Passionate About Digital Africa
Ideas around improving the ability of companies and the sector as a whole to perform better
A friend asked me recently about CMMI. He hadn’t heard anything about it recently and assumed that it had come and gone, like so many other initiatives in the Software Engineering body of practice. He was amazed when I told him that CMMI was alive and well and growing in various parts of the world.
For those of you who never knew, or can’t remember, what CMMI is … here is a brief summary:
by Prof Barry Dwolatzky
In just under 6 weeks we will be running the inaugural “Agile Africa” Conference. Registrations opened today (details here) and social media started buzzing with questions and comments. Why no African keynote speakers? Why no women? Why so expensive? While all of these comments are important and valid (and deserve a response), I got to thinking about something quite different – How did the great annual conferences in the world get started? Continue reading “Creating Something Significant from Nothing – Reflections on planning Agile Africa 2013”
I’ve been rolling up my sleeves to help get the “Agile Africa 2013” Conference going. “Agile India”, “Agile South America” and others have all appeared on the international conference landscape, so why not an “Agile Africa”.
The idea was first explored in 2012. Unfortunately the people driving the idea didn’t manage to pull it off. The JCSE, in partnership with the company “ThoughtWorks”, and a group of interested Agile practitioners decided to make it happen in 2013.
We now have a date – 12 & 13 August, a venue – the Alex Theater in Braamfontein, and a great list of keynote speakers – Martin Fowler, Ivar Jacobson, David Hussman, Mitch Lacey, Amr Noaman.
We are now going live with a call for sponsors and registrations. For more details contact me (until we have our official website). I’m at barry@jcse.org.za .
by Prof Barry Dwolatzky
Software Engineer #1: What methodology are you using these days?
Software Engineer #2: We’re into Lean in a big way …. with a few XP practices thrown into the mix. We were very into Scrum last year, but then I read this amazing book and really got hooked on Lean.
SE #1: I remember the arguments we used to have a few years ago. You tried to convince me that Agile was a recipe for disaster. I think you were very keen on RUP at the time.
SE #2: That’s right. I was very young and immature then. I’ve got a much deeper understanding now of how software development really works, and I have absolutely no doubt that Lean and Kanban have all the answers for me.
Continue reading “Is it time to re-establish Software Engineering on firmer foundations?”
by Prof Barry Dwolatzky
You’re reversing your car when, suddenly, you hear a loud crunch as you drive over something. You stop, jump out and run to see what you’ve hit. It’s your 5-year-old daughter’s tricycle crushed under your back wheel. Someone must have left it in the driveway yesterday. What do you do next?
Continue reading “Shuttle’s software quality head favours pragmatic approach to process improvement”
by Prof Barry Dwolatzky
I’ve just received the really sad news that Watts Humphrey died today (Thursday 28th October) aged 83 years old.
Watts Humphrey was one of the world’s most influential figures in the field of software engineering. In 1986, after retiring as the head of software at IBM, Humphrey joined the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh USA. For the next 24 years he drove the development of the Capability Maturity Model (CMM), the Personal Software Process (PSP) and the Team Software Process (TSP). His work brought the concepts of process, measurement and continuing improvement to the software development industry.
Watts Humphrey’s death came a few days after I unveiled my ambitious strategy to create 1,000’s of new jobs in the South African software sector. This strategy is largely based on Humphrey’s contributions to software engineering. The strategy began to take shape when I first met Watts in Mexico City in 2008, where I was leading a delegation from South Africa investigating TSP adoption. He was keenly interested in the South African software sector and its future prospects.
Anyone who met Watts Humphrey could not fail to be inspired by his clear vision and boundless energy. His books are wonderful to read – they’re filled with the wisdom of his decades of experience and lots of common sense.
I will always be inspired by Watts Humphrey. I remain determined to build, here in South Africa, on his wonderful work. I see his work as a tool and inspiration that will change the lives of those in our country who develop and use software.