This presentation describes the results of an exploratory study investigating the work that newly graduated and hired "freshout" engineers perform in the workplace. The study investigates:
* The tasks that freshouts perform successfully and unsuccessfully on the job.
* The consequences of nonperformance.
* The root causes of nonperformance.
This study was funded by the National Science foundation.
Portions of this material are based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1037808.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing DystopiaTEST Huddle
This document summarizes trends in software testing that could diminish its effectiveness and enjoyment. It notes an increasing focus on verification over validation, precise measurement over subjective judgement, and short-term metrics over long-term quality. This narrowing scope risks making testers isolated and limiting their creativity, motivation and ability to consider the full context of a project. The document advocates a holistic and subjective approach that considers people and intangible factors, not just short-term quantifiable results. Subjectivity and considering the whole system, not just parts, are presented as useful for testing.
Stefaan Lukermans & Dominic Maes - Testers And Garbage Men - EuroSTAR 2011TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Testers And Garbage Men by Stefaan Lukermans & Dominic Maes. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
This document discusses several common myths and misconceptions around Agile practices. It summarizes recent research on these topics. The research shows that there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes an "Agile" approach. It also finds that while certifications can complement experience, experience is more important for success. Additionally, the research indicates that traditional models like CMMI can be compatible with Agile practices when certain challenges are addressed. Finally, the document discusses how requirements management is still important for Agile projects, so business analyst skills remain valuable.
Perhaps in no other professional field is the dichotomy between theory and practice more starkly different than in the realm of software testing. Researchers and thought leaders claim that testing requires a high level of cognitive and interpersonal skills, in order to make judgments about the ability of software to fulfill its operational goals. In their minds, testing is about assessing and communicating the risks involved in deploying software in a specific state.
However, in many organizations, testing remains a necessary evil, and a cost to drive down as much as possible. Testing is merely a measure of conformance to requirements, without regard to the quality of requirements or how conformance is measured. This is certainly an important measure, but tells an incomplete story about the value of software in support of our business goals.
We as testers often help to perpetuate the status quo. Although in many cases we realize we can add far more value than we do, we continue to perform testing in a manner that reduces our value in the software development process.
This presentation looks at the state of the art as well of the state of common practice, and attempts to provide a rationale and roadmap whereby the practice of testing can be made more exciting and stimulating to the testing professional, as well as more valuable to the product and the organization.
Herman- Pieter Nijhof - Where Do Old Testers Go?TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2008 presentation on Where Do Old Testers Go? by Herman- Pieter Nijhof. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
This document provides an overview of a two-day PMI-ACP exam prep course. It outlines the course agenda, including introductions, an overview of the PMI-ACP exam requirements, and references. The exam requirements section specifies the experience and training needed to sit for the PMI-ACP exam, including 2000 hours of general project experience, 1500 hours of agile experience, and 21 hours of agile training. The document also notes that the exam will test knowledge of agile fundamentals and tools/techniques.
Innovation, Lean, Agile. Myths and MisconceptionGaetano Mazzanti
This document discusses myths and misconceptions around innovation, Lean, and Agile. It argues that while Lean and Agile principles can help foster innovation, they are often misunderstood and applied in rigid, dogmatic ways that can actually hinder innovation. True innovation emerges from an environment that accepts failure, values learning over outputs, and integrates research into workflows rather than separating it. Process improvement methods should focus on enabling conditions for innovation to emerge rather than trying to dictate or cause innovation directly.
A Rapid Introduction to Rapid Software TestingTechWell
This document provides a summary of a presentation on Rapid Software Testing. The presentation was given by Michael Bolton of DevelopSense and covered the methodology and mindset of rapid software testing. It emphasizes testing software expertly under uncertainty and time pressure. The presentation defines rapid testing as testing more quickly and less expensively while still achieving excellent results. It compares rapid testing to other approaches like exhaustive, ponderous, and slapdash testing. The presentation also discusses principles of rapid testing, how to recognize problems quickly using heuristics, and testing rapidly to fulfill the mission of testing.
Rikard Edgren - Testing is an Island - A Software Testing DystopiaTEST Huddle
This document summarizes trends in software testing that could diminish its effectiveness and enjoyment. It notes an increasing focus on verification over validation, precise measurement over subjective judgement, and short-term metrics over long-term quality. This narrowing scope risks making testers isolated and limiting their creativity, motivation and ability to consider the full context of a project. The document advocates a holistic and subjective approach that considers people and intangible factors, not just short-term quantifiable results. Subjectivity and considering the whole system, not just parts, are presented as useful for testing.
Stefaan Lukermans & Dominic Maes - Testers And Garbage Men - EuroSTAR 2011TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2013 presentation on Testers And Garbage Men by Stefaan Lukermans & Dominic Maes. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
This document discusses several common myths and misconceptions around Agile practices. It summarizes recent research on these topics. The research shows that there is no agreed-upon definition of what constitutes an "Agile" approach. It also finds that while certifications can complement experience, experience is more important for success. Additionally, the research indicates that traditional models like CMMI can be compatible with Agile practices when certain challenges are addressed. Finally, the document discusses how requirements management is still important for Agile projects, so business analyst skills remain valuable.
Perhaps in no other professional field is the dichotomy between theory and practice more starkly different than in the realm of software testing. Researchers and thought leaders claim that testing requires a high level of cognitive and interpersonal skills, in order to make judgments about the ability of software to fulfill its operational goals. In their minds, testing is about assessing and communicating the risks involved in deploying software in a specific state.
However, in many organizations, testing remains a necessary evil, and a cost to drive down as much as possible. Testing is merely a measure of conformance to requirements, without regard to the quality of requirements or how conformance is measured. This is certainly an important measure, but tells an incomplete story about the value of software in support of our business goals.
We as testers often help to perpetuate the status quo. Although in many cases we realize we can add far more value than we do, we continue to perform testing in a manner that reduces our value in the software development process.
This presentation looks at the state of the art as well of the state of common practice, and attempts to provide a rationale and roadmap whereby the practice of testing can be made more exciting and stimulating to the testing professional, as well as more valuable to the product and the organization.
Herman- Pieter Nijhof - Where Do Old Testers Go?TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2008 presentation on Where Do Old Testers Go? by Herman- Pieter Nijhof. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
This document provides an overview of a two-day PMI-ACP exam prep course. It outlines the course agenda, including introductions, an overview of the PMI-ACP exam requirements, and references. The exam requirements section specifies the experience and training needed to sit for the PMI-ACP exam, including 2000 hours of general project experience, 1500 hours of agile experience, and 21 hours of agile training. The document also notes that the exam will test knowledge of agile fundamentals and tools/techniques.
