Conference Overview

General:

The Dynamic Link 2009 conference is supported by a grant from the Lilly Vocational Fund for students to explore their vocations and journey of faith. This overview provides the background to the conference's discussion points and its approach.

Background:

Historically, engineers and managers have been at odds with their expectations of each other. This tension seems to be more visible in the field of software development because it is a relatively new form of engineering with outcomes more conceptual than physical in nature. The significance of this conflict is manifested in numerous text books and "how to" articles for both managers and technicians. Ironically, both are concerned about the same goal: quality. However, as most quality experts acknowledge, quality is in the eye of the beholder, and agreeing on the processes to provide quality software is one of the core issues. One publication’s title succinctly describes this as "The Geek Gap."

There have been numerous suggestions among professionals on how to resolve the conflict. Solutions include the adoption of tools and methodologies to facilitate communication between developers, managers and customers; and while not very scientific, psychological profile tools such as Myer-Briggs and DISC have also been used by some to encourage discussion and understanding between participants involved with technology solutions. Regardless, volumes of literature assert that gaining agreement on the approach to quality is challenging. Just recently, the Calvin Computer Science department supported a work shop on the topic of "Technical Debt" which included leading commercial authors and speakers. As a group, the members of that workshop acknowledged there are ongoing issues of how to achieve quality.

Expected Outcomes

The conference will add another consideration to resolving the tension not mentioned in the literature (at least not very often.) That is the role of faith related values. There are numerous publications linking the role of faith in general terms of leadership and teamwork, but there are very few sources where those considerations converge to address the "gaps." Given that, there are four goals to this conference:

1. Examine the "gaps" in regards to software quality management within a Christian context.
2. Provide students an opportunity to participate in the discussion with working professionals. The hope is that the experience will be a valuable exercise in integrating considerations of faith in their future career work by seeing experienced professionals who are professed Christians talking openly about their faith and work.
3. Provide the community a forum where working professionals can comfortably share their faith while exchanging ideas.
4. Produce a summary of the proceedings to be included in the next issue of Dynamic Link.

Approach

There will be pre-conference activities. At the conference there will be general sessions and focus groups.

Pre-Conference Activities: Calvin information systems students will explore the issues behind the gaps. Based on their research and input from volunteers, they will create and distribute a survey to those registered to attend. They will prepare a summary of the results at the conference.

Morning General Session: The general session in the morning will blend a working atmosphere with elements of worship. After the opening prayer, two keynote speakers will set the theme and tone. Dorothy Graham will talk about issues for testers "where the rubber hits the road" in dilemmas they may face. Dr. Quentin Shultze will examine the inter-personal aspects and provide suggestions that can be immediately adopted by the focus groups that will follow.

Focus Groups: * Focus groups will be facilitated discussions. Each group of fifteen will be provided specific topics to share viewpoints on. Many of the discussion points will be based on the results of the surveys conducted by the students. Some of the topics may include:

• Office politics between developers and business people. (Co-facilitated by Calvin student Ben Van Drunen and Becky Bertram, Consultant)
• Responsiblities in keeping up with technology.  (Co-facilitated by Calvin student Debbi Kuipers and T.R. Knight, IT Manager, Taylor University.)
• The dynamic nature of trust in software development. (Co-facilitated by Calvin student Ross Wielard and Mike McIntosh, Project Manager, Amway)

Afternoon General Session: The afternoon will include a summary of the focus groups along with open discussion in the general session. The day will conclude with prayer and thanks.