The Balancing Act of Release Management
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Abstract
The Wish list is the mechanism many Hubs use to collect requests for new or enhanced functionality. A large Wish list is a classic 'good problem' indicating an active user community with creative ideas for improving a Hub.
Since most IT teams are limited in the number of people available to implement wishes, numerous decisions need to be made regarding how to work through wishes in the Wish list or, for more complex Hubs, how to bundle a set of wishes into a software release. Variables such as strategic direction, available resources, user expectations, yearly timing, and wish complexity/duration must all be taken into account.
NEEScomm IT, the team responsible for NEEShub, has been managing a large, diverse Wish list since July 2010. Working with key users in the NEES community, an overall release process has been developed and followed to review, prioritize, and select wishes for each release cycle. This talk will describe the basic steps in the NEES release process and lessons learned from multiple iterations through the process.
Bio
Dawn Weisman is the NEEScomm Director of IT in charge of NEEShub at Purdue University. She has been with NEEScomm since the start of the project in August 2009. In this position, she is responsible for Release and Resource Planning for the NEEShub, Operational readiness of the NEEShub, and the leadership of a talented team of Software Professionals who support and enhance NEEShub.
Prior to Purdue Dawn was with Hewlett-Packard for 11 years in multiple web-focused positions including Program Management Manager for Worldwide eCommerce Commercial stores, Project Management Manager for Worldwide eCommerce Telesales systems, Manager of a development team for the HP Australia and Canada stores, and Senior IT Project Manager for the North American Business Web Store Integration effort supporting the HP and Compaq merger.
Dawn has held a variety of IT positions including Software Developer, Business Analyst, Project Manager, Program Manager, and Director. However, the discipline of Planning in various capacities has been a common thread through her career requiring both intellectual, collaborative, and creative energy.
Dawn holds a Master of Science degree in Computer Science and is working toward a PhD in Information Technology specializing in IT Strategic Planning.