Innovation, Lean, Agile. Myths and MisconceptionGaetano Mazzanti
This document discusses myths and misconceptions around innovation, Lean, and Agile. It argues that while Lean and Agile principles can help foster innovation, they are often misunderstood and applied in rigid, dogmatic ways that can actually hinder innovation. True innovation emerges from an environment that accepts failure, values learning over outputs, and integrates research into workflows rather than separating it. Process improvement methods should focus on enabling conditions for innovation to emerge rather than trying to dictate or cause innovation directly.
A Rapid Introduction to Rapid Software TestingTechWell
This document provides a summary of a presentation on Rapid Software Testing. The presentation was given by Michael Bolton of DevelopSense and covered the methodology and mindset of rapid software testing. It emphasizes testing software expertly under uncertainty and time pressure. The presentation defines rapid testing as testing more quickly and less expensively while still achieving excellent results. It compares rapid testing to other approaches like exhaustive, ponderous, and slapdash testing. The presentation also discusses principles of rapid testing, how to recognize problems quickly using heuristics, and testing rapidly to fulfill the mission of testing.
This document discusses the rationale for adopting continuous delivery practices in software development. It summarizes several studies that found high rates of project failures and benefits not being realized from traditional development approaches. Continuous delivery is presented as an approach that can help address these issues by focusing on rapid, reliable, and automated software releases. Case studies are provided of organizations like Google, Amazon, and HP that have successfully implemented continuous delivery at large scales. Adopting these practices is associated with benefits like increased throughput, reliability, innovation, and business performance.
When you are considering lab informatics and automation projects, someone is going to ask “what is the return on the investment you’re asking for?”. How do you answer them? That is the purpose of this webinar, the second in this series entitled “A Guide for Management: Successfully Applying Laboratory Systems to Your Organization’s Work…”.
The introduction of informatics/automation technologies into laboratory work will require larger investments than typical lab bench spending and involves people from outside support groups. It also touches on knowledge and intellectual property management, an increasingly important corporate topic. Your ability to address these points with the Return On Investment conversation will have a direct impact on the approval of your projects. Join us as we begin to look into these considerations.
1) The VP of Process Improvement at Big Electronics Corp. explains that while manufacturing process improvements have been very successful, yielding significant gains, their efforts to improve product engineering have failed despite trying many different tools and consultants.
2) In a meeting with the CEO, he outlines the rules of his successful manufacturing process improvement approach, including not adding people, having stretch throughput objectives to be met in under two years, and providing resources but doubling throughput requirements after two years. However, these same tactics have not worked for product engineering.
3) The consultant is now meeting with product development engineers to understand the dynamics of their process and how to design sustainable improvement programs.
A Rapid Introduction to Rapid Software TestingTechWell
You're under tight time pressure and have barely enough information to proceed with testing. How do you test quickly and inexpensively, yet still produce informative, credible, and accountable results? Rapid Software Testing, adopted by context-driven testers worldwide, offers a field-proven answer to this all-too-common dilemma. In this one-day sampler of the approach, Paul Holland introduces you to the skills and practice of Rapid Software Testing through stories, discussions, and "minds-on" exercises that simulate important aspects of real testing problems. The rapid approach isn't just testing with speed or a sense of urgency; it's mission-focused testing that eliminates unnecessary work, assures that the most important things get done, and constantly asks how testers can help speed up the successful completion of the project. Join Paul to learn how rapid testing focuses on both the mind set and skill set of the individual tester who uses tight loops of exploration and critical thinking skills to help continuously re-optimize testing to match clients' needs and expectations.
The document discusses issues with estimation in software projects. It notes that traditional estimation approaches fail because they ignore uncertainty and complexity. While Agile aims to help with lighter estimation practices, there is still risk of falling into the same traps as traditional methods. The key problems are how estimates are used, with unrealistic targets, imposed deadlines, and lack of respect causing issues. Respecting uncertainty and using estimates appropriately is emphasized as important.
The document provides 12 tips for preparing a successful grant proposal for the European Research Council (ERC). The tips include understanding the ERC process and guidelines; starting the proposal process many months before the deadline; reserving several weeks solely for writing; getting feedback from multiple reviewers outside your specialty; leveraging local expertise in EU funding; emphasizing your unique achievements and qualifications; proposing a high-risk, high-reward project with a clear title and structure; getting straight to the point without jargon; polishing the proposal extensively; and recognizing that following the tips does not guarantee success but prevents misunderstandings. The overall aim is to craft a proposal that clearly communicates your message to reviewers in a manner that stands out against competing
The document outlines the engineering design process as a 5-step iterative process:
1) Define the problem by identifying needs, gathering requirements, and establishing functional specifications.
2) Gather pertinent information through research and market surveys.
3) Generate multiple potential solutions.
4) Analyze and select the best solution based on criteria like cost and safety.
5) Test and implement the selected solution through prototyping and further refinement.
The process is not always linear and may require revisiting earlier steps as solutions are developed and tested.
Tafline Murnane - The Carrot or The Whip-What Motivates Testers? - EuroSTAR 2010TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2010 presentation on The Carrot or The Whip-What Motivates Testers? by Tafline Murnane. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
The Role of the CTO in a Growing OrganizationRoger Smith
The position of Chief Technology Officer is relatively new to corporate leadership and very little has been published on the role, responsibilities, and relationships of this position. Like many of the traditional leadership positions, the skills necessary to execute this position vary depending on the growth stage that the company is entering. In this paper we discuss the manner in which the role of the CTO changes as a company grows from a start-up to an industry dominating position.
Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and ChallengesTao Xie
Dongmei Zhang and Tao Xie. Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and Challenges. In Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2013), Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP), Mini-Tutorial, San Francisco, CA, May 2013. http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/txie/publications/icse13seip-techtransfer.pdf
The document provides an overview of root cause analysis. It defines root cause analysis as a method used to address problems by identifying their underlying root causes in order to correct or eliminate the cause and prevent recurrence. It describes traditional applications, objectives of training, definitions of root cause and approaches. Key steps in root cause analysis are identified as understanding the meaning of root cause, identifying the steps to find the root cause of problems, and using tools like fishbone diagrams, 5 whys, and asking questions.
