Friday, September 08, 2006

Preparing for a release? Get out of town!


R
eleasing software wreaks havoc on my blogging schedule! I've been meaning to post all week to follow up on my last post about concurrency, but with the imminent release of the Digipede Network 1.3, I simply haven't had time.

Here's a synopsis of what I would have said, had this not been the week before release: Go read Joe Landman (here and here) for some really interesting stuff on the future of concurrency, from a software AND hardware perspective...

As the Director of Products (and product manager for the Digipede Network), release time means something different to me than it ever has before (as a developer or manager of developers). Now, I'm not fixing bugs (thankfully, there have been few bugs in the last couple of weeks). Instead, I'm fixated on the myriad details that surround the software: API references (for our ever-growing .NET and COM APIs), user documentation, administrator documentation, ensuring that the test suites are covering everything, monitoring the bug database (we use Gemini) to make sure nothing's popped up, etc. Add to that one of our busiest sales months ever, and it leads to some thinly stretched employees and some long nights.

In addition to releasing software next week, John Powers and I are headed to GridWorld in Washington, D.C. John's giving a talk which sounds like it's going to be terrific; I'm just attending. There are a bunch of exciting sessions (in fact, I don't think I'm even going to have time in my schedule to see John's talk!).

If you're attending next week (or if you're just in DC), and you're interested in talking grid with me, feel free to give me a call (510-816-7551) or send me an e-mail (dan AT digipede DOT net).

Photo credit: chelle

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