Letter from TC Chair (November 18, 2010)

Rao MannepalliNovember 18, 2010

“…… I actually heard about your revitalization effort from a friend in another TC, and that is what prompted me to email in the first place. I look forward to working with you to elevate the stature of the Software TC. I will fill out a self-nomination very soon, and I would like to be included in the TC activities”

-- email from a prospective member to our TC

Topics Covered

1. Communication

2. Technical activities

3. Bios

4. Angels team

5. Conferences and Publications

6. TC direction and pace of change

Communications

• After attending at least 3 face to face meeting (in the last 2 years) and countless telecon I honestly don’t think this is the most productive use of resources (travel, time, money and effort particularly in this “New reality - current Buzz word to mean shrinking budgets in DOD).

• Even after two years on the committee, I do not know much about most of our members (like what is your background, what you are bringing to the table, what you expect to get in return from TC, what you want to accomplish etc.)

• In this 21st century - where everything is going virtual (e.g. Virtual Events, Virtual Trade Shows, Virtual Briefing,..) - I do not believe there is anything that demands mandatory physical presence (with the possible exception of enjoying the AIAA provided dinner)

• Buy the way, the response for our face-to-face meeting at ASM in Orlando (as of today) is as follows:· Physical attendance : 4 (~ 14% ) · Call-ins : 6 (~20%)· No response : 20 (~66%)

Communications (contd.) Using e-mail alias

• I have seen several mails on the wisdom of using/not using exclusively the e-mail alias AIAA-SSTC@LISTS.PSU.EDU

• I have checked with AIAA. AIAA has neither prescribed nor proscribed any specific e-mail server or alias. (In fact, I have requested AIAA to provide this service through AIAA (something akin to Google Groups. They are looking into it)

• I have done a quick analysis of the use, effectiveness and efficacy of using AIAA-SSTC@LISTS.PSU.EDU for all mails. The details are presented in a later slide

Communication (contd.)

• However much I like to have a team spirit in our TC, I am not for operating our TC as a (not my term. I have borrowed from F P Brooks) “Hog butchering team”.

• I believe in allowing each Subcommittee/Working group to have the autonomy, authority and accountability to operate as an independent and cohesive entity with targeted communication of their choosing. I have created the e-mail groups for each subcommittee. Please feel free to use them or any other means you feel required.

• Please note that not everyone is interested in everything going on in the TC. Members have signed up to the subcommittees based on their interest. Let us respect it.

• I agree that blasting an email with attachments to all the people all the time is the easiest thing for the sender. But is it effective?

• I suggest the following: · Please do not send any attachments.

· Upload them to the share point.

· If you want to initiate a discussion, please start a new discussion thread.

· Send the emails only to the people who have expressed explicit interest.

• A sample analysis of the e-mails sent/responded to entire group is given in the next slide. I have not seen any proof that this is useful either in communicating or in member engagement

Mail sent/responded to SSTC-group mail

Change in Culture

• Earlier the whole TC functioned like a single team• I want the TC to work more like a collection of independent

and autonomous sub-Committees and Technical working groups with little or no bureaucratic overhead (and without big bang communications)

• One example comes to my mind is the Departments in Bell Labs fundamental research where members are mostly on their own with one of the members designated as a supervisor (part time responsibility to shoulder the unavoidable administrative chores) and the members are almost entirely self directed and driven by the desire for accomplishments

Technical Activities

• Technical activities are the raison d'être of any TC including our TC. I am sorry to report that we have not yet made any improvement in that direction.

• We need to seriously consider that. The sales pitch for our TC is given in the backup slides

• My proposal is to select a topic close to your heart. • Run it through Heilmeier checklist.• At the minimum, it should be significant, relevant and

useful for AIAA. • Get other interested members (My experience: 2 or 3 at

most). You can include non-AIAA members also.

Technical Activities (contd.)

