Tracy Bannon

It's the humans that matter...

Applying AI to the SDLC: New Ideas and Gotchas

Leveraging AI to Improve Software Engineering

Generative AI has taken the world by storm, including the realm of software engineering. There's a rush to incorporate AI tools, from code generation to test analysis. This is groundbreaking technology that has limitations and challenges to navigate. AI-assistance can enhance your delivery of value with the speed and quality your end-users demand. The key is to use assurance-based techniques. We'll also need to figure out how topivot from viewing AI as merely a tool today to envisioning a future filled with AI agents as team members.

๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—–๐—ž๐—ฆ!: We need more architects

๐—ฆ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—”๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฅ๐—ข๐—–๐—ž๐—ฆ! Those who know me, know that this is squarely where my heart rests. ๐—ช๐—ฒ ๐—ป๐—ฒ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—บ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฐ๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜๐—ฒ๐—ฐ๐˜๐˜€ and we need organizations to understand the importance of architecture!

Sing with me: Architetural Tradeoff Analysis Rocks!!

๐—œ'๐—บ ๐˜๐—ฟ๐˜†๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ด๐—ฒ๐˜ ๐—ฎ ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜€๐˜๐˜‚๐—ฐ๐—ธ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚๐—ฟ ๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ! Ok, maybe not a song... actually a set of software architecture concepts and principles that drive architectural design decisions. The process and decisions are almost *๐—ป๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ* binary. There is a logical an repeatable way to rationalize decisions: ๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ผ๐—ณ๐—ณ ๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ฎ๐—น๐˜†๐˜€๐—ถ๐˜€.

Do you know what Software Quality Attributes are?

Do you know what ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ณ๐˜๐˜„๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐—พ๐˜‚๐—ฎ๐—น๐—ถ๐˜๐˜† ๐—ฎ๐˜๐˜๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ฏ๐˜‚๐˜๐—ฒ๐˜€ are and more importantly, why they matter? Our online community may benefit from talking about 2 topics: Software quality attributes (SQAs) and architecture trade-off analysis. Since trade-offs depend on attributes letโ€™s dig in here first!

The only thing that matters is working code in production!

โ€œ'The only thing that matters is working code in production! This was a shocking statement by friend and colleague, David Sisk. We worked side by side focused on application architecture and software engineering at Deloitte. David, managed to anger an entire set of senior leaders plus a highly visible methods and tools organization by saying the most important outcome is not documents and decks. Ultimately all that matters is working software.."