DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop

Joerg Hampel is a guest blogger and is the founder and owner of Hampel Software Engineering. His professional interest lies in software development in small teams. This post was originally published in German on hampel-soft.com.

The DSH “Pragmatic Software Development” Workshop targets LabVIEW programmers who want to improve their software engineering approach to programming. The next opportunity to learn from three experienced programmers/entrepreneurs is on November 22 in Munich, Germany (tickets available on Eventbrite)!

DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop @ GDevCon #2 (Birmingham, UK, Aug 2019)
DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop @ GDevCon #2 (Birmingham, UK, Aug 2019)

The DSH Team

“Pragmatic is how we do it” is the slogan of DSH Workshops, a collaboration of Fabiola De la Cueva, Steve Watts, and Jörg Hampel. Together, the three have more than 60 years of experience developing software with LabVIEW and other programming languages, both in fixed-price projects and in product development (including time and materials projects).

As Fab, Steve, and Jörg are very similar in their core values of LabVIEW, software design, software processes, and project management, a close relationship has developed over the last few years. In discussions – private on Skype and Slack, and publicly at various events or on social networks – the three realized that the actual implementation of those concepts often looks very different due to the specific needs of their three companies and their customers.

Even though discussion amongst experienced people often provides more questions than answers, it’s exactly these questions that lead to a fundamental understanding and to better-informed decisions. The experience of multiple DSH mentors in the same room, facilitating this discussion, is the essence of DSH Workshops:

  • DSH workshops differ from most existing offerings in that they do not aim to cover theoretical basic knowledge or teach the use of any single product. The DSH mentors convey a practical hands-on experience.
  • DSH workshops introduce those best practices in software development that have proven to be necessary, valuable and meaningful to the DSH mentors’ companies in their day-to-day project business.
  • Differences in the implementation of these best practice concepts, both in the DSH mentors’ companies, as well as in the companies of the participants, are identified and discussed, to help focus on what is important.

DSH workshops offer a valuable addition to existing training offerings, such as those from National Instruments – especially for the advanced topics of the NI’s Center of Excellence program.

The Workshop

As the title suggests, the “Pragmatic Software Development” workshop is about exploring and discussing the practical aspects of software development – the best practices used in real life in real projects with real clients.

A glimpse into the workshop @ GDevCon # 2

The group will work on a solution to a real problem, starting with a customer phone call and finishing with a project post-mortem: From requirements gathering to planning time and budget, from sketching the design to refining the software architecture, from implementing the solution to comparing it with others.

  • Personal Attributes
  • Support Processes (standards, workflows, SCC & version control, automation & CI …)
  • Project Inception (requirements, modeling, PM tools, risk …)
  • Initial Design (prototype, diagrams …)
  • Modular Design Theory
  • Modular Design Exercise
  • Support Processes (remote, tracking, feedback …)
  • Project Fulfillment (tests, acceptance, post-mortem …)

Workshop attendees will learn how three successful businesses go about mastering the aforementioned challenges. Based on the findings of the workshop, attendees will be able to refine their existing processes or start implementing new ones in their own workplace. Teams would particularly benefit from the shared experience, as it will help them implement or strengthen a common way of working.

Review

This workshop has already taken place once as part of GDevCon #2. Not only as a pilot project for GDevCon (does the concept of workshops work as part of the conference?), but also as a result of the already mentioned collaboration between the three DSH founders.

22 participants spent one day together with Fabiola, Steve, and Jörg. According to the feedback, everyone was enthusiastic about the contents and the discussions.

 

It was great to participate in the DSH workshop with my team. Hearing about the solutions to problems we try to tackle regularly at the workplace from others proficient in the G Community was encouraging and inspiring. If anything, I would have liked it to have lasted for two days to cover even more ground. Much of the discussions that spawned from the topics covered triggered pragmatic conversations!

Kabul Maharjan, Renishaw

The DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop was a big hit. It felt more like a roundtable discussion than a class. They would take turns presenting a topic and then moderating the ensuing discussion. It was interesting seeing how each of their approaches differed. I definitely learned a ton.

Sam Taggart, System Automation Solutions LLC.

I attended the inaugural workshop at GDevCon this year. In fact, this was the big motivator for me to come across the pond. […] I have worked with the entire team for many years and they executed a highly professional, engaging, and valuable 1-day workshop at GDevCon.

Nancy Henson, National Instruments

We really enjoyed both the workshop and GDevCon. It was great to see how other people do software engineering or how they have different views on the subject. The event provided us lots of thoughts and tips on how to improve our way of working or how to put things into practice.

Stefan Lemmens, Intersoft Electronics

I enjoyed the workshop, thanks, and I look forward to the next one.

Maurizio Bollini, MET srl

I really enjoyed the workshop, it has given me lots of practical tips.

Leah Edwards, Renishaw

After the successful inaugural workshop at GDevCon, the next date is fixed! NIDays Europe in Munich offers another opportunity to reach a large number of LabVIEW programmers. Conference attendees can join the workshop and learn practical real-life tips and tricks while minimizing travel costs.

The next workshop will take place:

  • on the 22nd of November (Friday after the NIDays Europe)
  • at the NI Training Center (Munich, Ganghoferstrasse 70b)

Tickets are available now:

Due to logistics, the number of tickets is limited. First come, first served 😉

WHO IS DSH?

Fabiola De la Cueva

Fabiola is the founder and managing partner at Delacor, and is the lead architect for DQMH, one of the most popular LabVIEW frameworks. She is the co-author of “LabVIEW Graphical Programming”, is a LabVIEW Certified Architect, Certified Professional Instructor, and has been named a “LabVIEW Champion” by National Instruments.

Steve Watts

Steve is the founder and managing partner at SSDC, designing hardware and software solutions with customers in many different fields. Co-Author of “A Software Engineering Approach to LabVIEW”. Author of “Random Ramblings on LabVIEW Design”. Certified LabVIEW Architect. LabVIEW Champion.

Joerg Hampel

Joerg is the founder and owner of Hampel Software Engineering. His professional interest lies in software development in small teams. He has been successfully delivering real-world software projects for nearly 20 years, working together with his customers. Joerg is a CLA and LabVIEW Champion.


TL;DR: Next DSH Workshop on 22nd November in Munich, Germany – Tickets through Eventbrite.

One response to “DSH Pragmatic Software Development Workshop”

  1. […] Der “Pragmatic Software Development Workshop” von DSH Workshops richtet sich an LabVIEW Programmiererinnen und Programmierer, die ihren Zugang zur Softwareentwicklung verbessern wollen. Am 22.11. in München (Tickets auf Eventbrite) bietet sich die nächste Gelegenheit, im echten Leben erprobte pragmatische Vorgehensweisen direkt von drei erfahrenen Programmierern / Unternehmern(1) zu lernen (english version available at delacor.com). […]

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