What prevents work from flowing smoothly? Making sense of organization impedi...Ken Power
Ken Power discusses common impediments that prevent smooth work flow in organizations. He identifies nine common impediments, including extra features, delays, handovers, and failure demand. Power also outlines three factors that shape self-organization in human systems: structures, patterns, and conditions. Finally, he provides lessons for solving organizational impediments, such as understanding the nature of problems using the Cynefin framework and focusing on end-to-end value flow using lean thinking.
Erkki Poyhonen - Software Testing - A Users GuideTEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2008 presentation on Software Testing - A Users Guide by Erkki Poyhonen. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
The document outlines 10 principles for effective technology leadership that are often overlooked but essential for long-term success. The principles are: 1) understand the day-to-day work of the team through hands-on experience; 2) develop team visions from within instead of imposing top-down strategies; 3) carefully plan human resources to avoid premature ramping up; 4) demonstrate real commitment to quality over compromising for deadlines; 5) focus on solving real business problems not just using technology; 6) ask probing questions to address risks and weaknesses; 7) listen to experts with real experience instead of theorists; 8) change course wisely while maintaining progress and confidence; 9) celebrate real accomplishments without overstating results; 10
Managing international software projects interactively using scrumPeter Horsten
Too many projects are not (fully) successful. In many cases this is caused by issues in the management approach. Clients want to know what they get for a fixed budget. But we all know it's almost impossible to fully specify what you need.
An Agile software approach proved to work for us. After implementing Scrum our projects went more smooth and we were more often delivering the right results on time.
It took time to get this working. For developers it was a bit scary and for our clients it meant they really had to trust us. Today we can see our effort pays off. We wouldn't like to go back to waterfall times anymore.
In this lecture, Poornima covers best practices for recruiting and retaining a co-founder, and additional teammates for a startup.
You can watch the lecture here: http://youtu.be/hHizz0TAoIA
One, No One, One Hundred Thousand Projects (Uno, Nessuno, Centomila Progetti)Gaetano Mazzanti
This document discusses managing projects and initiatives using lean and agile principles. It advocates for limiting work in progress, visualizing and measuring flow, prioritizing based on cost of delay, making decisions with uncertainty in mind, and focusing on continuous learning over predetermined destinations or best practices. The overall message is that complex domains with human involvement require an adaptive approach focused on transparency, collaboration, and experimentation over rigid plans.
This document summarizes and discusses changes happening in the software testing industry. It notes that while testing has grown as a profession, there may now be too many "plain old functional testers" as more testing tasks can be automated. It predicts testing roles will be redistributed as developers take on more automated checking through practices like test-driven development. It also discusses how new architectures like SaaS and trends toward continuous delivery will require changes in how software is tested. The document argues the testing industry needs leadership to help guide these changes and ensure testing keeps pace with new technologies and ways of working.
The document discusses improving project performance through creating and reusing knowledge. It identifies that knowledge is currently not well captured, documented, or reused from previous projects. It proposes a framework with four areas to address: 1) creating useful knowledge in projects, 2) encoding knowledge for easy access, 3) reusing knowledge in future projects, and 4) reusing knowledge to continuously improve functional processes. This framework aims to establish a system where knowledge is pulled from projects based on desired reuse.
The document discusses the AGCommons initiative which aims to improve incomes and lives of small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through location-specific information. It does this by collecting and harmonizing agricultural data from various sources and organizations, and making it accessible to farmers through tools like mobile apps and web portals. The AGCommons platform is currently working on several "quick win" pilot projects in East Africa to test collecting and sharing geospatial data and insights with farmers to help with issues like crop management and market access.
The document discusses several topics related to using geospatial data and modeling for agricultural research and development in Africa. It describes index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) being piloted in Northern Kenya to protect pastoralists from drought losses. It discusses how normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data is used to develop a predictive livestock mortality index for IBLI. It also discusses downscaling global climate models to generate high-resolution climate projections and weather data to assess local impacts of climate change on agriculture. Finally, it outlines how ILRI is targeting its work, taking a systems approach, and aiming to have a forward-looking perspective.
This document discusses the rationale for adopting continuous delivery practices in software development. It summarizes several studies that found high rates of project failures and benefits not being realized from traditional development approaches. Continuous delivery is presented as an approach that can help address these issues by focusing on rapid, reliable, and automated software releases. Case studies are provided of organizations like Google, Amazon, and HP that have successfully implemented continuous delivery at large scales. Adopting these practices is associated with benefits like increased throughput, reliability, innovation, and business performance.
When you are considering lab informatics and automation projects, someone is going to ask “what is the return on the investment you’re asking for?”. How do you answer them? That is the purpose of this webinar, the second in this series entitled “A Guide for Management: Successfully Applying Laboratory Systems to Your Organization’s Work…”.
The introduction of informatics/automation technologies into laboratory work will require larger investments than typical lab bench spending and involves people from outside support groups. It also touches on knowledge and intellectual property management, an increasingly important corporate topic. Your ability to address these points with the Return On Investment conversation will have a direct impact on the approval of your projects. Join us as we begin to look into these considerations.
1) The VP of Process Improvement at Big Electronics Corp. explains that while manufacturing process improvements have been very successful, yielding significant gains, their efforts to improve product engineering have failed despite trying many different tools and consultants.
2) In a meeting with the CEO, he outlines the rules of his successful manufacturing process improvement approach, including not adding people, having stretch throughput objectives to be met in under two years, and providing resources but doubling throughput requirements after two years. However, these same tactics have not worked for product engineering.
3) The consultant is now meeting with product development engineers to understand the dynamics of their process and how to design sustainable improvement programs.
A Rapid Introduction to Rapid Software TestingTechWell
You're under tight time pressure and have barely enough information to proceed with testing. How do you test quickly and inexpensively, yet still produce informative, credible, and accountable results? Rapid Software Testing, adopted by context-driven testers worldwide, offers a field-proven answer to this all-too-common dilemma. In this one-day sampler of the approach, Paul Holland introduces you to the skills and practice of Rapid Software Testing through stories, discussions, and "minds-on" exercises that simulate important aspects of real testing problems. The rapid approach isn't just testing with speed or a sense of urgency; it's mission-focused testing that eliminates unnecessary work, assures that the most important things get done, and constantly asks how testers can help speed up the successful completion of the project. Join Paul to learn how rapid testing focuses on both the mind set and skill set of the individual tester who uses tight loops of exploration and critical thinking skills to help continuously re-optimize testing to match clients' needs and expectations.
