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Introduction to Computing CS101

LESSON 42

THE COMPUTING PROFESSION

Focus of the last Lesson was on Social Implications of Computing

We discussed the impact of computing on:

Business

Work

Living

Health

Education

Why should we, as computing professionals, be interested in studying the social implications of

our creations?

Computing technology has changed our way of life like no other technology

We need to study how it has done it to highlight the mistakes and success stories of the past

We need to do it so that we can learn from them and select our future direction accordingly

Dilemma of Computing

Are we heading towards a future where the role of the masters and the slaves will be switched?

Should we slow down or even reverse some of the technology advances to avoid that dark

scenario?

Powerful Global Corporations

Internet-based communication is allowing business entities to coordinate the activities of their

globally-spread units with greater accuracy

All this has made these business entities very powerful, even more powerful than many nation-

states

The Network Organization

The network paradigm (all connected to many others) is becoming the preferred organizational

structure of more and more organizations as time goes by

This new organization is replacing the old-style layered, tree-structured organizational model

Working from Home

Computing has made it possible for some to avoid going the office for their work

They can do their work from home and communicate their ideas, questions, answers to their

colleagues through the Internet

This gives them more time to spend with their families due to the time they save on commuting to

their place of work

From Mass- to Personalized-Marketing

The Web has changed marketing forever, redirecting it from a mass focus to a single-person focus

The Political Process

Through computer discussion forums, newsgroups and mailing-lists, public and politicians may

engage

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in a free, open exchange of ideas without leaving the comfort of their not-so-comfortable and very

comfortable homes, respectively

Distances Have Contracted

Because of the ever-decreasing costs of verbal, text, video communications, it is becoming easier to

stay in touch with anyone, regardless of their physical location

Distances Are Increasing

Solitude is the order of the day as many children & adults spend their free time surfing, chatting,

playing computer games, instead of spending it on interacting with friends or family

Virtual Communities

Interest-based, instead of geography-based

A Society Under Surveillance

While surfing, we are being watched, constantly

The Changing Face of Education

Distance learning has received a boost due to the low-price of Internet communication and the

availability of Web-based interactive content

The Changing Face of Education

The fact, however, remains that the best mode of education is the conventional one, which has

become more effective with the augmentation of computer-based learning aids

Info Gathering

The time and effort spent on gathering info can now be spent on using it

Telemedicine

An audio/video/text connection combined with a few remote medical instruments and an on-site

trained assistant can enable a doctor to examine and prescribe medicine to a patient far, far away

Closure

I command you to "go and invent the future," it is your duty and you may not desist from it, but,

please, do think about the social implications and consequences of what you are doing before

actually doing it

Today's Goals:

(The Computing Profession)

To discuss several roles and associated responsibilities of modern computer professionals

To discuss a few tricky situations where a knowledge of professional ethics would help

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42.1 IT: Information Technology

The group of technologies concerned with the capture, processing and transmission of information in

the digital-electronic form

INFORMATION

TECHNOLOGY

Telecom

Engineering

Software

Engineering

Computer

Engineering

Science

Who is a computing professional?

Professionals involved in the development and/or maintenance of SW and/or computer HW

Computer scientists, software engineers, computer engineers, and some of the telecom engineers

are generally classified as computing professionals

Today's Focus Group

Due to the limitation on time, today we will be focusing only on a subset of computing

professionals: those involved in the development of SW

Let us further restrict discussion to the computing professionals belonging to an organization

focused solely on custom, SW development

They work in a 100-person organization pretty big on a local scale, but quite insignificant on an

international one

42.2 Organization: A Collection of Teams

Executive Team

CEO, COO, CMSO

Business

Technology

Architecture

Development Team

Transfer

Team

Configuration

Proces

Quality

Suppor

Management Team

Assurance Team

Team

Development

Team A

Team B

Team C

Team D

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Development Team

The number of development teams has varied between 3-7 at this organization

Team-size has varied between 3-35

Large teams are organized as a collection of sub-teams

Lowest-level team: No more than 7 members

Responsible for a project from after the specifications stage till the very end

Project Manager

Responsibilities:

Planning and tracking of the project

Arranging of the appropriate resources

lient relationship management

Profile:

5+ years of team-lead experience

Professional development course(s) in SW project management

Technical MS and/or Technical BS + MBA

Architect

Responsibilities:

Technology selection

High-level design

Makes certain that the implementation remains true to the design

Profile:

10-15 years of development experience

In-depth experience in several technologies

MS or PhD in a technical discipline

SMALL

PROJECT

Clients's Project

Executive Team

Manager

Architect

Team Leader

(Part-Time)

Team Leader

Developer

Team Lead

Responsibilities:

