Software Quality

Evolving the user experience through a cloud service and web-centric operating environment

Comprehensive, simple, open, devices working together, greater sharing, anywhere access, staying connected, staying informed; these are a few of the promises of Live Mesh. If you’ve had your first look, feel free to share your related thoughts or recommendations (e.g., about the device in the cloud, Live Desktop). Thank you for doing so.

Search engine partnering, upstarts, mergers and advances

Would it be good if Google and Yahoo partnered more? How about if they merged? Will upstarts somehow be further catalysts that help to drive innovative leaps beyond semantic, multimedia and other challenges? As a result of search engine partnering, upstarts, mergers and advances, how will surfing the web evolve by (and what will it look and feel like by) 2020?    

New white paper sponsored by VeriSign

Write a comment or post and share your expert feedback about this new white paper by VeriSign associated with proactive protection for online transactions. Thank you in advance for doing so.

IT can save the world

To start your related reading and thinking perhaps see, IT can save America.

The career, Software Developer (your comments appreciated)

There are many who began their career in IT as a software developer (aka computer programmer or software engineer). Within this group there are also many who no longer regularly author code. Many of these individuals were once very good at generating code that met requirements and had all reported bugs fixed prior to the code going into production on time and on budget. Today, after decades of significant change within IT, there are many positions within that do not require incumbents to author code or to even have much understanding for the skills and daily challenges of software developers. Today in many organizations and on many projects, it is not surprising to discover that there are more people scoping, managing, testing and supporting the work of software developers than there are software developers. Improvements in talent, process, languages, tools and so on potentially could be behind this (e.g., now you can do more in less time and with better results, so you don’t need as many developers). You may particularly say this is so, if the bulk of the people in the organization are focused on activities unrelated to the work of software developers. Many opportunities today however can be enabled by software and technology so you may think it would not be surprising to see a growth in the number of people employment globally in IT, and particularly as related to software development. While quality is increasingly driving results, deadlines are still a big part of reality. In today’s world it may be true that software developers experience fun with the pressure of deadlines (e.g.), however beyond simply imposing increasingly challenging deadlines one way to grow excellence in results may be related to increasingly discovering ways to grow excellent programmers and in making software development increasingly a fun and rewarding career.

Draw upon the above paragraph and 20 questions below as input to your thinking, and comment on the career of computer programming. Thank you for doing so. Your comments may help evolve the world towards increasingly better results for all from various perspectives while helping software developers feel appreciated for the inherent quality they are and help increasingly to produce.

1. Are computer programmers over worked (e.g., not involved in providing estimates and asked to deliver quality in periods of time that impose risk and stress)?
2. Can someone be an IT Pro if they never coded?
3. Do you need to be able to read code (perhaps with a bit of assistance from a full-time developer) in order to be an IT Pro?
4. What makes an excellent software developer?
5. Are excellent software developers (aka computer programmers or software engineers) able to trouble-shoot a program if they never saw the language or code base before?
6. What are a few inherent qualities of excellent software developers (e.g., strong logic and math skills, broad understanding of technology and business, diligence, endurance, self-motivated, highly energetic and ethical)?
7. Does an excellent computer programmer make it a standard part of their processes to test their own assumptions early and regularly?
8. Do they provide tests and documentation with the code they produce so there is a complete versioned package of intellectual property, and so regression testing can more easily and quickly be done in an automated way for entire eco-systems?
9. Are excellent software developers always advocates and catalysts for that which is socially responsible and eco-friendly? 
10. Do excellent software developers (aka computer programmers or software engineers) have a common quality foundation, and do they maintain a regular practice of knowledge sharing and keeping current so they can utilize or recommend that which may help to make quality and value increasingly more intrinsic and pervasive?
11. Are the best computer programmers working as part of the force for good, or are hackers on the dark side the best software developers?
12. Everyone has a stake in prevention (i.e. quality assurance), and each role has a purpose that ideally provides value, however if you had to pick the most important role would it be software developer?
13. Can security and many issues be solved proactively by globally growing excellence in software developers?
14. If there was a round-table of executives and visionaries meeting to determine the next steps to make things increasingly better, should the round table include a couple of the best computer programmers?
15. Who would you say are some of the best computer programmers of all time and why?
16. Would looking at the answers for question 15 help to identify innate characteristics that could become part of the quality foundation for the current and next generation of software developers?
17. Does belief help to program reality (e.g., if you believe you are an excellent programmer, will you strive smarter and harder in various ways to progressively ensure excellence in the code produced by you and the global IT profession)?
18. Are tools increasingly helping to produce better results while making the job of software developer easier?
19. Will peer programming in the future involve a human and robot?
20. What tools and languages do you think are the best for a software developer to utilize today and why?

New creative ideas for helping staff and teammates feel appreciated

Perhaps you too have been part of an organization that stocked the kitchen with free snacks and drinks, including things to help during a long day or night (e.g., water, coffee, tea, pop, energy drinks etc.), and including a variety of healthy choices so the day could begin with a good and free breakfast at the office. Perhaps you are still part of a company that provides free food as one of several perks. Perhaps you would like to be.

