Terso Solutions turns to uFunctional LLC for Top-Down Expertise on Effective Software Development
Background
Terso Solutions designs, manufactures and manages RFID enabled enclosures to automate the management and control of high value inventory for hospitals, manufacturers and distributors, and laboratories. Terso’s automated inventory solutions control inventory management costs, maximize revenue, improve regulatory compliance, and manage product expiration dates. Headquartered in Madison, WI, Terso Solutions is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Promega Corporation, which develops solutions and technical support for the life sciences industry.
uFunctional LLC was founded in 2007 by Robert Merrill, formerly of the Application Development Group of Berbee Information Networks Corporation (acquired by CDW).
uFunctional provides support to executives of software-intensive businesses—companies that employ programmers or contractors for software projects or that rely on software developed specifically for their business to deliver their products or services. uFunctional LLC helps clients maximize the value of their custom software investments.
Challenge
Over the past fifteen years, a major shift in how software is developed has been taking place. Software projects are notorious for cost and schedule overruns, and for delivering what was requested but not what ultimately proves valuable. As a result, traditional project-management approaches, with an emphasis on planning and controlling adherence to plan, are being challenged by what are generally known as the “Agile methods.” The most widely known of these is Scrum.
Related to Lean for manufacturing, Agile replaces defined process control—detailed planning and management to that plan—with empirical process control, which emphasizes rapid feedback and adaptation toward an overall goal of maximizing value within time and schedule constraints.
Agile has four of what Robert calls “load-bearing walls:”
- Frequent delivery of real, running software to the user/customer for regular feedback about both details and overall fitness for use,
- Project planning that is based on actual progress, as opposed to early guesstimates (which often morph into unachievable commitments),
- An unyielding commitment to quality at all times, detecting and fixing bugs as fast as possible, and keeping the design clean and maintainable through frequent re-organization of the code, called “refactoring,” and
- Constant evaluation and improvement of the entire team’s effectiveness, both technical and non-technical.
Facing challenges with software development, Terso had committed to Scrum, but was expanding and finding it didn’t have the experience with it in-house to make the transition confidently and completely. As a result, projects were still suffering from cost overruns and missed deadlines, and communication between developers and the executive team was still a challenge.
Solution
Implementing Scrum was a shift in how things were done at Terso. The company needed support and expert guidance to move away from the more traditional project management processes they were using (that were costing the company time and money). Robert Merrill’s firm, uFunctional LLC, was called in to provide a top-to-bottom solution to help Terso turn its software development capabilities into a more efficient, cost-effective, well-run organization.
Nathan Pleshek, current Client Services Manager for Terso, was a project engineer when Robert was originally brought into the fold. “As a new company, we were still finding ourselves. But, as we brought new clients on board, they were asking us for more functionality. Robert was brought on to help us understand how to develop software correctly and what processes we needed. He coached and guided us on building our software capabilities.”
In addition to providing technical direction, Robert was also instrumental in bridging the communication gap between the stakeholders at Terso.
Mark Sehmer is current Software Product Manager for Terso. But, during Robert’s tenure as a consultant, Mark was Information Technology and Integration Services Manager.
“In my role as Information Technology and Integration Services Manager, I was responsible for delivering new software products and enhancing existing software products that met the objectives of our business. My primary duties included managing the development process (Scrum), managing the development engineers, adding engineering competencies including quality assurance, and developing existing talent.
“When I was brought in, there was a little bit of disconnect between myself and the business, and the developers thought it was ‘us versus them.’ When we brought Robert in, he became an arbitrator who listened carefully to everyone’s concerns. Because he had both the technical and managerial experience everyone could relate to, he was able to easily transcend the two sides of the issues and helped us to work very well together.“
Since then, Mark’s responsibilities have shifted, in that now he is responsible for the lifecycle of their software from idea to obsolescence. He now represents the business in the Scrum software development process as the product owner.
Recommendations, regular feedback and direct training in Scrum were all part of the solution uFunctional brought to Terso, working directly with both the Product Owners on the development team as well as the leadership team.
“Most of the training sessions were conversational and informal, and we would bring Robert in regularly when Product Owners would come up against a challenge in the development process. Robert helped them create algorithms to weigh some work over other work, and helped them find better ways to work within the process,” Mark said.
“Robert was instrumental in understanding our needs. He picked up immediately where we were at in our business,” Nathan said. “He works from the top to the bottom in understanding what was going on. He was working with developers on improving the code quality that gets delivered. He was working with me on business analysis and making sure I was capturing and delivering properly. And he was helping management understand what we were trying to accomplish as an organization.”
“For us, uFunctional was a tremendous resource and played an instrumental role in the growth of our company,” Nathan added. “He came in, he listened, he provided insights and real-life experiences in similar situations. He had that insight. He really provided us what we needed.”
Today
Even though uFunctional was brought in when the company was still in its early stages, the impact of that relationship is ongoing through today.
“Robert has gotten us to the point where we’re pretty self-sufficient,” Nathan said. “Now we check in with each other to touch base and see how everything is going.”
However, uFunctional is always on-call should the need arise. “I’ve given the go-ahead to people even outside my team to bring Robert in for coaching or consulting anytime,” Mark said. “Even though my position has changed, I would still call on him for his input on designs and architecture.”
“Robert has our organization’s trust and respect. He is unequivocally a subject-matter expert,” Nathan added. “I would absolutely recommend him to other organizations. Software is his business.”
