Engineering the Future of Software
29–31 Oct 2018: Tutorials & Conference
31 Oct–1 Nov 2018: Training
London, UK

Adapting teams to a new architecture, whether they know it or not

Mlungisi Duma (First National Bank)
14:15–15:05 Tuesday, 30 October 2018
Leadership skills
 Location: Buckingham Room - Palace Suite
Secondary topics:  Best Practice, Hands-on
Average rating: **...
(2.07, 14 ratings)

Who is this presentation for?

  • Software engineers, team leads, solutions architects, and business managers

Prerequisite knowledge

  • A basic understanding of software engineering and Agile software architectures
  • Familiarity with Agile software development and the waterfall model (useful but not required)

What you'll learn

  • Explore strategies to increase the chances of getting a new architecture accepted by the team or organization

Description

Software development teams in the banking sector in South Africa are made of a number of technical and nontechnical experts. The challenge with these teams is trying to lead them to adapt to a new architecture—either the audience does not understand the proposed architecture or they feel they don’t have a sense of control or participation within the proposed solution. The new architecture may also make their jobs obsolete.

Teams, whether they are IT experts or not, want to participate in the solution rather than being dictated the solution. When this does not happen, solutions tend to fail, are not signed off on, or are postponed over and over again, which creates lots of frustration for the IT team.

Drawing on his years of experience leading teams to adapt to new architectures, whether they know it or not, Mlungisi Duma shares useful techniques for involving business expects in architecture design and the software development life cycle (which includes leveraging their personalities and expertise in their respective domains). Doing so is crucial for driving the success of most IT projects in the financial sector. You’ll also learn how to convince the IT team to buy in to the new design without too much resistance or friction.

Photo of Mlungisi Duma

Mlungisi Duma

First National Bank

Mlungisi Duma is an applications development manager at First National Bank, South Africa, where he leads a team of system analysts and developers to ensure delivery of large-scale applications. He has over 13 years of experience, many of them spent in the financial sector working with diverse teams to design and deliver some large-scale complex systems—both business and consumer facing. Mlungisi enjoys doing research, mentoring, and proposing innovations. He holds an MSc in computer science and a PhD in electronic and electrical engineering from the University of Johannesburg.