The document discusses issues with estimation in software projects. It notes that traditional estimation approaches fail because they ignore uncertainty and complexity. While Agile aims to help with lighter estimation practices, there is still risk of falling into the same traps as traditional methods. The key problems are how estimates are used, with unrealistic targets, imposed deadlines, and lack of respect causing issues. Respecting uncertainty and using estimates appropriately is emphasized as important.
The document provides 12 tips for preparing a successful grant proposal for the European Research Council (ERC). The tips include understanding the ERC process and guidelines; starting the proposal process many months before the deadline; reserving several weeks solely for writing; getting feedback from multiple reviewers outside your specialty; leveraging local expertise in EU funding; emphasizing your unique achievements and qualifications; proposing a high-risk, high-reward project with a clear title and structure; getting straight to the point without jargon; polishing the proposal extensively; and recognizing that following the tips does not guarantee success but prevents misunderstandings. The overall aim is to craft a proposal that clearly communicates your message to reviewers in a manner that stands out against competing
The document outlines the engineering design process as a 5-step iterative process:
1) Define the problem by identifying needs, gathering requirements, and establishing functional specifications.
2) Gather pertinent information through research and market surveys.
3) Generate multiple potential solutions.
4) Analyze and select the best solution based on criteria like cost and safety.
5) Test and implement the selected solution through prototyping and further refinement.
The process is not always linear and may require revisiting earlier steps as solutions are developed and tested.
Tafline Murnane - The Carrot or The Whip-What Motivates Testers? - EuroSTAR 2010TEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2010 presentation on The Carrot or The Whip-What Motivates Testers? by Tafline Murnane. See more at: http://conference.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
The Role of the CTO in a Growing OrganizationRoger Smith
The position of Chief Technology Officer is relatively new to corporate leadership and very little has been published on the role, responsibilities, and relationships of this position. Like many of the traditional leadership positions, the skills necessary to execute this position vary depending on the growth stage that the company is entering. In this paper we discuss the manner in which the role of the CTO changes as a company grows from a start-up to an industry dominating position.
Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and ChallengesTao Xie
Dongmei Zhang and Tao Xie. Pathways to Technology Transfer and Adoption: Achievements and Challenges. In Proceedings of the 35th International Conference on Software Engineering (ICSE 2013), Software Engineering in Practice (SEIP), Mini-Tutorial, San Francisco, CA, May 2013. http://people.engr.ncsu.edu/txie/publications/icse13seip-techtransfer.pdf
The document provides an overview of root cause analysis. It defines root cause analysis as a method used to address problems by identifying their underlying root causes in order to correct or eliminate the cause and prevent recurrence. It describes traditional applications, objectives of training, definitions of root cause and approaches. Key steps in root cause analysis are identified as understanding the meaning of root cause, identifying the steps to find the root cause of problems, and using tools like fishbone diagrams, 5 whys, and asking questions.
What prevents work from flowing smoothly? Making sense of organization impedi...Ken Power
Ken Power discusses common impediments that prevent smooth work flow in organizations. He identifies nine common impediments, including extra features, delays, handovers, and failure demand. Power also outlines three factors that shape self-organization in human systems: structures, patterns, and conditions. Finally, he provides lessons for solving organizational impediments, such as understanding the nature of problems using the Cynefin framework and focusing on end-to-end value flow using lean thinking.
Erkki Poyhonen - Software Testing - A Users GuideTEST Huddle
EuroSTAR Software Testing Conference 2008 presentation on Software Testing - A Users Guide by Erkki Poyhonen. See more at conferences.eurostarsoftwaretesting.com/past-presentations/
The document outlines 10 principles for effective technology leadership that are often overlooked but essential for long-term success. The principles are: 1) understand the day-to-day work of the team through hands-on experience; 2) develop team visions from within instead of imposing top-down strategies; 3) carefully plan human resources to avoid premature ramping up; 4) demonstrate real commitment to quality over compromising for deadlines; 5) focus on solving real business problems not just using technology; 6) ask probing questions to address risks and weaknesses; 7) listen to experts with real experience instead of theorists; 8) change course wisely while maintaining progress and confidence; 9) celebrate real accomplishments without overstating results; 10
Managing international software projects interactively using scrumPeter Horsten
Too many projects are not (fully) successful. In many cases this is caused by issues in the management approach. Clients want to know what they get for a fixed budget. But we all know it's almost impossible to fully specify what you need.
An Agile software approach proved to work for us. After implementing Scrum our projects went more smooth and we were more often delivering the right results on time.
It took time to get this working. For developers it was a bit scary and for our clients it meant they really had to trust us. Today we can see our effort pays off. We wouldn't like to go back to waterfall times anymore.
In this lecture, Poornima covers best practices for recruiting and retaining a co-founder, and additional teammates for a startup.
You can watch the lecture here: http://youtu.be/hHizz0TAoIA
One, No One, One Hundred Thousand Projects (Uno, Nessuno, Centomila Progetti)Gaetano Mazzanti
This document discusses managing projects and initiatives using lean and agile principles. It advocates for limiting work in progress, visualizing and measuring flow, prioritizing based on cost of delay, making decisions with uncertainty in mind, and focusing on continuous learning over predetermined destinations or best practices. The overall message is that complex domains with human involvement require an adaptive approach focused on transparency, collaboration, and experimentation over rigid plans.
This document summarizes and discusses changes happening in the software testing industry. It notes that while testing has grown as a profession, there may now be too many "plain old functional testers" as more testing tasks can be automated. It predicts testing roles will be redistributed as developers take on more automated checking through practices like test-driven development. It also discusses how new architectures like SaaS and trends toward continuous delivery will require changes in how software is tested. The document argues the testing industry needs leadership to help guide these changes and ensure testing keeps pace with new technologies and ways of working.
The document discusses improving project performance through creating and reusing knowledge. It identifies that knowledge is currently not well captured, documented, or reused from previous projects. It proposes a framework with four areas to address: 1) creating useful knowledge in projects, 2) encoding knowledge for easy access, 3) reusing knowledge in future projects, and 4) reusing knowledge to continuously improve functional processes. This framework aims to establish a system where knowledge is pulled from projects based on desired reuse.
