Attila Buturla

Over the past 13 years I've worked as a software developer, team leader, and manager at seven different organizations. Each was different in size, industry, and organizational structure. I'd like to think that at each job I've learned from what they did well, and possibly even more so from what was done poorly. While software development is not a new profession, compared to that of others it's still in it's infancy. While there are many different areas that one could focus on, I think one of the more interesting (to me at least) is what the role of a manager in the software field should be. Let me start off by setting a few things straight. In some organizations, especially ones in smaller companies, a manager may be involved in software development. However, I don't consider that person to be a true manager. The more appropriate term might be lead developer. If a manager is involved in software development, but that is not the focus of his or her role, then o...

Some of my friends told me that they enjoyed my blog posting titled "How to run your IS department", although I did hear a consistent message in their feedback. While they seemed to agree with the content of my posting, the general sense was that it sounded like I was complaining without offering any concrete solutions. Well, I'm glad to say that I already had solutions in mind when I made the original posting. Let me start of by saying that I'm not claiming that these ideas are 100% mine because they're not. Rather, they mostly stem from other sources that I have gleaned over the past year while trying to learn more about Scrum and other best practices. Never the less they will help any leaders that are trying to improve how IS is viewed by their organization. Get People Outside of IS to Sponsor Your Projects In Scrum that is the role of the Product Owner. IS rarely creates projects solely for themselves; rather the project has some value to the bus...

Over the course of being a software developer for the past 10 years, at 5 different employers, I've noticed a reoccurring problem at these organizations. The business leaders simply don't understand what IS does and the value that they can bring to the company. (The one exception being a software consulting company, where IS was their business.) Most organizations tend to see IS in a similar light as brick layers or plumbers. They are simply there to keep things working. Additionally they are there to build what other business leaders have envision. In this analogy the business leaders are the architects, coming up with the grand designs, while the software people are the construction workers, putting the pieces together. What the business often fails to realize is that role of IS is to help the business run more efficiently, increases company wide productivity, and most importantly be a strategic asset to the company. In all of my working experience, the software...