Accelerate Your SDLC with BEST featuring Calvin Hendryx-Parker of Six Feet Up

Calvin Hendryx-Parker from Six Feet Up discusses the importance of optimizing the software development lifecycle (SDLC) in his talk at AI Field Day 5. He begins by acknowledging the widespread integration of software in various aspects of life and the common challenges faced by software teams. Calvin introduces Six Feet Up, a Python and AI agency known for tackling complex problems with a highly experienced team. He shares a case study of a client with over 30 sub-organizations, each with its own software development team, struggling to operate efficiently due to siloed operations and lack of collaboration.

To address these inefficiencies, Calvin’s team conducted a thorough two-month evaluation of the client’s software teams, identifying key issues such as the absence of continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) practices, manual intervention steps, and technical debt. They also assessed the onboarding process for new developers and the overall skill gaps within the teams. The goal was to transform the existing developers into more effective contributors without the need for drastic measures like hiring or firing. This comprehensive analysis led to the development of a scoring system to compare and evaluate the performance of different teams, ultimately providing tailored recommendations for improvement.

Calvin introduces BEST (Best Enterprise Software Techniques), a product designed to streamline the evaluation process. BEST consists of online surveys that assess various aspects of the SDLC across four stages and 19 units, enabling teams to identify areas for improvement quickly. The tool generates heat maps and radar charts to visualize performance and facilitate cross-team learning and collaboration. Calvin emphasizes that while BEST can significantly enhance the SDLC, the underlying principles and evaluation framework can be adopted by any organization to improve their software development processes. He concludes by encouraging teams to focus on continuous improvement and collaboration to achieve a more efficient and effective SDLC.