The Evolution of Engineering Excellence by Patrick Kua

Presented at https://www.meetup.com/Agile-Singapore/events/273699770

How we build software today looks vastly different from 20 years ago. Excellence in software engineering matters more than ever. Did you ever stop to wonder why? By looking at the history of engineering practices, we can learn how engineering excellence evolved and what that implies about the future. As software engineers, you will learn why it’s important to continue to hone your craft and why it’s important for tech companies to continually invest in software excellence today.

Patrick Kua is a seasoned technology leader with almost 20 years of experience. His personal passion is accelerating the growth and success of tech organisations and technical leaders. He has had many years of hands-on experience, leading, managing and improving complex organisations and software systems as the CTO and Chief Scientist of N26 (Berlin, Germany) and as a Technical Principal Consultant at ThoughtWorks. He is a frequent keynote and conference speaker, author of three books including The Retrospective Handbook, Talking with Tech Leads and Building Evolutionary Architectures and runs the free popular newsletter for leaders in tech, “Level Up” (http://levelup.patkua.com) and the Tech Lead Academy, offering online training for technical leaders. You can find him online on twitter as @patkua or running his very popular “Shortcut to Tech Leadership” workshop.

Transcript

1. The Evolution of Engineering Excellence Agile Singapore (Oct 2020) @patkua
2. @patkua #Architect #Developer #Coach #Leader #CTO #Life-long learner #Author #Speaker Patrick Kua ~20 years experience Agile Software Development Organisational Change Systems Thinking Technical Leadership Development @patkua
3. @patkua thekua.io/twtl thekua.io/retrobook #Architect #Developer #Coach #Leader #CTO #Life-long learner #Author #Speaker thekua.io/evolarch @patkua
4. @patkua Level Up A curated newsletter for leaders in tech http://levelup.patkua.com @patkua
5. @patkua @patkua Shortcut to Tech Leadership Accelerate Your Journey From Maker to Multiplier techlead.academy 3 Nov, 2020 2:30pm SGT https://www.tickettailor.com/events/agilesingapore/434309
6. @patkua Questions http://menti.com use code 8160282; or https://www.menti.com/qacnm9k2b2
7. @patkua @patkua
8. @patkua Our Journey @patkua
9. @patkua @patkua Our Ecosystem Systems Tools Practices Organisation Products Competitors
10. @patkua 1950s
11. @patkua Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/UNIVAC-I-BRL61-0977.jpg @patkua
12. @patkua 0010011010011001 1101010011100101 1100010101001010 0100101101010010 1101011000101100
13. @patkua 0010011010011001 1101010011100101 1100010101001010 0100101101010010 1101011000101100 println(“Hello World”) // PS. Not actual A-0 code
14. @patkua println(“Hello World”)
15. @patkua IDENTIFICATION DIVISION. PROGRAM-ID. HELLO-WORLD. * simple hello world program PROCEDURE DIVISION. DISPLAY 'Hello world!'. STOP RUN.
16. @patkua
17. @patkua Grace Hopper
18. @patkua Context Heavy Calculations Computer Specific This is “Best Practice” @patkua
19. @patkua “Can we improve this?”
20. @patkua Lessons Learned Compute more accessible Too many steps Prototype over words @patkua
21. @patkua 1990s
22. @patkua Intel Inside Software on CDs 56K Modems Reused under the Creative Commons Licence https://www.flickr.com/photos/21987248@N00/122099189 AOL Online 1.0/1.2
23. @patkua
24. @patkua SFTP COM CSV FLATFILE
25. @patkua SFTP COM EJB
26. @patkua SERVER APPLICATION SERVER J2EE APPLICATION J2EE APPLICATION J2EE
27. @patkua J2EE SERVER APPLICATION SERVER J2EE APPLICATION J2EE APPLICATION SERVER APPLICATION SERVER J2EE APPLICATION J2EE APPLICATION
28. @patkua Idea or Task Dev-Test Cycle Write code Build package Start application server Deploy package Test app
29. @patkua @patkua
30. @patkua Key Issues Proprietary App Servers Excessively manual XML “addicted” @patkua
31. @patkua “Enterprise” software Early days for open source This is “Best Practice” Context @patkua
32. @patkua “Can we improve this?”
33. @patkua
34. @patkua Lessons Learned Faster feedback Desire for more lightweight tools Openness @patkua
35. @patkua Early 2000s
36. @patkua Waterfall “Requirement Specifications” “Build and Release Team” Release “sign off” “Regression” phase Release time 3+ months @patkua
37. @patkua Waterfall “I believe in this concept, but the implementation described above is risky and invites failure ” - (1970) Winston Royce @patkua
38. @patkua Agile = “Hack” Software is “Engineering” This is “Best Practice” Context @patkua
39. @patkua “Can we improve this?”
40. @patkua “What if we did good practices more often?” C
41. @patkua C Good Practice Good Practice x 10 Manual testing Automated testing Integration phase Continuous Integration Planning Adaptive Planning Release to customers More frequent releases Code reviews Pair programming
42. @patkua @patkua
43. @patkua
44. @patkua + +
45. @patkua Mid 2000s
46. @patkua 2004 2009 2MB 5MB
47. @patkua 2001 2004 2006
48. @patkua On Premise Cloud Computing
49. @patkua ??? Integration Phase Continuous Integration
50. @patkua “Can we improve this?”
51. @patkua “The Last Mile” Problem @patkua
52. @patkua @patkua Our Journey
53. @patkua What can we learn?
54. @patkua @patkua Our Ecosystem Systems Tools Practices Organisation Products Competitors
55. @patkua Context Matters
56. @patkua Context Matters Context Changes
57. @patkua Constant Improvements
58. @patkua Source: https://xkcd.com/2347/ Constant Improvements
59. @patkua Integration Phase Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery Build Team Regression Testing Automated Testing Trunk Based Development Automated Deployment Process Incremental Delivery Best Practice? Constant Improvements
60. @patkua Constant Experimentation
61. @patkua Integration Phase Continuous Integration Continuous Delivery ??? ??? Adaptive over Predictive Constant Experimentation
62. @patkua Constant Experimentation Not all ideas are great Model Driven Development SOAP Rational Unified Process
63. @patkua Evolutionary Engineering
64. @patkua Evolutionary Engineering Source Control
65. @patkua Evolutionary Engineering RCS VSS TFSVC ClearCase darcs Bazaar SCCS Perforce AccuRev Source Control
66. @patkua @patkua
67. @patkua 4 Crafting Guidelines Stay context aware Learn principles, then apply with tools Use your craft where it matters Strive for incremental continuous improvement @patkua
68. @patkua Conclusion @patkua
69. @patkua Software Excellence Context Best practices expire Improvements Best practices emerge Best practice becomes standard practice Constant Evolution @patkua
70. @patkua Software Excellence Context Best practices expire Improvements Best practices emerge Best practice becomes standard practice Software Craftsmanship Mindset @patkua
71. @patkua Thank You The Evolution of Engineering Excellence
72. @patkua Questions http://menti.com use code 8160282; or https://www.menti.com/qacnm9k2b2