Planning and tracking of the project

Detailed design

Professional development of team members

In case of small teams, development activities

Profile:

5+ years of development experience

Excellent interpersonal skills

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Good planning skills

Good design skills

Developer

Responsibilities:

Module-level design

Coding

Unit-testing

Profile:

Technical BS

Executive Team

CEO Chief Executive Officer

Developer of the vision of the organization

Great PR skills

Great knack for spotting talent

COO Chief Operating Officer

Responsible for the day-to-day operations

Great organizational & interpersonal skills

CMSO Chief Marketing & Sales Officer

Responsible for bringing in work

Innovative

Bigger

Executive

Client's

Project

Team

Project Manager

Project

Manager

Architect

Sub-team 1

Lead

Sub-team 2

Lead

Sub-team 3

Lead

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Business Development Team

1-2 members

Responsible for the development of detailed proposals for projects

Profile of Members:

Combination of technical and business expertise

Good oral & written communication skills

Combination of technical & business degrees

Architecture Team

2-3 members

Consists of the sharpest technical minds in the company

Configuration Management Team

2-3 members

Keeps a vigilant eye on the process that keeps an extensive record of all versions of everything that

is ever developed for a particular project: from proposals to specifications to plans to design to code

Process Team

1-2 members

Team's goal: To continuously improve the SW development process to achieve improvements in

cost, schedule, and quality

Continuously monitors how SW is developed in the organization

Encourages and assists all teams and team-members in improving their part in the SW development

process

Quality Assurance Team

Around 20 members

Responsible for assuring the quality of all SW (i.e. making sure that it does what it is supposed to)

that is produced at the organization

Nothing goes to the customer without the approval of the QA team

Technology Transfer Team

The size of this team varies with the amount of work at the organization when the times are good,

this team is quite small

This team is responsible for:

Evaluating new technologies, products, processes

Selecting the ones that are right for the organization

Developing an expertise in their use

Introducing them in various ongoing/future projects

Support Team

2-3 members

Members possess expertise in both HW & SW

Responsible for the maintenance, expansion, improvement of the infrastructure consisting of:

Workstations, servers, printers

Networking equipment (router, switch, hub)

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SW (OS, development SW, productivity SW, etc.)

Network security

That brings us to the end of our discussion on various roles and the associated responsibilities in the

computing profession. Now we move on to another topic related to our profession, Ethics!

Ethics

Ethics is a collection of heuristics that, when followed, improves our way of life

I find them wonderful as they simplify my life

For example, if you believe in the heuristic always tell the truth, your life becomes much simpler

Now, you don't have to think before you make every statement that you make "Shall I tell the

truth, or lie?"

Professional Ethics

Professional ethics are a category of ethics, and here we discus the professional ethics relevant to

computing

Awareness of professional ethics is gaining importance with time as the decision-making process in

the work place keeps on increasing in complexity

The professional ethics provide a way of simplifying that decision making process

Let us now discuss a few situations where I will request you for your ethical opinions

Situation 1: Illegal Use

A person is using a piece of SW without the author's permission and says: "I'm not really using it,

I'm just evaluating it before I make a firm decision on buying"

That person is "evaluating" that piece of SW for 13 months now!

Is the conduct of that person ethical?

Situation 2: Vaporware

A small company announces a new SW product

A larger, more established competitor hears about that product, and starts a whispering campaign

that she is also working on a similar product that will be released soon

Potential customers decide to wait for the product instead of making the more riskier purchase from

the smaller company

The new company's sales become sluggish, and it fails to earn back the investment that it has put

into developing that new product. That results in her closure

The larger company never releases the promised product

Is the conduct of that large company unethical or a reasonable business tactic?

Situation 3: Whistle Blower

SW bugs, at times, have catastrophic consequences

While Bhola sahib was working for a contractor at NASA, he found such a bug and reported it to

his boss, Murphy sahib, who ordered him to never mention it to any one, or he will get fired

Bhola sahib got scared, and did as he was told

Did Bhola sahib's behave in an ethical manner? Would you hire him in your company?

Situation 4: Trade Secrets

Bhola sahib was working at BholiSoft

He leaves it to work for a competitor, SuperSoft

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Even before starting at SuperSoft, he already has divulged many of the trade secrets of BholiSoft

during his interviews at SuperSoft, giving them an advantage over BholiSoft

Do you agree with Bhola Sahib's ethics? Would you hire him in your company?

Today's Lecture:

(The Computing Profession)

We discussed several roles and associated responsibilities of modern computer professionals

We also discussed a few tricky situations where a knowledge of professional ethics would have

helped

Next Lecture' Goals:

(The Future of Computing)

To visualize the advances in computing that will take place in the future

To visualize the impact of computing on our future

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