The document discusses the AGCommons initiative which aims to improve incomes and lives of small farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa through location-specific information. It does this by collecting and harmonizing agricultural data from various sources and organizations, and making it accessible to farmers through tools like mobile apps and web portals. The AGCommons platform is currently working on several "quick win" pilot projects in East Africa to test collecting and sharing geospatial data and insights with farmers to help with issues like crop management and market access.
The document discusses several topics related to using geospatial data and modeling for agricultural research and development in Africa. It describes index-based livestock insurance (IBLI) being piloted in Northern Kenya to protect pastoralists from drought losses. It discusses how normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data is used to develop a predictive livestock mortality index for IBLI. It also discusses downscaling global climate models to generate high-resolution climate projections and weather data to assess local impacts of climate change on agriculture. Finally, it outlines how ILRI is targeting its work, taking a systems approach, and aiming to have a forward-looking perspective.
This document summarizes a community level crop disease surveillance project in Uganda. The objective was to assess using a participatory GIS-enabled plant diagnostics network and mobile technologies to provide timely and cost-efficient crop disease information. Three major banana diseases threaten food security and livelihoods in East Africa. The project brought together a network of village intermediaries equipped with GPS and mobile phones to gather real-time crop disease data and disseminate results and recommendations. Over 3000 farmer surveys were conducted in two districts, and samples were taken and followed up by the village intermediaries to identify diseases like Fusarium wilt and banana bacterial wilt. The project achieved a wealth of validated crop disease data and increased farmer awareness through training over
The document proposes creating an interactive website called the Africa Trial Sites Catalogue (AFRICATS) to facilitate information sharing between plant breeders, researchers, and farmers. AFRICATS would provide a searchable database of over 300 African crop evaluation trial sites, including location data, agroclimatic conditions, and trial results. Tools on the site would help users identify the most similar trial locations to their own, as well as crop varieties suited to different drought conditions. The goal is to more efficiently disseminate improved crop varieties to small-scale African farmers.
This document discusses using GIS for research and development in agriculture, specifically for cocoa production in West Africa. It summarizes that GIS can be used for spatial targeting, mapping disease distribution, and identifying suitable areas for intensifying cocoa production while avoiding deforestation. The document provides examples of using GIS to analyze cocoa suitability in Nigeria based on climate and soil factors, and to identify suitable local government areas for investment based on biophysical, socioeconomic and demographic criteria. It also discusses using GIS for disease monitoring and training agricultural researchers and technicians.
This short document repeats the phrase "YOU FEEL LIKE YOU'VE KNOWN SOME THINGS FOR YEARS" three times, followed by "IT'S TIME TO GET OUT" repeated twice, suggesting it is time for a change from something familiar that has been known for a long time.
Joshua Hoffman - Should the CTO be Coding? - Codemotion Amsterdam 2019Codemotion
What is the job of a CTO and how does it change as a startup grows in size and scale? As a CTO, where should you spend your focus? As an engineer aspiring to be a CTO, what skills should you pursue? In this inspiring and personal talk, I describe my journey from early Red Hat engineer to CTO at Bloomon. I will share my view on what it means to be a CTO, and ultimately answer the question: Should the CTO be coding?
What is the job of a CTO and how does it change as a startup grows in size and scale? As a CTO, where should you spend your focus? As an engineer aspiring to be a CTO, what skills should you pursue? In this inspiring and personal talk, I describe my journey from early Red Hat engineer to CTO. I will share my view on what it means to be a CTO, and ultimately answer the question: Should the CTO be coding?
The document discusses conducting a post-mortem analysis after a project to learn lessons. It provides context on the benefits of leveraging past project experiences. It then discusses the key aspects of performing a post-mortem analysis including collecting data, facilitating discussions, focusing on issues not people, being factual and brief. An example post-mortem meeting for the Microsoft Word 6 development project is then summarized, noting scheduling was unrealistic, milestones were too long, and proposed features' problems were not obvious until development started.
What can DesignOps do for you? by Carol Smith at TLMUX in MontrealCarol Smith
You have probably seen the terms DesignOps and/or ResearchOps float by in your social media queue. These teams make designing (and researching) at scale beautifully efficient and successful. Carol steps through how these teams work, the types of activities they perform, situations they are helpful for, and ways you can leverage these types of programs in your organization. Carol will share examples from her experiences and stories from other organizations that are using Design Ops to do effective design at scale.
Presented at Tout le monde UX in Montreal, Quebec, Canada on February 28, 2019. http://toutlemonde-ux.com/
The document outlines the top 10 keys to a successful eLearning project presented by Mark Steiner at the Chicago eLearning & Technology Showcase in 2011. The top 10 keys are: 1) Educate the client on eLearning fundamentals and manage expectations. 2) Determine the actual training need. 3) Define your process and communicate roles. 4) Identify all project personnel and their roles. 5) Analyze technical needs and specifications. 6) Consider interface design and media aspects. 7) Analyze content and instructional strategies. 8) Define deliverables. 9) Acquire tool expertise. 10) Test early and often from both user and technical perspectives.
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»
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BRISBANE
Tuesday 17 March, 2009
8am –- 9.30am
Hilton
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A light buffet breakfast will be provided *
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2. What’s Happening to Our
“Freshout” Engineers?
https://sites.googboisestate.edu/faculty/sv
illachica.htmle.com/a/boisestate.edu/ieeci/
e2r2p
2
Steven W. Villachica
Anthony W. Marker
Donald Plumlee
Amy Chegash
Project Worldwide Out
of the Box
3. Engineering Education
Research to Practice (E2R2P)
Portions of this material are
based upon work supported by
the National Science Foundation
under Grant No. 1037808.
Any opinions, findings, and
conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are
those of the author(s) and do
not necessarily reflect the views
of the National Science
Foundation.
The Research Team
Don Plumlee, PhD.
Steve Villachica, PhD.
Tony Marker , PhD.
Linda Huglin, PhD.
Drew Borreson
Shannon Rist
Amy Chegash
Lorece Stanton
Jessica Scheufler
3
Business Plan
• Ray Svenson
4. Agenda
Share our exploratory research
Ask for your help interpreting the data we’ve
collected
Dialog, not an information dump
Wrap up
4
5. Why Should You Care?
Engineers create a lot of the stuff we use.
Universities can’t mint them fast enough.
64% engineering employers are “somewhat
satisfied” with quality of new hires.
