June 1 Meeting: Can Developers and Management to See Eye to Eye on Nonfunctional Requirements and Technical Debt?

Deciding between spending development time working on flashy new features, paying back technical debt, or implementing so-called "nonfunctional requirements" can be a source of tension between developers and business managers. Some authors suggest ways to argue in favor of paying back technical debt.

Of course, sometimes it's appropriate to take on technical debt or defer working on nonfunctional changes. Architects can do better than just being ready to counter arguments against spending time on these issues when they come up. Well-managed technical debt is part of a software design. A good architect needs to consider technical issues in light of business needs. Not surprisingly, visibility and communication are the keys to doing this successfully.

On Tuesday, June 1, at 6:00 p.m., at ICC, 2500 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite 310, Columbus, OH 43231, we'll examine this issue in more depth. How can a team leader bridge communication gaps between developers and business management? What are effective ways of managing nonfunctional requirements? When does it make sense to take on technical debt, and why?

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May Meeting Announcement

The next Columbus Architecture Group meeting will be on Tuesday May 4th, at 6:00 p.m., at ICC,2500 Corporate Exchange Drive, Suite 310, Columbus, OH 43231.

The Case for Cloud Computing: What is Azure, and Why would I use it?

Is cloud computing the rage? Is it the new buzz? What if we have been doing it for years, and we didn’t even know. Let’s talk about the how’s and why’s to arm you to use critical thought in your own environment to see if and when cloud computing might help you out.

Brian Prince

Brian H. Prince is an Architect Evangelist for Microsoft.

He gets super excited whenever he talks about technology, especially cloud computing, patterns, and practices. His job is to help customers strategically leverage MS technology, and help them bring their architecture to a super level.

In a past life Brian was a part of super startups, super marketing firms, and super consulting firms. Much of his super architecture background includes building super scalable applications, application integration, and award winning web applications. All of them were super.

Further, he is a co-founder of the non-profit organization CodeMash (www.codemash.org). He speaks at various regional and national technology events including TechEd. He only wishes his job didn’t require him to say ‘super’ so much.

Brian holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science and Physics from Capital University, Columbus, Ohio. He is also a zealous gamer. For example, he is a huge fan of Fallout 3.