February 19, 2002
6:30 PM Presentation
OEC Auditorium
(O'Shaughnessy Education Center, University of St Thomas)

Challenges in Implementing Object-oriented Process/Methodology
(RUP, UML & Use Cases)

Presented by Saif Islam

---followed by---

Let's connect the dots.....

Presented by Shveta Mehtani

Meeting resources:

Slides from "Let's connect the dots....." [PPT]

First half: Challenges in Implementing Object-oriented Process/Methodology

"The single biggest reason for major setbacks or failure of objects-oriented projects is not programmers' inability to think in objects, but a failure to re-engineer the application development process."

To realize the benefits of OO technology, OO Process/Methodology (Unified Process-UP, Rational Unified Process- RUP or customized/simplified version of R/UP) needs to be implemented properly within the organization. This is a significant challenge because it introduces "big change" in the organization. In this presentation, Saif Islam will discuss some of the best practices (Do's and Don'ts) in implementing OO process based on his experience. The presentation will focus on specific issues and challenges and how to address those:

• Challenges in Management and Organizational Issues:
  • Flowing with the hype instead of creating measurable and realistic business goals and vision.
  • Excluding customers (end-users and sponsors) instead of making them integral part of "software project team".
• Challenges in Training & Mentoring:
  • Focusing on toolset instead of changing the "mindset" for a new collaborative software engineering culture.
  • Focusing on training without objectives instead of "comprehensive training plan based on roles and responsibilities."
• Challenges in customization:
  • Using R/UP as-is instead customizing it to fit organizational needs.
  • Focus on the process instead of "principles behind the process."
• Communication challenges:
  • Acceptance criteria for models and artifacts (level of details, correctness and completeness): "Producers and Consumers" cannot agree.
  • Overcoming "Process Paralysis".

Second half: Let's connect the dots.....

Anti-patterns, Iterative development, Rational Unified Process (RUP), XP, SCRUM, Refactoring,  - are they just new buzz words to be catalogued and forgotten with thousands of others or do they hold the potential for a bright new future? 

We all know that the software industry has always been more about hype and wonder than about concrete results.  Most projects are still over budget, chronically late and do not meet user expectations!  Can these new gizmos break this long tradition of failures?  As software professionals, how do we make sense of all this new technology and leverage it's potential into powerful cost effective solutions?

Join me as we discuss this exciting shift from methodologies, processes and tools that were seldom successful to those that give us the potential to excel.  Lets explore, and unravel some of the mystique surrounding this new software engineering paradigm!

Speaker Information

Saif Islam is a consultant, mentor and technical trainer specializing in Object-oriented technologies. Saif offers almost 10 years of experience in system analysis, design, and development. He has been teaching Object-oriented technologies for the last 5 years. He is an Adjunct-Professor at the University of St. Thomas in their Graduate Programs in Software where he teaches classes and seminars related to Object-oriented technologies.

As an instructor of complex technical topics, Saif develops and customizes his courses based on the needs of specific audience. Some of the topics he focuses on are: OO (Object-oriented) concepts, OO Development Process (Unified Process, RUP-Rational Unified Process, XP- eXtreme Programming), UML (Unified Modeling Language), Requirements Engineering with Use Cases, OO Design Heuristics, Design Patterns, OOAD (Object-oriented analysis & design)

Saif has taught classes on Object-oriented topics to companies like West Group, Medtronic, Federal Reserve Bank, Hollstadt & Associates, Techies.com, Supervalu, Datasoft (Bangladesh).

As a consultant, he focuses on customizing RUP to the client's specific needs; he avoids "process paralysis" by making team members understand the "principles behind the process". He works with various teams from the inception of the projects to user acceptance and promotes "best practices" for the workflows like business modeling, requirements gathering, analysis & design, implementation, test and deployment.

Saif is a co-founder of interimLogic Solutions Inc. that specializes in Object-oriented technologies. interimLogic offers training and mentoring services to help customers learn and apply object technology to solve business problems.

Saif has a B.S in Computer Science from Winona State University & an M.S in Software Engineering from the University of St. Thomas. He has published several papers in Object-oriented metrics.

Shveta Mehtani - Intellimark IT Resources

Shveta has an excellent understanding and hands-on experience with a broad range of current technologies and architectures.

·         Distributed n-Tier system design and development with EJB, CORBA, and RMI

·         Business Analysis and Requirement gathering with use cases

·         Object oriented analysis, design and development using UML

·         CASE tools experience with Rational Rose, Systems Architect

·         Knowledge and application of design patterns

·         Creating and implementing customized processes using RUP

·         Extensive Java experience, including EJB, RMI, Servlets, JSP, JDBC, JNDI, TCP/IP Sockets, Collection API, Reflection, and Swing

·         Directory and Naming Services using JNDI and LDAP

·         Programming with Java, C++ and C

·         Network programming with TCP/IP sockets

·         Multi-platform development experience with UNIX, Window NT

·         Object-Oriented Database experience and relational data schema design

·         Extensive experience with various Software Development life cycle methodologies: Waterfall, Phased, Parallel, Rapid Prototyping and Spiral

·         Knowledge of applicable SEI based KPA processes and IEEE documentation standards for CMM Level 2 , 3 and 5

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