(Spinks, 2006; Trevelyan & Tilli, 2008; Trevelyan, 2010; Blom
& Sakei, 2011)
Professional skills for the engineering
workplace include teamwork, communication,
coordination, data analysis and problem
solving.
(Hoey & Gardner, 1999; Jonassen et al., 2006; Grant &
Dickson, 2006; Korte, Sheppard, & Jordan, 2008; Trevelyan,
2007, 2008; Anderson et al., 2011; Passow, 2012; ASEE &
NSF, 2013)
5
6. Research Design
What sort of
engineers do
engineering
firms REALLY
want to hire?
Boundary Crossing Competencies
Communication, teamwork, networks, critical thinking, global understanding,
perspective, organizational culture, project management, etc.
Many Disciplines Many Systems
Deepatleastonediscipline
Deepatleastonesystem
(c.f. Brown, 2005; Spohrer, 2010;
ASEE & NSF, 2013)
6
ME
7. Research Design
Decrease Ramp-up Time to Competent Job
Performance in the Engineering Workplace
Research Questions
• What are newly graduated and hired “fresh out” engineers doing/not
doing in the workplace that they should?
• What are the consequences of performance/non-performance in the
workplace?
• What are the root causes of workplace nonperformance?
Mixed Design: Focus Groups & Surveys
• Engineering managers, engineering leads, HR personnel, and technical
scientists who work with fresh out engineers
• Fresh out engineers
• Professional engineering organizations
7
8. Actual
Competency
New Task/Project
Leave University/Enter Workforce
Literature Review
8
Desired
Competency
Promotion!
Performance
Time
Company Costs
$ Training
$ Errors
$ Mentoring
$ Salary
$ Opportunity
$ Other projects
$ Others?
{REDUCE
CO$T
• Improve Starting Skills
• Change Performance Curve
• Make Boundaries Porous }
9. Literature Review
There is a significant disconnect between
engineering education and engineering practice.
(Bucciarelli & Kuhn, 1997; NAE, 2005; Jonassen et al., 2006;
Spinks et al., 2006; Korte et al., 2008; Trevelyan, 2008, 2010;
McCrohon & Gibson, 2009; Sheppard et al., 2009; Morgan &
O’Gorman, 2010; Anderson et al., 2009, 2010; Duderstadt,
2010; Stump et al., 2011; ASEE & NSF, 2013; Winters et al.,
2013)
9
10. Literature Review
The time for freshout engineers to fit into their
jobs and perform them competently is a
significant workplace cost.
2 to 5 years ramp-up.
(Trevelyan & Tilli, 2008; Jonassen et al., 2006)
Socialization and onboarding are long-lived.
(Dai & De Meuse, 2007; Bradt & Vonnegut, 2009; Roethle,
2012; Jones, 2013)
The engineering workplace supports
socialization and onboarding variably well.
(Montesano, 2007; Roethle , 2012; Korte & Lin, 2013)
Bad onboarding is co$tly.
(Ramlall, 2004; Rollag et al., 2005; Snell, 2006; Kowtha,
2008; Lindo, 2010; Roethle, 2012; Korte & Lin, 2013)
10
11. Literature Review
Academics, industry, and government agencies
own this shared problem, and it requires a
systemic solution. Unfortunately, we know little
about
Engineering practice for freshout engineers.
(Kowtha, 2008; Trevelyan, 2007, 2008; Brunhaver et al.,
2010, in press; Winters et al., 2013)
What freshout engineers do successfully and
unsuccessfully in the workplace.
(Trevelyan & Tilli, 2008; Trevelyan ,2008, 2009)
Barriers to desired workplace performance.
(Korte et al., 2008; Atman et al., 2010; Brunhaver et al.,
2010, in press; Anderson et al., 2010)
E2R2P is an opportunity to collaborate systemically to decrease
ramp-up time to competent performance.
11
12. Thanks to Our Professional
and Industry Sponsors!
Practicing
engineers at ISPE
BSU COEN
Advisory Council
Focus Groups at
local engineering
firms
12
13. Method
Practicing Engineer Survey
Short survey measuring:
Types of work assigned to
freshouts.
Typical time to competence
Costs and risks that
organizations incur when
freshouts can’t perform to
standards
Typical project organization
for groups of engineers
Organizational support for
freshouts ISPE (2012), n = 23
13
14. Time to Competency for
"Fresh-Outs" (in months)
2 3 4 4
10
Six to Nine Ten to Twelve Thirteen to
Sixteen
Seventeen to
Twenty-Four
More than
Twenty-Four
14
17. Method
Focus Groups
Collect Incidents
Generate Categories
Negotiate Categories
Group Incidents
under Categories
Select Incidents of
Non-performance
Group Incidents
Under a Root CauseRank Categories
17
Critical Incident Technique
(Flanagan, 1954)
NominalGroupTechnique
(Delpetal.,1975)
Cause Analysis
19. Focus Group Results
Performance Categories
Category Unsuccessful Successful
Communication 9 8
Technical
Fundamentals 3 11
Business
Systems
5 7
Design 5 6
Motivation 6 5
Problem Solving 6 5
Initiative 2 8
Positive Attitude 3 4
Work Ethic 2 5
Circuit Debug 3 3
Freshout-Defined Categories
n = 10
Competency Unsuccessful Successful
Design 14 18
Communication 18 10
Analysis 10 14
Motivation 8 10
Technical
Fundamentals
3 12
Problem Solving 7 6
Software 3 10
Business
Systems
5 7
Initiative 2 8
Leadership 4 5
Process
Knowledge
4 3
Positive Attitude 3 4
Manager-Defined Categories
n = 20
19
20. Focus Group Results
Consequences
Successful Performance
Consequences
# of Events
Met Schedule 19
Freed up Senior Staff 18
Saved Resources 18
Improved Processes 15
Developed New Tool 14
Developed Skill / Knowledge 12
Saved Time 12
Gained Client Confidence 10
Gained Employer Confidence 10
Stayed Within Budget 7
Increased Productivity 6
Unsuccessful Performance
Consequences
# of Events
Lost Time 34
Rework 22
Additional Staff Support 17
Missed Deadline 12
Increased Costs 10
Wasted Budget 8
Lost Employer Confidence 5
Stressed Staff 5
Job Unfinished 4
Lost Client Confidence 4
Exceeded Budget 3
20
Aggregated Freshout and
Management Events
21. Categories, Activities and
Consequences
Top-Ranked Categories Source Activity Consequence
1. Communication /
Teamwork
Freshout “The first time I had to write up an
engineering report--I struggled doing it. I
never had to submit something to IDQ
before, and I wasn’t confident”
“It just took me a lot of my personal time
and a senior had to review it and it wasn’t
good.”
