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Welcome to the Albuquerque Software
Process Improvement Network!

(ABQSPIN)

July Meeting

Following up on our very successful evening with Esther Derby in June, we will be hosting a joint SPIN and AgileNM meeting this month, presented by our own Frank LaFond. The topic will be:

Topic: Technical Debt

Your software system requires new functionality. There are two ways to do it; the first is faster to implement, but it is messy – it will complicate subsequent enhancements. The second results in a cleaner design, but it will take longer to complete. Which option should you choose?

Ward Cunningham developed the metaphor of “technical debt” to help us think about this problem. In this metaphor, developing quick and dirty solutions saddles us with technical debt, which is similar to financial debt. Like financial debt, the technical debt incurs interest payments in the form of the extra effort required to implement future enhancements. We can continue paying the interest, or we can pay down the principal by refactoring the design. Although it costs to pay down the principal, we gain by reducing interest payments in the future.

This metaphor also explains why it may be sensible sometimes to use the quick and dirty approach. Just as a business incurs debt to take advantage of a market opportunity, development teams may incur technical debt to meet business objectives. The all-too-common problem, though, is that organizations let their technical debt get out of control, spending most of their development effort paying on crippling interest.

(adapted from: http://martinfowler.com/bliki/TechnicalDebt.html)

Frank will be leading a discussion of technical debt, some of its causes, why it can be expedient from a business perspective, research on the issues important to consider when evaluating technical debt and tools available to quantify technical debt. Please come prepared to discuss your experience with debt and how it manifests in your organization (or not).

Who Should Attend

  •  Managers who make decisions on incurring technical debt and paying back the interest – especially those managers who don't have a development background

  •  Developers who find themselves at odds with the choices their company makes

  •  Users who find systems they depend on take a long time to change and often find new defects in previously working functionality

  •  Anyone who wants to be in the know on this emerging software process topic

 

Presenter: Frank LaFond

Frank LaFond has over twenty years experience as a developer, quality assurance engineer and process engineer. He first became interested in software processes in 1987 when he was tasked with creating a software development methodology for his company. Frank is the founder of Agile New Mexico, a working group of SPIN. He has given presentations recently on topics such as technical debt, virtualization, continuous integration, agile and code reviews.

 

Click HERE for more information or to Register.

 

Date:

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Time:

11:30 PM to 1:00 PM

Location:

UNM Continuing Education 
1634 University Blvd. NE, 
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131
Click here for a map

 

 


If there are upcoming Events that you would like
to see posted, please email them to
info@abqspin.org

WE ARE LOOKING FOR SPEAKERS
We are looking for speakers/panelists for future monthly meetings with experience in the areas of systems development, process improvement, quality management, etc. If you would like to present at a future ABQSPIN meeting, please email us at
info@abqspin.org or contact Sheri Clark at (505) 449-4788.

Visit our Member-Only areas :

SPIN GOALS:
The goals of the ABQ SPIN are to enhance member skills, promote awareness of quality methods and best practices, and support technology transition through an active program of networking and education.  The SPIN meetings will be designed to be a non-competitive forum for discussing problems, sharing ideas and solutions and introducing new or proven methods for implementing and maintaining software (and systems) quality assurance and process improvement initiatives.

View the complete SPIN Mission & Charter.

JOIN US:

NMITSA and ABQ SPIN will NEVER sell, lease, lend or give away your contact information!

  •   LEARN ABOUT MEMBERSHIP HERE
  •   APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP HERE

WE NEED YOUR INVOLVEMENT!

In order to make this SPIN successful, we need your ideas and involvement.  Our plan is to create working groups based on topics that the members want to explore in more detail and to create forums for discussion (e.g., roundtables) focused on people from different sectors, but with similar responsibilities. Send any and all ideas, suggestions, presentation topics, possible speakers and interest in leading any of these working groups or roundtables to info@abqspin.org or contact the current ABQ SPIN Chair, Dave DeGrazio at (505) 559-4333

Anyone who would like to help maintain or redesign this webpage, please contact Dave DeGrazio at (505) 559-4333 or email ddegrazio@mcri.com

ABQ-SPIN is a Peer Group of NMITSA

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