about it a couple of times over the course of the last few months, and one of the challenges he's mentioned to me revolves around the student verification process -- that is, how to verify who is a student eligible for the free software. As with any ambitious program there may be some hiccups in the beginning -- especially around the student verification process since there's no real repository of "all students" -- but for most folks, the process should "just work". Just in case, consider packing an extra helping of patience if you're planning to go get your software today. :-)

Also, you can see BillG talk about DreamSpark in this video here.

Technorati Tags: Computing is a liberal art,education,Microsoft,software development,billg

Poppendieck: Ten Simple Rules of Lean Programming

john.mullinax — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 06:31:00 GMT

After my last post referring to a webinar by Durward Sobek, he got me thinking again about the fantastic work of Mary and Tom Poppendieck. They are such a great force for evangelizing lean software development. I highly recommend their two books on the subject.

One of the things I especially like is that they boil down how you can apply lean to software development in a way that's clear and practical, and also does justice to the core philosophical principles of Lean Thinking. Not always easy, that. Even so, it's crucial to do -- an understanding of the core principles will allow you to apply the lean software concepts when situations and context change (as they will).

In that vein, I especially like this powerpoint slide deck that the Poppendiecks have posted on their website, called Lean Thinking: the theory behind agile development (2002). Here's a nugget of insight from slide 9:

Ten Simple Rules of Lean Programming:

Eliminate waste
Minimize artifacts
Satisfy all stakeholders
Deliver as fast as possible
Decide as late as possible
Decide as low as possible
Deploy comprehensive testing
Learn by experimentation
Measure business impact
Optimize across organizations

See the deck for great examples and explanations about the list above, and more.

And BTW, be sure to check out the last slide -- it's a bibliography slide. The reading list could be an intense graduate seminar on lean thinking / lean management!

Technorati Tags: Lean thinking,software development methods,Lean software

Applying Lean Thinking in software development... model Lean product development

john.mullinax — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 21:07:00 GMT

I like what Mark Ramm says here.... There's much that software development can gain from Lean manufacturing. It's not that software development operations should adopt manufacturing processes, per se -- but many of the principles of lean thinking can be extracted from lean manufacturing and applied to improve software development.

That said, If you're looking for a model to help you apply lean thinking to software, you may find lean product development to be an even better fit than lean manufacturing.

I saw a webinar on Lean Product and Process Development a while back that was put on by Durward Sobek through the Lean Enterprise Institute. I captured a few notes from the webinar on what Durward called "the basics":

The object of the game is to make a profit consistently
The operational value stream generates the profit
The rate and quality of output from development depend critically on knowledge.
Generate knowledge through set-based concurrent engineering.
Grow teams of experts who can use, generate useful knowledge
Establish and support entrepreneurial system designers
Eliminate overburden, instability, and waste through cadence, pull, and flow.

For much more, check out this book by Allan C. Ward called Lean Product and Process Development.

Update: I heard from Durward Sobek, and you can see an archived version of the webinar here for yourself!

Technorati Tags: Lean,software development methods

A GREAT collection of Lean Software Development Info

john.mullinax — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 16:26:00 GMT

Technorati Tags: systems thinking , lean manufacturing , lean , six sigma , learning , software development methods I just stumbled across Brad Appleton's fantastic collection of resources on Lean and Agile software development . Books, presentations,...(read more)