2. Skill Develop-
ment / Learning
Freshout “I observed a lot of nuclear test procedures
and started evolutions on board and naval
vessels so after you learned we went out to
the vessels and basically were like buddy
buddy with a qualified test engineer to learn
the procedures and observe what was going
on…”
“I think I was pretty successful. You had to
regurgitate what you learned. You had a
qualification check off sheet and so you’d have
to go back with that test engineer and
regurgitate what you saw and how you thought
the procedure went then he would sign off
your sheet and you’d go on to the next.”
3. Work Ethic Manager “We had a junior engineer. I think he had
only been here a couple of weeks. Got him
onto a team for ongoing projects and gave
him minimal amount of direction…”
“…He immediately started contributing more
than I think any of us envisioned…within a
few days he was coordinating with several
other staff inside and outside our company.”
4. Business Systems
/ Processes
Freshout “I didn’t consider that activity [resolving
drawing issues] successful because I was
not aware or did not have enough
knowledge about manufacturing processes
in general to really be effective and resolve
those issues in a short time span. It took
me a lot longer than it could have...”
“As a result it there were a lot of late
deliveries to those revisions and caused us to
do multiple rework and multiple parts…”
21
22. Categories, Activities and
Consequences (con’t)
22
Top-Ranked Categories Source Activity Consequence
5. Problem Solving Manager “There was an issue that was found on the
floor and it was in the CAB. The CAB group
lead came to this person [the new engineer]
and asked him to go figure out what the
problem was.”
“That person went out there, they figured it
out, they investigated it…found out that it
was in fact a design error, and they went and
took care of it…ended up fixing the design
error correctly…It allowed production to keep
going and we had minimal down time”
6. Analysis Freshout “The engineer that was doing it [analysis] had
a lot going on. Field work and stuff so [he]…
passed it off to me. “
The biggest impact was probably time and
cost for doing it slower than he was or
would’ve and … a couple hours of
coaching…So there was a learning curve to
it..”
7. Technical
Fundamentals
Manager “…basically he [the new engineer] didn’t know
how to use the software and didn’t have the
general, multiple CAD system-type training.
“He was focused all on one CAD software when
he was in school and so although he could
model in 3-D, he couldn't psych out how this
software thought and how it behaved and that
it was different than what he had done
before…”
8. Design Manager “I had a young engineer who was tasked with
developing a draw bar for semi trailers.”
“He [the new engineer] was able to, in about a
four-month period, generate a single CAD
model that could then be driven through a
family table to automatically generate new
designs and drawings. He took a typically 8
hour to 12-hour project down to 30 minutes.
The impact was huge.”
23. Categories, Activities and
Consequences (con’t)
23
Top-Ranked Categories Source Activity Consequence
9. Software Freshout “We had switched over to this other software
and for 9 months I don’t think we produced
any usable products. “
“.Literally everything we did in the software for
six months was never used. It was never
useable. Had to be trashed. It was an
extremely frustrating part of my career. “
11. Leadership [When I joined the design team] “I was
immediately put in charge of an entire CAB
design for one of our contracts. Essentially
what that entails is facilitating the whole design
process.”
“I don’t feel like I was ill prepared to do that.”
24. Root Cause Analysis
Instrumentation
• Data
• Expectations
• Feedback
• Standard Operating
Procedures
• Resources
• Software
• Tools
• Support
• Incentives
• Rewards
• Consequences
• Knowledge
• Skills
• Physical Capacity
• Mental Capacity
• Flexibility
• Resilience
• Motives
• Affect
• Work Habits
• Drive
ENVIRONMENTPERSON
INFORMATION TOOLS MOTIVATION
24
27. Limitations
Validity and reliability of the Practicing
Engineer Survey is unknown.
Small exploratory study using a convenience
sample of local engineering firms.
No post-focus group data checking with
participants and their company sponsors
(managers).
27
28. Conclusions
Decreasing time to engineering workplace
competency is a shared problem.
Freshout engineers are variably prepared to
enter the workplace.
The engineering workplace supports freshout
performance variably well.
Socialization and onboarding involves a lot of
self-reported learning.
We don’t know about the extent to which
fixing the workplace environment and
introducing it to students sooner would
decrease ramp-up time.
28
29. Next Steps
Seek funding to expand research.
– Include other engineering populations.
– Regional, national, or international sample.
– Scale up and automate processes.
Investigate research questions about:
– Blurring traditional academic and industry
boundaries.
– The extent to which a smarter workplace
environment introduced in academics could
decrease ramp-up time.
Create a collaborative venue to decrease
ramp-up time.
29
30. Summary
Research questions and importance
Literature review
Method
Results
Limitations
Conclusions
30
What are your lessons
learned?
How might you apply
them back on the job?
31. References
Anderson, K., Courter, S., McGlamery, T., Nathans-Kelly, T., & Nicometo, C. (2009, June). Understanding the
current work and values of professional engineers: Implications for engineering education. Paper presented
at the American Society for Engineering Education, Austin, TX.
Anderson, K.J.B., Courter, S.S., McGlamery, T., Nathans-Kelly, T.M., & Nicometo, C.G. (2010). Understanding
engineering work and identity: A cross-case analysis of engineers within six firms. Engineering
Studies, 2(3), 153-174. doi: 10.1080/19378629.2010.519772
ASEE & NSF. (2013). Transforming undergraduate education in engineering: Phase I--Synthesizing and
integrating industry perspectives. Arlington, VA: American Society for Engineering Education. Retrieved
from http://www.asee.org/TUEE_PhaseI_WorkshopReport.pdf
Atman, C.J., Sheppard, S.D., Turns, J., Adams, R.S., Fleming, L.N., Stevens, R., . . . Lund, D. (2010). Enabling
engineering student success: The final report for the center for the advancement of engineering education.