Are perks appreciated? Do they help make a happier, healthier and more loyal employee? Do they help increase productivity? How about camaraderie? Might they somehow help with security? How about customer satisfaction and empowerment? How about improved software quality?

If you had a few extra dollars in your budget and wanted to do something nice for your team, would you offer free food, a financial incentive tied to productivity, or other?

For years companies have been exercising creativity to help staff and teammates feel appreciated (e.g., gift certificates, new fun items for the office or desk, clothing, free tickets to events, extra time off, special awards that can be displayed like a trophy, something special tied to the particular person’s interests, placing an employee name and picture in a place for others to see, trips, bonuses, and so on). Is this a trend on the rise? Is a simple verbal Thank You expressed regularly and publicly enough? Do we need to say Thank You more often, and in more creative ways?

Positive and insightful comments appreciated (Thank You); as are new creative ideas for CIOs and others to help staff and teammates feel appreciated for the inherent quality they bring and help to increasingly produce.

New Google App Engine

Master of 500 Hats (”A blog about Geeks, Entrepreneurs, & Startups in Silicon Valley”) aka “The Internet Revolution, Act II” said it would have been more impressive if Google did the roll out a year ago, but that it still is pretty cool. What do you think about the recently launched Google App Engine?

Semantic Web: unleashing the killer app

Interesting post about the Semantic Web over at Readwriteweb.com. For a blog post and comments that link in nicely (e.g., with respect to the potential need for an improved search engine) see Multimedia Content: The Semantic Web Challenge.

New website, Try XBRL

Here is another example of fellowship, the global efforts of a consortium, such as one related to XBRL, an internationally recognized standard for electronic business and financial reporting. This April 3, 2008 Zorba.ca post says the new website by RR Donnelley and Edgar Online provides complimentary access to over 12000 US filers, and is definitely worth some time browsing and testing. If you Try XBRL feel free to write a related comment or post; thank you for doing so.

Security solutions for the present

This security solutions whitepaper was posted March 2008 and originally published in October 2006. If you are aware of intrinsic and pervasive solution improvements since the whitepaper was published, feel free to comment or write a related post. Thank you for doing so.

Re-Thinking, looking inside, asking for collaboration

Read a blog, watch a webcast, and download a podcast.  Share ideas for making quality and value increasingly inherent within software, technology, information and life. Help elevate and embed increasingly higher dimensions of excellence and simplicity. For example download this podcast on Bitpipe.com, PCI Compliance: Re-Thinking Protection Inside the Box, then write a related post or comment as to whether it was helpful. Thank you for doing so.

Booch joining the Software Technology Department at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as Chief Scientist for Software Engineering

Some interesting posts these days over at Booch’s blog (Handbook of Software Architecture). For example see the March 10 post, Rational Machines, which at end includes a great quote of the day: Some day, on the corporate balance sheet, there will be an entry which reads, ‘Information’; for in most cases, the information is more valuable than the hardware which processes it. — Grace Murray Hopper.

As you read towards present day you will encounter the March 18 post, Living A Life of Ands, which includes a very different, real and enjoyable self-description by Grady. In the post he also shares awareness that he is joining the Software Technology Department at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center as Chief Scientist for Software Engineering.

All the best Grady; I look forward to eventually hearing of a publish date for your much anticipated new book.

How to: Set an IIS Application or AppPool to use ASP.Net 3.5

Good post over at Scott Hanselman’s ComputerZen.Com on how to set an IIS Application or AppPool to use ASP.NET 3.5 rather than 2.0.

Among other the post includes these comments:

WOW! That is alot of text just to say: To Run .Net 3.0 / .Net 3.5 ASP.Net apps, select the .Net 2.0 runtime in IIS! — Bob Archer

I agree with Bob that your tip for running .NET 3.0 and 3.5 apps in IIS could have been summed up in a single sentence, but I really enjoy hearing the why and how of things. Thank you for taking the time to lay it out so simply! — Kevin Babcock

If it takes a 4 page post to explain why you don’t need to set a dropdown to 3.5, then something went wrong somewhere. — sjohnson

Some people have commented that this post was pointless but I was just happy to finally read this blog and find something I already knew! I usually glaze over when trying to keep up with Scott’s mind haha — Matthew Harris

Embrace opportunity; embark on initiatives to improve your organization’s inherent quality

This post and others within VIIP could have various additional tags (e.g., software requirements, software project management, software testing, software testers, and so on). As you read through various VIIP posts ideally you will begin to embrace opportunity and embark on initiatives to improve your organization’s inherent quality. For additional information feel free to email info@inherentquality.com.

For an example of an opportunity for increased levels of inherent quality see this post by LarryB347.

Hello from Nova Scotia

Behind my monitor there’s a bay of windows through which there’s a forest and blue sky. Hello, today’s post is brought to you from a country setting in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. It is also brought to you on the last day of winter and the eve of the first day of spring. On St. Patrick’s Day, I sold, gave to neighbors and gave to charity, various items I had collected over the years. The same day I packed my green Jeep and drove from Ontario to Nova Scotia. In addition to a dozen or so VIIP posts per month, starting this spring I will also be sharing via the Internet Evolution as a member of their IQ Crew. Ideally you enjoy something within upcoming posts and comments. Have a great spring and rest of ‘08.