This post collates the main podcasts, blogs and other resources I have identified to allow me to Track the Leading Edge of Software Development (and associated subjects) throughout my study of the M813 module.
As someone completely new to this professional practice (albeit with related experience from recent work roles, in business analysis and ERP/business/finance systems development) I admit to feeling a bit overwhelmed by this idea of tracking the leading edge of software development, since I’m struggling just to keep up with the trailing edge at this moment in time! Nevertheless, I understand and appreciate the need to keep up to speed with the latest developments in the industry, and am looking forward to dedicating some time to reading/listening to more about the subject.
The key reason why we have to keep on top of this subject is because it’s such a fast-paced environment, compared to say finance/accounting, where of course there are changes we have to keep abreast of (changes to taxation rules such as corporation tax and VAT, changes to data protection laws, and the ever-present threat of international accounting standard changes impacting on our own UK standards).
But in the IT industry we have to contend with, data and other digital compliance changes, a perpetual increase in the levels of cyber-security risk, as well as the shifts and changes brought on by technological advances (such as the rise of artificial intelligence, and what impact that might have on software development in various contexts – particularly where applied to a business setting).
Purpose of the module’s TTLE research component:
It’s primarily two-fold:
- to keep a watching brief on issues arising on a regular basis, and getting a better handle on which ones are important and need to be focussed on/taken on board, and -more importantly – garnering an understanding of what the is the response to such issues of the software industry as a whole – only through a regular surveying of the scene and picking up on what items most of the authoritative sources are referring to, and what they’re saying about them, can help with that;
- knowing who those authoritative sources are and where to find them – a lot of this part of the exercise can be completed by making full use of the excellent guidance offered by the OU’s library resources such as here and here (OU logins required).
Which resources should I focus on?
There’s a whole array of different material and resources available online, from blogs and corporate websites, through to regular podcasts and other audio format resources.
As a newcomer to the subject, I will tend to focus on those resources useful for beginners to the subject. But I also have interests in artificial intelligence (particularly how that might affect software development over time) and the security aspects of software (given recent events related to major security breaches in businesses and public organisations). Given my professional background in finance and business, my interests will also steer towards the business process analysis side of the software development life-cycle with an emphasis on data and analytics, and on business/finance software systems.
My goody bag so far:
1) Software Engineering Radio: http://www.se-radio.net/
Why chosen: Targeted at professional software developers so likely to give a good overview of the industry; recommended by the module team as a good resource; recent and regular updating so a good up-to-the minute resource
Initial thoughts on content: scanned briefly but looks comprehensive, albeit very techie; will need to review new content but restrict to relevant and important articles, or personally interesting subjects (can’t afford to get bogged down or go too far off piste though!)
Status: subscribed to feed > http://feeds.feedburner.com/se-radio
Categories of importance/interest to review: agile; analysts; analytics; api; architecture; big data; business; business process; design; design patterns; devops; domain-driven design; failure; infrastructure; java; lean; lean enterprise; management; modelling; nosql; object oriented design; post modern programming (!); programming languages; project management; python; quality; reliability; scalability; security; software architecture; software development; sql; strategic design; testing
2) Software Development Times: http://sdtimes.com/
Why chosen: another comprehensive resource, a newspaper for the industry so can be expected to give broad and timely coverage of important issues; recommended by module team as a good resource
Initial thoughts on content: brief scan indicates broad coverage, again very techie – will the language be too inaccessible?; need to restrict detailed reading to keyword searches for important/interesting categories; note there’s a ‘learning centre’ at bottom of page with various white papers and webinars which look worth following up on (eg How Good Is Good Enough To Ship?) but they do require registering (could be spammy!)
Status: added to homepage tabset, to monitor regularly
Categories of importance: review all devops articles for module relevance > http://sdtimes.com/tag/devops/
Articles to read: http://sdtimes.com/partnership-ai-adds-new-organizations-network/
3) It Will Never Work in Theory: http://neverworkintheory.org/
Why chosen: recommended by module team; looks like it’ll be easier to access than some of the more techie resources; but caution needed as not being updated regularly and some article are now quite old
Initial thoughts on content: looks to be fairly accessible for a newbie, although not updated very regularly so not the best source for tracking leading edge developments; good selection of articles related to mining (defo follow up on when I’ve got time!)
Status: held in reserve, to visit occasionally
Categories of importance/interest to review (note some of these go back 5 years so may be too old): collaboration; collaborative development; design patterns; documentation; failures; mining; organizational studies; pair programming; productivity; quality; relevance; security; software reuse; spreadsheets; testing; usability; verification
Articles to read: Test-driven development; UML in practice
4) Various resources/magazines from IEEE.org:
a) IT Professional – technology solutions for the enterprise: https://www.computer.org/it-professional/
Why chosen: relevant to my professional background and interest in business/enterprise; IEEE recommended by the OU Library as a good and authoritative resource for all Computing modules; peer-reviewed so good resource, though perhaps not so cutting-edge or up-to-date as other resources
Status: added to homepage tabset, to review occasionally; search for relevant articles as required
Articles to read: Getting Your Data House in Order (case study: banking)
b) Intelligent Systems: https://www.computer.org/intelligent-systems/
Why chosen: area of significant personal and professional interest, although not expected to be of significant use for software development articles specifically; recommended by OU Library, peer-reviewed
Status: added to homepage tabset, to review periodically
Articles to read: Big Universe, Big Data: Machine Learning & Image Analysis for Astronomy
c) IEEE Software: https://www.computer.org/software-magazine/
Why chosen: highly relevant to software development; looks to have lots of interesting articles; recommended by OU Library, peer-reviewed, so a good authoritative resource
Status: added to homepage tabset, to review periodically; search for relevant articles based on module keywords
Articles to read: Scaling up the software development process (IEEE Software blog)
5) IEEE Software Blog: http://blog.ieeesoftware.org/
Why chosen: IEEE recommended by OU Library as good resource; regularly updated; accessible language and short focussed posts but also technical so should help to bring my knowledge up to speed
Status: added to homepage tabset, to review regularly; subscribed to feed > http://blog.ieeesoftware.org/feeds/posts/default
Categories of importance/interest to review: automation; build; devops; model-driven engineering; quality; testing
Articles to read: Sustainable Software Design
6) BA Times: Resources for business analysts: https://www.batimes.com/
Why chosen: professional interest and relevance; comprehensive range of accessible resources and articles; good learning resources
Status: added to homepage tabset, to review regularly
Categories of importance/interest: agile; business process management (BPM); techniques; requirements
See also: Project Times (project management): https://www.projecttimes.com/
Continual assessment element:
My contributions to this activity will need to be posted regularly to the module forum (private access). I’m already a few days behind on starting that task, so need to get up to speed quickly. Each contribution I make (and the body of my submissions overall) will be assessed based on the following criteria:
- my engagement with my chosen resource
- my willingness to express my opinion and provide a constructive review of the resource I have engaged with
- my participation in conversations with fellow students on shared materials
Posts are to be based on various resources I identify as being of importance, relevance or interest to me. I will need to take notes on the content and personal/professional relevance of each resource, as well as share any interesting insights on the online module forum. I will also need to comment on other students’ posts where they are of relevance or interest to me.
References:
M813 Software Development, taught post-graduate module, Open University, Milton Keynes.