San Rafael, CA: Center for the Advancement of Engineering Education. Retrieved from
http://www.engr.washington.edu/caee/CAEE%20final%20report%2020101102.pdf
Blom, A., & Saeki, H. (2011). Employability and skill set of newly graduated engineers in India. The World Bank
South Asia Region Education Team. Retrieved from
http://elibrary.worldbank.org/docserver/download/5640.pdf?expires=1337278148&id=id&accname=guest&
checksum=E557A65C13E9CA650433F9E5798C4242
Borrego, M., & Bernhard, J. (2011). The emergence of engineering education research as an internationally
connected field of inquiry. Journal of Engineering Education, 100(1), 14-47.
Bradt, G.B., & Vonnegut, M. (2009). Onboarding: How to get your new employees up to speed in half the time.
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Brown, T. (2005). Strategy by design. Fast Company, (June 1). Retrieved from
http://www.fastcompany.com/52795/strategy-design
Brunhaver, S., Korte, R., Lande, M., & Sheppard, S. (2010, June). Supports and barriers that recent engineering
graduates experience in the workplace. Paper presented at the American Society for Engineering
Education, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Brunhaver, S.R., Korte, R., Barley, S.R., & Sheppard, S.D. (in press). Bridging the gaps between engineering
education and practice.
Bucciarelli, L.L., & Kuhn, S. (1997). Engineering education and engineering practice: Improving the fit. In S. R.
Barley & J. E. Orr (Eds.), Between craft and science: Technical work in the United States (pp. 210-229).
Ithica, NY: Cornell University Press.
Dai, G., & De Meuse, K.P. (2007). A review of onboarding literature. Minneapolis, MN: Lominger Limited.
Retrieved from http://boardoptions.com/onboardingevidence.pdf 31
32. References
Dean, P.J. (1997). Thomas f. Gilbert, ph. D: Engineering performance improvement with or without training. In
P. J. Dean & D. E. Ripley (Eds.), Performance improvement series: Vol. 1. Performance improvement
pathfinders: Models for organizational learning systems (pp. 45-64). Silver Spring, MD: International
Society for Performance Improvement.
Delp, P., Thesen, A., Motiwalla, J., & Seshardi, N. (1977). Nominal group technique. In P. Delp (Ed.), Systems
tools for project planning (pp. 14-18). Bloomington, IN: International Development Institute.
Duderstadt, J.J. (2010). Engineering for a changing world. In D. Grasso & M. Burkins (Eds.), Holistic engineering
education: Beyond technology (pp. 17-35). New York, NY: Springer. Retrieved from
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Editor's Notes
In 2012, the U.S. graduated 62K engineers from its colleges and universitiesPaid them $62K annually. Industry slang calls these newly graduated and hired engineers “freshouts.”Took them 6 months to 5 years to come up to speed.How decrease rampup time for these freshouts?If you’re an engineer trying to answer a question like this, youSpecify the problemDetermine its root causesTake corrective actionIf you’re a performance improvement person, youConduct an environmental scan, gap analysis, and organizational analysis.Conduct a cause analysisSelect, design, develop solutionsThank you for your interest in our efforts to apply performance improvement to engineer better engineers!
Amy, Tony, and I welcome you to this sessionYou can download slides here, SlideShare, and on the conference app.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has funded this exploratory work.This is the project team.
Spinks conducted interviews and administered a survey. He found that employers in the UK ware “neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with their ability to recruit appropriately skilled engineering graduates from UK universities.2Hoey and Gardner surveyed North Carolina State alumni and their employers. Alums rated their university preparation for the workplace lower than their employers. Better at technical skills than others.Jonassen and colleagues found that the problems that appear in engineering texts have little to do with those that engineers tackle in the workplace.Grant and Dickson worked instigated the preparation of chemical engineers in the UK. Of 26 skills required for the workplace, graduates rated their preparation for 24 as insufficient.Korte, Sheppard and colleagues were part of a big NSF study looking at engineering practice in universities and in the workplace. In this study, they looked at the socialization of freshout engineers, noting that freshouts spent a lot of time coming up to speed on engineering processes in the workplace that differed from those in school. Workplace involved greater complexity, ambiguity, and subjectivity.Trevelyan and colleagues have been investigating novice engineers and their workplace readiness in Australia and Asia. In one study, they investigated a cohort of almost 200 graduating engineers as they made their way into the workplace. Based on interviews, they identified 10 major competencies and 85 corresponding practices. Of them, freshouts spent 60% of time coordinating.ABET is the accrediting body for engineering colleges. Passow looked at the ABET accreditation criteria that graduates found most useful in the workplace. They rated teaming, data analysis, problem solving, and communications between Quite and extremely important.
In a UK study, Spinks compared undergraduate education requirements to the needs of the engineering industry. Many graduate engineers are likely to find themselves in roles which do not necessarily involve hands-on specialist engineering.Korte and colleagues found a lot more ambiguity in real-world engineering. What new engineers perceived and learned about engineering work depended their interactions with coworkers in their work groups. Morgan and Gorman reported that engineering firms are hiring for a broader skill set. They note it’s hard to pack business acumen, managerial know-how, communication skills and team-working ability into an already packed curriculum. Anderson and colleagues investigated misalignment between engineering education and professional practice. Report that curricula in high school and college give students an incomplete picture of engineering work and what engineers do and often do not develop the full skill set needed to successfully execute increasingly complex, interdisciplinary, and international projects in the engineering workplace. Effective engineers value communication, problem-solving, teamwork, ethics, life-long learning, and business skills. Many of them note that their undergraduate education did not always prepare them well in these areasDuderstadt: “we are attempting to educate 21st-century engineers with a 2Oth-century curriculum taught in 19th-century institutions.Winters and colleagues looked from freshman past graduation. Over time, communication skills generally increased in importance while teamwork skills decreased.
LONG LIVEDIn the past, it was onboarding. A day or a week of boring and often useless stuff. Few useful gems buried in minutiae. That’s changing as organizations want improve recruitment, streamline time to competence, and retain expensive new assets.Dai & De Meuse contend onboarding is about Performance Proficiency, people/relationships, politics, language/communication, organizational vision and values, history/traditions/customs.Bradt & Vonnegut have a book on this topic.Roethle completed a thesis using a meta-analysis to investigate effective onboarding in small engineering companies and then created an onboarding process guideline.Jones describes virtual onboarding.SUPPORTMontesano reported that one-third of employers are not providing formal orientation programs.Korte & Lim claim onboarding, orientation, and socialization are synonymous. It’s about newbies fitting into organizational and organizations adjusting to the newbies. Onboarding is learning about and integrating into the social networks that make up the workplace. Driven by quality of relationships with managers and co-workers.