Topic: SE Impacts: Theoretical Limits Implementing Software
Presenter: Stuart Kretch
Registration (RSVP) Requested: Register Here via EventBrite
Flyer Map Venue Website Abstract: Systems engineering has had to accommodate larger and more diverse systems and more varied technologies. Organizations have expanded their use of computing and invested more in efforts to improve their implementation efforts. The practice of software implementation has become more sophisticated with better programming methods, languages and tools, e.g. debuggers, version control, configuration management, etc. We also expect that implementing new solutions will enjoy the benefits of greater experience and maturity and become more predictable and less risky.
Unfortunately, software implementation is still problematic. This failure to improve is amenable to formal analysis; it’s the result of fundamental mathematics. These effects are discussed as well as their implications for planning software work and other problem domains. One lesson is the danger of using anecdotal evidence such as one’s personal experience and extrapolating to future work; this easily leads to conclusions that are both intuitive and wrong. The lessons here also reflect on the entire industry. In addition, the effects are wider than software; they impact other problem domains that are particularly large and complex.
Presenter Bio: Stuart Kretch has been an IT and management consultant for IBM, PricewatehouseCoopers and Coopers & Lybrand during which he has been Project Manager, Business Analyst and performed other roles. He has implemented enterprise Supply Chain systems on a national and global scale at various well-known companies around the world. Currently, he is consulting in IT via Prime Radiant LLC. Quantitative and planning solutions have been a particular interest of his since high school. He may have missed his true calling when as a high school senior, he implemented an enormously popular (and in the opinion of the math department too popular) one-armed bandit computer game in Orange High School’s math office.
Join us before the meeting at 4 PM for appetizers or an early dinner at
Aladdin's Eatery! Select the appropriate ticket type when you RSVP, to ensure we have an accurate headcount for dinner.