What are software engineering managers working to achieve? Can we sum it up in a single sentence?

Delivering projects on time is clearly important. So important that most managers are measured, directly or indirectly, on whether they succeed in delivering their projects on time.

Building and maintaining a capable development team is also a common objective. With increased demands for capable engineers finding and retaining top talent is often difficult.

Conformance to established regulations and development processes is also a common issue. Medical devices, for example, are subject to strict regulation of the software development process.

Management of operating expense is always a concern. Competition today is fiercer than ever. Controlling operating expense is a necessary condition for business success, but it often makes life more difficult for the software engineering manager.

Finally, there is the constant battle to reduce time to market. Product lifetimes are always shrinking and so the rate at which new products can be delivered is of critical importance to top management.

What we have, then, is a situation where there are many necessary conditions, all of which must be met if the organization is to succeed. And therein lies the key to answering our original question. We believe that when a software engineering manager is protecting these necessary conditions, that manager can be said to be "Managing well."

"To manage well." We take this as our customer's primary objective. Therefore, our every action is directed to ensuring that what we do always helps our customers to manage well.

How We Deliver Compelling Value

At Common Sense, we provide a set of services that are consultative in nature. When we provide these services, we are not doing software development for our customers. Instead, we are working with them to improve how they do software development.

When we work with customers on projects of this type, much of what we provide is rooted in an improvement methodology known as the Theory of Constraints, or "TOC." This methodology was developed by an Israeli physicist, Dr. Eliyah (Eli) Goldratt, over a period of about twenty years, starting around 1978.

In a nutshell, TOC is about bringing the principles of physics and the other "exact sciences" to human-based systems. Software engineering organizations, of course, are a kind of human-based systems, and we have found the principles of TOC to be highly applicable to the domain of software engineering.

Of course, TOC alone is not sufficient to be able to serve our customers well. While TOC provides a powerful framework for guiding improvement, it is void of any software engineering knowledge and experience.

Therefore, our experience of more than twenty years of high-tech software development and software engineering management is of vital importance.

At a high level, then, what we are doing is combining a powerful improvement methodology with years of directly applicable software engineering and management experience.

The net result of this is that we are able to provide our customers with a unique and powerful set of consultative services.

We recognize, of course, that many service providers claim this ability. Therefore, we make the following offer. Allow us an hour of your time, and we will explain the detailed logic of our approach. Of course, there is no charge for this meeting.

Our Consulting Services

Our Consulting Services include:

• Management Consulting

Our management consulting services are geared towards helping managers and senior team members to manage well.

The approach that we follow is simple and sensible, and free of the dogma that characterizes some other approaches. From the very first meeting, concrete results are achieved.

We are able to consult on a full range of software engineering and engineering management issues. This includes not only technical matters, but also "people" issues as well.

We also make it easy to get started with us. We recognize that we must be constantly working to earn and maintain the trust of our customers. As such, we offer free introductory sessions and the ability to "start small."

Finally, our reasonable fees also ensure that we never violate our customer's necessary conditions with respect to controlling costs.

• Training

Competent software engineering organizations recognize the necessary condition of having a properly trained staff. They do not allow this legitimate need to be constantly compromised by the pressures of day to day development.

But getting good training is often an issue. Good training is not about simply finding someone to come in and lead a group through a set of slides on a given topic. Good training requires that people are actively involved in the subject matter, and have the opportunity to practice it incrementally, and in a safe and positive environment.

At Common Sense, our proprietary training programs provide engineers with skills that enable a much higher level of performance. A list of these programs is available to qualified potential customers.

We are also able to develop customer-specific training programs.

• Facilitation

From time to time there is great benefit in seeking outside facilitation when discussing difficult or complex subject matters. Obtaining the skills of a competent facilitator can ensure that the group identifies and works with valid information and reaches sound conclusions without losing control or creating other negative outcomes.

At Common Sense, we have years of experience in leading groups in the discussion of complex and sensitive subject matters. We are able to recognize when people are having difficulty communicating, and we have to communication tools -- and skills -- necessary to help them communicate effectively and to move the group to a positive outcome.

Service Details

Our consulting services are always delivered on a tailored basis. Please contact us to discuss any of the services listed above.