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SOA World - Exclusive Q&A with Dr Adam Kolawa, Co-founder & CEO of Parasoft

ADP helps give developers more time to focus on the creative tasks they enjoy most
By Jeremy Geelan
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May 17, 2008 06:15 AM EDT
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 33,848

“Developers need to realize that Automated Defect Prevention benefits them," says Parasoft co-founder & CEO Dr Adam Kolawa in this Exclusive Q&A with SYS-CON Media's Java Developer's Journal. "But they won’t start recognizing this until they see that they have less work," Kolawa continues. The key to success, he adds, is to have an infrastructure handle as much work as possible. "This way, developers have time to focus on the creative tasks they enjoy most...the ones that truly require human intelligence."

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“Developers need to realize that [ADP] benefits them. But they won’t start recognizing this until they see that they have less work.”
-- Dr Adam Kolawa, Co-Founder & CEO of Parasoft
Dr Adam Kolawa is the coauthor of the recently published Automated Defect Prevention: Best Practices in Software Management (Wiley & Sons, 2007). He is the co-founder & CEO of Parasoft, a leading provider of Automated Error Prevention software solutions. Aside from additionally co-authoring Bulletproofing Web Applications, Dr Kolawa has contributed to or written more than 100 commentary pieces and technical papers, and has coauthored numerous scientific papers.
Java Developer’s Journal: How realistic is it to seek to modify the development process in the entire software life cycle to reduce opportunities for mistakes? Is Automated Defect Prevention simply too much for IT organizations to take on board?

Dr Adam Kolawa: It’s not very realistic. That’s why we’re not trying to modify the development process. Rather, we’re trying to improve it.  There’s a big difference. We learned that it’s critical to take it slow. In the book, we discuss this under ADP Principle 6: Incremental Implementation of ADP’s Practices and Policies. In a nutshell, you never want to attack the process as a whole. Instead, start by going after a few “low-hanging fruits”— relatively simple changes that will yield significant gains. Then, keep moving forward.
It is too much to expect that you can get the entire organization on board at once. That’s why you need you introduce it incrementally, winning over one group at a time. It typically takes years to extend it across the entire organization.

Java Developer’s Journal: Is it possible to quantify what proportion of getting ADP into the DNA of developers and managers is a software development challenge and what proportion is a human or change-management challenge?

AK: I really think that this is all a human and change management challenge. Developers need to realize that this benefits them. But they won’t start recognizing this until they see that they have less work. The key to success here to have an infrastructure handle as much work as possible. This way, developers have time to focus on the creative tasks they enjoy most… the ones that truly require human intelligence.


Next Page: Dr Kolawa on the Future of Technology

Published May 17, 2008 – Reads 33,848
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More Stories By Jeremy Geelan

Jeremy Geelan is President & COO of Cloud Expo, Inc. and Conference Chair of the worldwide Cloud Expo series. He appears regularly at conferences and trade shows, speaking to technology audiences both in North America and overseas. He is executive producer and presenter of Cloud Expo's "Power Panels" on SYS-CON.TV.

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