LIVE : LOVE : CODE : LEAD

PM-Zone.org : Kharkiv Community of Project Managers

Thomas Albers

Director of Engineering

Direct EDI

http://www.directedi.com

Agenda

About meWho I am : How did I get hereSuccess Leadership Vision

Building Teams and ProductsProcess and TechniquesManaging changeOutsourcing

Senior DevelopersManagers / Architects

DisclaimerI am a work in progress.

I make mistakes.

I retain the right to retract my argument at any time in exchange for a better position.

This is 34.263 years of very personal startup Internet/Saas experience and should not be taken or applied without deep thought and confidence.

Sensitive ears warning:I #$%^& CURSE! [American Slang]

Story of Tom Albers

PEOPLEDISCIPLINEPASSIONENERGYSTRENGTHVISIONALWAYS IMPROVING

LOVE FUN DANCING

THESE ARE THE IDEAS THAT SHAPE MY EXISTENCE

History

Born August 1976 Father is a doctor Mother was a police officer

Typical American childhood with discipline and people focus.

Blessed with great fortune.

Resume

First programming and built business in 1989Medical Billing – Mac – Hypercard

United States Marine Corps. 1994 -1998Business Anywhere 1999-2001Voltdelta Resources 2001-2005MySpace.com 2005-2006New Momentum 2006-2009AMG-SIU/HMS 2009-2010StoryLeaders 2009-Direct EDI 2010-

United States Marine Corps.

Discipline Discipline Discipline

Aviation Jet Engine MechanicProcessQuality Assurance

Sacrifice

Humility – Confidence – No fear

Business Anywhere

ManagementApplication – How To

Product Development

Customers First

Outsourcing

Programming

Travel

MySpace.com

TechnologyTechnology TransitioningIntegrations

Programming

Localization

Scale - Architecture

Direct EDI

Web EDI

EDI TransformationsEDI Integrations

Community Organization

My Approach to Life

How I LiveLive a simple life

Reduce complexity

We are ALL in sales

Elegant and Simple Solutions

Customers First

Passion Love for PeopleLove for Software

Fall in Love often

How I LiveLife : Work : Family

Is there a difference?Treat everyone the sameMake them your family

Make life fun!

Do not sweat the small stuff!Find people to do that for you!

ExerciseHealthy body = healthy Mind

How I LiveBe Humble

Make amazing memories and use their power!

Carpe Diem Horace - Seize the DayAnd if not now, when?

Mi Vida LocaMy Crazy Life

Live happy, Live Lite, Live FreeA real Agile Life

How I Lead

Take Control NowMake lots of small decisions

Start with a CustomerStart with a Vision

A customer has a problem…

Present the problemLEAD the team to the solution

Do you believe in a “corporate strategy”? Has it helped somehow in your career?

How I ManageConsensus Building

Push teams to own the problemSelf Organization

Long term planning is a waste of timeEstimates are guesses

Long term guesses compound poor over timeMost Decisions are temporaryMost Decisions should be temporary

Lead through experience

Meetings Suck

Be an example

How I Code

Tuesdays and Thursdays are code only days

Pomodoro Technique25 minutes uninterrupted : 5 minute break

HeadphonesHip hop : Drum and Bass : Ambient

Test DrivenContinuous Improvement

Always working Software

InfluencesWhat books/articles influenced you as a professional?Seven Habits of Highly Effective PeopleHow to win friends and Influence PeopleFrom Good to GreatMythical Man MonthCustomer Centric Selling/Solution SellingToo many programming books to name

PeopleJason FriedMike BosworthScott HanselmanJoel SpolskyKris WilliamsScott Guthrie

Enough about me!

LIVE : LOVE : CODE : LEAD

LIVE : LOVE : CODE : LEAD

Software Leadership

Software Leadership

What tools did you use to manage your projects (planning, bug tracking, configuration management etc.)?

How do you communicate complex ideas to the team?

How do you inspire/drive innovation?

Failure

What were your last biggest failures and what did you study from them?

When you are the manager is it safe to come to you and say that your tasks is behind the schedule?

What do you usually do in this situation?

Building Great Applications

Process & Techniques

How have you positioned engineering within the Organization?

How are teams organized within Engineering?

How is change introduced and controlled within the software development lifecycle?

How do you keep developers motivated throughout the project?

*** throughout the product lifecycle?

Managing Change

How do you manage change within the application?

Outsourcing

What are the current trends in US about outsourcing? Use more outsourcing or less then

before? What are the favorite directions: India, China, Eastern Europe etc.?

What is the most important keys – why did you select specific outsource team?

What are 3 most important things you expect from outsource team (to be cheap, transparent, fast, fit in deadline etc.)

Outsourcing

What are the typical ranges for hourly/monthly rates you would expect from Ukrainian teams as a US customer?

How does that compare that to the local rates in US?

Are there any stereotypes about quality of code from Ukraine/Russia?

We often make fun of India code, but are there common complaints about our own code?

When working as a customer with a development team in Ukraine would you prefer to have a PM in Ukraine or in US? Why?

Software Architects

What are the key skills we are looking for in a Software Architect?

Where/how do you find great architects?

How do you interview for architects?

Quality Assurance

What about QA people in the USA? Are they valuable?

What are their preferable skills ?

Summary

About meWho I am : How did I get hereSuccess Leadership Vision

Building Teams and ProductsProcess and TechniquesManaging changeOutsourcing

Senior DevelopersManagers / Architects

Call to Action

Lead with Passion and Vision

Love Software, Family, Business

Live and Love the Life you have built

Continue to Learn, Always

Stay Connected

Stay ConnectedSkype : alberstt

Email : tom.albers@directedi.comalberstt@gmail.com

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/albers

LIVE : LOVE : CODE : LEAD