I've been given an opportunity to develop out a roadmap for ensuring that our very LARGE legacy product heads in the right direction from this point out. Their current focus is apparently centering on the word "stability" Roughly, stability, to them, means that what we have designed our product to do, *works* and is satisfactory to the customer (things like performance cannot be ignored here, for example).
This team (people/process/infrastructure) roughly works on the level of a bunch of unorganized college kids, so there is a lot of room for improvement. They need some fundamentals put in place, for sure -- Automatic builds, CI, unit testing ... (clearly the list goes on from there). Although I specialize in testing, I believe that our executives now understand that "we can't test quality into our product" -- we have to be doing things with quality from the beginning. As I think about all the things this team needs in order to be working in a fashion that does actually move them forward, I want to be sure to optimize such a transition.
I want to hear from others, however, about what *they* would do, if given such an opportunity. I want to brainstorm as a group how people *wish* their teams worked. Let's draw up an ideal "software creation" plan -- beginning to end, all of the pieces.
I have a space available for a physical location, for those who are local. Please send me an email (address at the top right of the blog) for specifics.
I'll be offering a remote-in ability, too. I've created a GoTo meeting that offers both VOIP connection and phone-in connection.
I'll tentatively plan on holding this at 7:00pm EST today, Thursday, October 22 (Sorry! I meant the 22nd!).
1. Please join my meeting.
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/
2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) - a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone.
Dial 630-869-1014
Access Code: 604-606-915
Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting
Meeting ID: 604-606-915