10 Most Important Ideas in Software Development

As software engineering approaches its 40th birthday, do we know which software development ideas matter most? In this talk, award-winning author Steve McConnell identifies 10 of the most important ideas in software development. McConnell explains how the 10 ideas form the foundation for effective software development, and he shows how practices ranging from the waterfall model to extreme programming measure up. He uses these key ideas to explain which currently popular software engineering practices will withstand the test of time, and which are fleeting fads. This talk will give software developers, QA specialists, and managers an opportunity to step back from the day-to-day rush of their work and gain insight into the key issues of software development.

IT Governance: What it Means, Why You Should Care, and How It Can Help You

IT governance is a hot topic among executives these days. To some, governance is about controlling developers and imposing rigid, measurable processes on developers. But that's not what good governance has to mean. Good governance can be about helping developers to be more productive and successful in building good systems. Good governance can empower developers. This talk describes what good governance means, why you should expect it, and how it can help you.

What Works, What Doesn't, and Why

Understanding security requires thinking differently. It requires thinking in terms of systems, system interactions, system failures. It requires knowledge of your adversary, and how technological changes affect security. And finally, it requires understanding basic security strategies -- defense in depth, compartmentalization, choke points, dynamic security, heterogeneousness, trusted people -- and how they can work together. Human to technological, personal to national: the concepts of security are all the same. By pulling examples from a variety of sources -- technological, historical, and biological -- this talk discusses the fundamentals of security: what works, what doesn't and why. Learn how to think about security.

Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server: Increasing Your Teams Collaboration, Quality and Productivity

Come and celebrate the Launch of Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server with General Manager for Visual Studio Team System Rick LaPlante. Rick will officially launch the much-anticipated Team Foundation Server, rounding out Microsoft's latest Software Development Lifecycle solution and announce general availability and release timeframes. Together with Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite, it offers software development organizations of all sizes the best in collaboration, modeling, testing and development capabilities. Rick will overview how this translates into expanded opportunities for you and your business. As an exciting bonus, come and meet the team who designed and built the product at the Microsoft expo and hear directly from them in four deep technical sessions.

How Artificial Artificial Intelligence Could Change the Web

Humans still significantly outperform the most powerful computers at completing such simple tasks as identifying objects in photographs-something children can do even before they learn to speak. When we think of interfaces between human beings and computers, we usually assume that the human being is the one requesting that a task be completed, and the computer is completing the task and providing the results. What if this process were reversed and a computer program could ask a human being to perform a task and return the results? What if it could coordinate many human beings to perform a task? That is the mission of Amazon Mechanical Turk (AMT). By providing a web services API for computers to integrate "artificial, artificial intelligence" directly into their processing, AMT has the potential to spark a new wave of businesses and software applications that were not possible before due to the cost to access a vast network of humans. Hear Amazon's Felipe Cabrera describe the inspiration for Mechanical Turk, what Amazon has seen since launching the technology, and what Amazon expects for the future of artificial artificial intelligence.

The Prime Directive of Software Development: Always Make Progress - Never Be Blocked

As the message of Agile Software Development continues to be heard and gain momentum throughout the software industry, a common theme is emerging. The practices of Agile Software Development boil down into a goal of the utmost pragmatism: "Always Make Progress." This goal applies at every level: from testers to programmers to business analysts to project managers. The prime directive of Agile Software Development is to continually make progress and avoid being blocked. This talk will discuss the techniques and strategies that all software professionals can use to achieve that goal.