The document discusses the need for a strategic developer role in higher education. Currently, developers are often seen as junior roles and not involved in strategic planning. This leads institutions to outsource development work without considering how to integrate systems. Using APIs, a strategic developer based internally could better customize remote services to meet local needs compared to external suppliers. The role would provide technical leadership to align technology with strategic goals and identify new opportunities through digital innovation, filling a gap similar to the CTO role in business. Bringing developers into senior positions would help institutions gain more value from technology investments.

1. Paul Walk
p.walk@ed.ac.uk
@paulwalk
http://www.paulwalk.net
The Strategic Developer
A new role for Higher Education?

2. I’ll be talking about:
1. How we (in HE & FE) view software-developers
2. Our growing appetite for outsourcing
3. Being in a position to really exploit SaaS
4. the value of the strategic developer
5. conclusion

3. 1. How we (in HE & FE) view
software-developers

4. "I have never yet come across
an engineer who can turn his
hands to business.”
Lord Sugar

5. http://freetheanimal.com/2013/01/corralling-the-paleo-movement-is-like-herding-cats.html

6. the role of ‘developer’ is not valued
• very few developers make it into senior management in higher education and
research
• developers are not invited to contribute at a strategic level for fear of being
seen to be ‘technology driven’
• developers come and go, often on very junior and short-term contracts -
therefore not recognised and trusted
• we have a rich & continuous source of talent from our student cohorts
• this means that there is little investment in developers
• consequently, we don’t get the best value from our developers (through
no fault of their own!)

7. which leads us to:
2. Our growing appetite for
outsourcing

8. “We don’t do IT development -
it’s not our business - I’d
outsource my granny if I
could....”

9. This slide adapted from presentation by Paul Curran (http://www.slideshare.net/JISC/paul-curran)

10. IT as commodity
• what is sacrificed to achieve the convenience of treating IT as a commodity?
• the capacity to offer differentiated services to your paying customers
• the capacity to integrate systems unless it’s worth the while of the remote
provider
• remember, HE is a small market to some providers - they might not care
all that much about solving your niche problems

11. What effect does treating IT as
commodity (or outsourcing your
granny) have on your ability to
deliver an excellent student
experience?

12. This slide adapted from presentation by Paul Curran (http://www.slideshare.net/JISC/paul-curran)

13. 3. Being in a position to really
exploit SaaS

14. the SaaS relationship
• Software as a Service - where the software is delivered to your users across
the network - very often accessed through a Web-browser
• new features added by the vendor and rolled out to all customers
• considerable economies are made possible, but:
• local customisation opportunities are limited, and you are one of many
customers (potentially many more than in a pre-SaaS world)
• to offer more local integration and customisation potential, vendors
increasingly offer machine-readable Application Programming Interfaces
(APIs)
• APIs change the picture....

15. APIs are interfaces for
developers

16. the value of the local developer
• should understand local conditions better than an external supplier
• is more accessible - very important when adopting agile development
• through (web) APIs, can tailor remote services to idiosyncratic local needs
• can engage the technical people in an external supplier - not just the pre-
sales people!
• can engage with and exploit available open source developments

17. Procurement
• procurement of any given SaaS needs to take into account the APIs offered by
that SaaS service.
• this needs to be considered in the context of technical understanding of the
integration possibilities with other local or SaaS systems with which you have a
business relationship
• how do we engage in dialogue with vendors?
• what capacity do we need internally to deal with this?

18. "Do we have the capabilities required to
deliver value from IT?”
Diana Oblinger

19. 4. the value of the strategic
developer

20. simple SaaS relationship

21. it’s usually more complicated....

22. SaaS providers prefer this arrangement

23. closing the gap between understanding & capacity

24. the strategic developer
• is experienced, both technically and in the ‘business’ of Higher Education
• has good local (sometimes tacit) knowledge - such as the real business
processes of the institution
• has moved beyond ‘problem solving’ as the extent of their perspective
• can align technical planning and interventions to strategic goals - has an
institutional perspective
• gives a technical-development dimension to strategic planning
• offers leadership, beyond project-management and can identify new ICT-
based opportunities to innovate and deliver a better student/staff experience

25. the case of the missing career-path

26. institutional memory and understanding

27. business has addressed this
problem by creating the role of
the CTO (Chief Technology
Officer)
what is the equivalent in our
universities and colleges?

28. 5. conclusion

29. "...to thrive in the digital future, you need
people who understand all facets of it
integrated from the very beginning. Take a
lead from the Victorians and ignore Lord
Sugar: bring engineers into your
company at all levels, including the top.”
Eric Schmidt, CEO Google

30. Paul Walk
p.walk@ed.ac.uk
@paulwalk
http://www.paulwalk.net
thank you for listening!

31. how many software developers
does it take to change a
lightbulb?
none.... that’s a hardware
problem.