Software Technology Conference

Software Technology Conference (STC'96)
by Edmond VanDoren

The theme of this Eighth STC was integrating people, process, and technology. Within that theme were strong tracks on topics which related strongly to the DoD problems of today doing more with less, and doing it better.

Larger than ever, with more than 3,100 attending, This STC was a well-planned conference, one with something for just about everyone in the software business. There seemed to be a balance of service personnel, DoD civilians, and contractors, with a noticeable commercial presence.

Nine concurrent tutorial tracks covered the first morning. The one I attended, Practical Software Measurement, had a book-sized handout that covered a huge amount of information about an ongoing effort to define and implement a meaningful software measurement process. Judging from break-time reports, the other tracks were also a half day well spent.

The keynote speaker, Retired admiral William Owens, addressed the central issue:
The shrinking DoD budget.

The figures are at odds with each other:

Downsizing goal (in ten years) - 45%
Projected savings from privatization -- 25%

But the DoD budget's two components are:

Fixed - (infrastructure support costs) - 65%
Variable - (new purchases and procurement) - 35%

To reach the downsizing goal requires more than shrinking the infrastructure. It means reducing procurements by as much as 70%! Challenging figures, made even more challenging by the 500% increase in contingency operations. Technology, he noted, will be called on to meet much of this challenge.

Standards were a particularly hot topic. Sessions about the Defense Information Infrastructure (DII), the Global Command and Control System (GCCS), and the Global Combat Support System (GCSS) both developed using DII standards were standing room only.

Interoperability, the elusive butterfly of defense systems, also came in for a good share of the discussion. Dr. Marvin J. Langston, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Navy of Research, Development, and Acquisition, spoke of the influence of software technology on the way systems are built. He cited a very real accomplishment of the services, an information system built and fielded in two months using existing communications satellites and an internet link from our Bosnian peacekeeping force to servers and based on Netscape. He also described a pressing reason for interoperability in the engagements of today all the forces fight in the same theatre of battle, making it imperative that information be shared to avoid shooting at our own forces.

STC'96 The Year 2000, or millennium, problem was heavily discussed at several sessions. There are several defense-oriented web pages available for exchange of information, and each one has at least one working group associated with it.

Process continues to be a popular subject. It was the subject of several tracks, and many talks, but people issues were a strong emerging theme even in process-related reports. Tom DeMarco and his associate Tim Lister delivered powerful messages across several presentations about how the recent emphasis on process has overshadowed how essential your people are. If you could have one just of the three: people, process, or technologies would there be any question?

On the nontechnical side, I hope no one who attended missed Tom Sullivan's remarkable show and speech. Tom has been blind since childhood, but he never let it stop him from becoming a singer, musician and actor (he even tried baseball along the way). He related his powerful, never give up message to our own endeavors in computer technology, and made the small things seem just that. Get information next year's conference, STC '97 !