Software Process Improvement Network
(A-SPIN)
19 Things It Took Me 25 Years In The Computer Business To Learn,
by Tipton Cole, President, Tipton Cole + Co
Overview:
1. The 80-20 Rule
2. Good decisions come from experience.
3. The Magic Number 7 Plus or Minus 2
4. Markhov Chains
5. Clients Are From Wall Street, Programmers . . .
6. Brooks Quadrant and the 3X Multiplier
7. Gone in 60 Picoseconds
8. Bert and Ernie
9. Dancing on the Event Horizon
10. Clients Who Can Recognize Success
11. Your Best vs. Thursdays Presentation
12. Quality Is Free
13. The Whole World In Your Hands
14. Complexity & Time – What You Do not Know Yet
15. The Battle For and Against Development Tools
16. We are All Maintenance Coders Now
17. I am Right Behind You
18. Please, sir, may I have some more?
19. Five Volumes – Winston Churchill and Tonnage
About the Speaker:
Tipton Cole wrote his first FORTRAN program in June, 1968. The first compile spit out more errors than lines of code. Mr. Cole is a triple-threat graduate from UT with degrees in Math (BA 1974), Computer Science (MA 1976) and Law (JD 1978). He started his first business with a partner in December, 1977 – just before his last semester of law school. In the intervening quarter century, he has developed software products and projects for clients large and small throughout Texas and the US including: Coca-Cola Company, Weyerhaeuser, HP, GTE, D&B, ExxonMobil, Texas Mill Supply, and Karl Rove + Company. He has implemented and installed software for customers in more than 20 different programming languages. Mr. Cole taught computer science courses both at the University of Texas at Austin and at St. Edward’s University. He developed the Step-by-Step software implementation methodology with Michel Kohon and the York-Mills Notation (for SAP ABAP/4) with Dennis Barrett. His current interests are: Ansible – an embeddable server that provides real-time video capability to any application running over the Internet, and technical consulting in litigation involving intellectual property or business disputes.