Personal Reviews: How Fencing Helped Me Write Better Software

May, 2023

The May 2023 tech talk was presented by Dr. Bradley Hodgins

Abstract

NAVAIR has hundreds of engineers/professionals using Team Software Process (TSP) and Team Process Integration (TPI) methodologies to plan and track their projects. One especially valuable activity in TSP/TPI is the “Personal Review,” where an individual looks for mistakes in a product they have just produced (e.g., design document, source code, engineering drawing) before continuing on with their development process. Personal reviews are effective in any domain where mistakes come with a high cost – like in fencing. This presentation explains how to perform personal reviews, and outlines other activities an individual must do before they can execute an effective personal review, such as logging defects and creating a review checklist. We will also discuss fencing.

About the Presenter 

Dr. Bradley Hodgins

Brad Hodgins is a computer scientist and has been supporting Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) for 36 years. He has over 20 years of experience in developing simulation and avionics software. He has spent the last 16 years as a project planning and tracking coach and instructor for the Performance Resource Team (PRT), actively coaching project teams in the development of high-quality products for on-time, on-budget delivery to the fleet.

Brad has expertise and a national reputation in process improvement. During his time with the PRT, Brad gave over two dozen presentations at symposiums and conferences, and authored/co-authored half a dozen published articles and papers, all sharing the great things NAVAIR has been doing. Brad was given a Navy patent in 2008 for the Learning Applying Mastering Perfecting (LAMP) model for team process implementation evaluation and improvement. He was awarded the Michelson Laboratory Award in 2010, and he became a NAVAIR Associate Fellow in 2013. Brad earned a Doctorate in Computer Science from Colorado Technical University in 2015. He retired from government service in 2019, but continues to support NAVAIR as an employee of Saalex Solutions Inc.

Brad is a Taurus and likes surfing (just kidding about the surfing).

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