Advice for first time software development on a professional level HELP!

Well I'm 5 months into my new career, and this is for a small custom software company with some pretty big and important clients (wont say because I'm honestly not sure how much I can say). But they are on a manufacturing and production/importing level. Regardless, anything they've handed me, I've been capable of spitting back out as fast as it was handed to me, and of quality above everyone's expectations. Simply because I know how to code, and code well.. The only area I lack is understanding a business of this caliber. I don't have a business degree, and in fact I have no degrees whatsoever. I'm just a damn finer coder, and I don't mean to brag, but in 9th grade I was building fully functional AIM Client software comparable to the one provided by AOL at the time. This is why I got hired in the first place. Now this new project I'm being handed is way outside of my comfort zone. To build software for a company, you must first know how that type of company works. The pressure is on, and became real the day they promoted me to production manager for this project, and handed the responsibility for finishing the tablet version start to finish. So my true questions lay here; where can I read to begin understanding the inner workings of a production facility enough to begin writing software that manages one?, is there any advice anyone can give me from their own experience with a project such as this?, and what would be some realistic goals I should set for myself when working on this type of project?. Do take in account that for the most part, it will be me and my boss working on this project. Mostly me because I've come to realize I am his predecessor, simply so he can focus on running his business, while I take over doing what he had to, to start his business.


Thanks in advance everyone! Wish me luck!
David Carrigan

Cograts and welcome to my world. Taking on new responsibility is how we grow professionally... heck, I'm outside my comfort zone at the moment, too, but I also know that to get to where I want to be, I'm going to be shifting out of my comfort zones continuously for the next year. I don't have a degree either... I've got enough experience to be past that point...

as for learning the business... what works for me the best is observation... watch the users... see how they do their jobs, how they use the software/systems... interview and ask, ask, ask, ask.... look for patterns, not just in the data, but in steps & processes...

-tg

I was going to say exactly what TG ended up with: Talk to people!!!

Keep in mind that studies and interviews will lie. People often say what they are supposed to be doing, and gloss over what they actually do. The difference between the two can be ENORMOUS and critical.

By the way, don't be so hard on yourself, you have 98 degrees from Fahrenheit U alone.

Plus the six Degrees of Separation from Kevin Bacon... that is also a feat...

-tg

First of all I just want to giive you a hearty WELL DONE!. You've had what I think is probably the most important realisation a business app programmer can have, and one which surprisingly few ever do. Your job is not to write a porgram, your job is to facilitate a business process. I'm constantly amazed at how many times I've heard a developer (or even software house) try and tell a business how they should operate instead of asking them how they want to operate.

And the fact that you've got the humility to realise that you've got a gap in your abilities means that you're eminantly qualified to start moving up the project lead/management chain. Possibly not experienced yet (althought you might be being a little hard on yourself on that front) but that'll come, and it'll come quick if you've got you ears and mind open - which it sounds like you have.

One thing I would say, and I might be being a bit pedantic here, not sure, but don't set out to understand how that type of company works. That's only useful if you're trying to build an off-the-shelf product that you're hoping to sell on a the mass market - and you shouldn't be trying to do that unless you've spent years in the industry. Instead you need to understand how that one, single company works. It might be useful to do a bit of reading about the industry but only so you can speak the language. You're priority should be to get in the company and watch them operate. TG and Shaggy have both expressed this in a nut shell but I suffer from verbal diorreah (or should that be digital dioreah since I'm typing - and is digital dioreah better or worse than the old analogue variety? anyway, I digress) so I'll expound a bit.

Spend time on site visits. How much time depends on the size and complexity of the operation but, as a rule of thumb, however much time you think you need to spend on site is probably a fraction of what you actually want. Don't view thise site visits as a jolly, you're there to work so make the time productive.

Different people are you going to educate you on different aspects of the requirement so talk to everyone. Talk to them in groups stratified from senior management down to front line staff. Then take them away and talk to them individually (no assembly worker is going to tell you what little shortcuts he takes day to day while the MD is sat in the room).

Be their freind. You want them to tell you all the little ways they "cheat". Not to stop them cheating, but to understand why they cheat. If you can make things so that they don't have to then you wont need to try and stop them.

Understand what you need to get from each level. The front line guys is using the system all day every day so he's probably best placed to identify tweaks to the UI. The line manager is probably concerned with perfomance of his team so understand what visual representations he needs to understand that. The section manager is probably starting to get into the realms of designing process so he's the guy to tell you how the business process operates. The board probably just want facts and figures so they can makes strategic decisions so understand from them what the reporting requirements are. I've simplified things here because all companies are structured differently and the view who will tell you what is pretty flexible, the first thing to understand is what the role of the person you're talking to is - and that may not be the same as their job or their title.

Also be aware that everyone will have an opinion on what the guys above and below them should be doing and how they should be working. Listen to them, look polite, nod gently, then ignore them. The general manager is not the right person to say how the buttons should be laid out on the screen that feeds the next job to the assembly operator. The assembly operator is the guy to give you that information.

Good luck and enjoy the project. This games only really fun when it's a little bit scarey too.