• Have a deadline• Open a folder in our Share Point• Include a .ppt with (at the minimum), Topic, Members,

Justification, Expected end product, Due date• Once the draft is ready we can review it and send to AIAA for

further action• Some of the topics I suggest are listed in the next slide. Please

feel free to add your favorites, be a champion of it and see it through the end.

• I would like to see our work products comparable to ACM’s Assessment of SWBOK Efforts in terms of quality and significance

• https://info.aiaa.org/tac/ISG/SOFTC/Shared%20Documents/2010-2011/Interesting%20Articles/An%20Assessment%20of%20Software%20Engineering%20Body%20of%20Knowledge%20Efforts%20by%20ACM.pdf

Rao MannepalliOct 25, 2010/ Updated on 11-09-2010

* SOFTC is not my invention. It is the acronym used by AIAA for our TC. https://info.aiaa.org/tac/ISG/SOFTC/default.aspx

Areas covered by the activities of SOFTC

The TC is interested in all facets of software. This includes but not limited to:

1. Software (Proving the correctness of software, The art and Science of Software)

2. Software Engineering (Requirements management, IV&V, Quality, Productivity, Software engineering : an idea whose time has come and gone)

3. Architectures (Embedded systems, Real-time systems, SOA, Cloud Computing, GPUs, Software for Super computing)

4. Tools (Programming languages, Real-time Java, Real-time COBRA, COTS, Database Management systems,

Knowledge management systems (e.g.: used in DDG-1000) Software development environments (IDKs), Ravenscar C++ /Embedded C++/Safety Critical C++)

5. Techniques (Model based Software architectures, UML, Automated code generation, Round trip engineering, Automatic translation of Legacy systems into modern languages)

6. Technologies (Software development in Multi CPU, multi-core systems, GPGPU (General Purpose Programming using GPU, Distributed systems)

7. Processes (Software development methodologies,

8. Standards 9. Education (K-12) (Computer Science for high school students going into Science & Engineering, STEM)

10. Education (Higher learning) (e.g. Computer Science Curriculum, Teaching Information sciences for Aerospace Majors, STEM)

11. Public Policy issues (Certification of Software Professionals, Impact of Air-force Technology Vision for 2010-2030 on our field: Analysis, Strategies and action plans, Ethics, Affordability , Software Engineer shortage in Aerospace(Myth/reality, Cross Training, Curriculum Changes, For/against certification): please see an article in the folder “interesting articles)

12. Security (Cyber Security, Trusted Computing, Working with EAL 6+ systems, MLS, Stuxnet aftermath)

Sales Pitch for our TC

SOFTC (Software TC) is looking for active members who want to be part of an authoritative and respected voice in all things aerospace software. It is interested in all facets of software. This includes but not limited to, Software, Software Engineering, Architectures, Tools, Techniques, Technologies, Processes, Standards, Education and Public Policy issues.

SOFTC wants to have an international character and appeal by being relevant and attractive to all aerospace faring nations (India, China, Brazil, Russia, Korea, Israel, France and Germany etc.) and organizations (like Google, Cisco, Microsoft, ISRO, ESA, NASDA, NAL, InfoSys) because the aerospace systems developed for/by US DOD are no longer the prime movers of state-of-the art in our field. It actively cooperates with IEEE and ACM. Most of our members are also active members in them.

SOFTC has an active “Angels” program, where deserving members (including international members) are encouraged and helped to advance their membership and win major awards. It also provides the mentoring opportunities (as both mentors and mentees).

SOFTC uses the modern communication technology to make it possible for the members to make significant and meaningful contributions without disturbing their other responsibilities.

Bios

• One of the best ways to let people know about you is to post your profile and photo on our share point. All universities mandate it for their professors. NASA has this for some key people. LinkedIn is another example.

• Only about 10 (~30%) members have done it so far in our TC.• Please note that most of the people do not know much about other

members. This is an opportunity to know other members better.• Liquid rockets TC has an excellent page for this.

http://www.aiaa.org/tc/lp/members.htm We need to emulate it• If you do not have a profile, please feel free to post your CV/resume. If

you need any help, please contact me

Accomplishments of the Subcommittees/Technical Working Groups (WG)

• Please note: In future, you will find these in their respective folders of the subcommittee/WG. I am including some accomplishments in this letter

• The subcommittees with the exception of one or two are yet to pick up steam

Angels team

• We have established an Angels team. Several accomplished people have kindly agreed to be part of this. Their names are not on a public email. As long as I am the TC chair I will be the interface to them (and hand it over to the next TC chair)

• As of now the team consists of 1 AIAA Honorary Fellow, 8 AIAA Fellows, 6 AIAA Associate Fellows, 3 IEEE Fellows, 1 ACM Fellow, 1 ACM distinguished Scientist

• I am happy to inform you that we have either completed or in the process of completing the following:

· 1 nomination to International von Kármán Wings Award· 2 nominations to AIAA Honorary Fellow· 3 nominations to IEEE Fellow· 3 nominations to ACM Distinguished Engineer/Scientist· 6 AIAA Associate Fellows· 3 AIAA Sr. members· 1 AIAA Aerospace Software Award· 3 AIAA sustained service awards

• I request all of you to look for opportunities to nominate deserving people for upgrades

Conferences & Publications

• Mr. Jim Murphy and his Conferences subcommittee are doing excellent work. They are looking into ways to expand our TC activities into other conferences. One of their goals is to emulate Digital Avionics TC which runs a conference along with AIAA, generates profits and ploughs them back into scholarships

• Mr. James Paunicka and his subcommittee have written the AIAA year-end article. They are also planning to expand their role (to provide editors and reviewers for AIAA journals

TC direction and Pace of Change: Please voice your view

• I am aware that some members are perturbed by the direction of the TC and/or the pace of change.

• In order to provide an opportunity to all the TC members, I am putting all the points in my TC chair vision statement for a vote (please see the discussion board).

• Please post a replay with the list of initiatives in my vision statement, which you oppose.

• If more than 50% of the people on this mailing list oppose any initiative then I will NOT pursue it.

• You need not do anything if you do not oppose any of them. • The list of initiatives are listed in the next slide

List of items on my Vision statement (dated Dec 2009) for TC

1. Make SSTC as active as Solid Rockets TC, which is one of the biggest and most active TCs. People wait in line for joining that.

2. Separate SSTC from CSTC.3. Have full 30 – 35 members and another 30-35 non-voting members4. Encourage and recruit members from other aerospace faring nations outside USA (India, China, Brazil, Russia, Korea,

Israel, France and Germany etc.). I want to use my contacts in those countries to get members5. Move SSTC from the Software Engineering process centric (which is mostly sterile) approach to Actual Software Systems

centric (Mostly creative (some thing Similar to IEEE Software)) focus.6. Use the modern multi-media communications in-lieu of face-to-face meetings (which are the first on the chopping block in

these days of tight travel/training budgets)7. Make it possible for people to call in and/or e-mail. 8. Form sub-committees (again like Solid Rockets Subcommittee)9. Make the work of the subcommittees equal in quality to that of Congressional fellows of AIAA10. Collaborate and cooperate more with IEEE (I have become an Editor of ,IEEE Aerospace and Electronics Systems (AESS)

magazine) and ACM. In fact AIAA and IEEE-AESS are co-sponsors of a joint conference.11. Make it appealing and interesting for Academics and Industrial Researchers (Google, CISCO, Microsoft, ISRO, HAL, NAL,

InfoSys, Wipro etc.)12. Bring an international character.13. Arrange lectures by distinguished people. Coordinate with the efforts like Lockheed Martin-IEEE webinar Series for

Software and Systems Initiative. I want to work with other such efforts from Boeing, Raytheon, GD, ING, Google etc.14. Start an “Angels Program” similar to the one existed in Bell Labs where deserving members will be encouraged and helped

to advance their memberships in AIAA and other sister professional Societies, and win Awards.15. Start an effective Mentoring/Networking program.16. Make SSTC a catalyst for collaborative Research efforts (e.g. smart Grid, Cyber Security etc.)