Customers

Qualiteers' Customer and News Log

The next day it was back to Finland and on Thursday 5-Jun-08 I dealt out the Commitments to Quality numbered 583 to 589 at the end of DayTick session number 26. I had caught the flu and my voice must have been unnaturally low, but I have a feeling that despite everything the training went really well.

After two weeks in Finland, I flew back home for one day to see Mark Knopfler in concert in Cologne. The tickets were a belated birthday and wedding anniversary present from my wife, Virpi. The concert was excellent and even the rain didn't bother us on the way back. "Sultans of Swing", "Telegraph Road", "So Far Away" and "Romeo and Juliet" were good old Dire Straits stuff, but they played also a few tracks from the new album "Kill to Get Crimson". Once again "Speedway At Nazareth" blew me away. "Shangri-la" and "Sailing to Philadelphia" were of course featured. "Why Aye Man" was played in the beginning, either it opened the show or was the second, I'm no longer so sure.

Tampere Open, not a tennis tournament, but a DayTick session taught Tick-the-Code to five beginners. Feedback was positive and the accident with the bottle of Coca Cola didn't seem to dampen the mood. At least I got to buy a new shirt and update my wardrobe. The embarrassing episode happened in the morning of Friday, 30-May-08.

Helsinki 28-May-08, a group of 10 highly skeptical software professionals became convinced of the power of Tick-the-Code on this fine Wednesday. This was third group in this so far unnamed company. Being called back is a sure sign of success and usefulness of the training content.

Jyväskylä Open trained 5 software developers how to tick code on 23-May-08. The first hot and sunny weather coincided with the training making the meeting room without air conditioning a real pleasure to learn in. The magnificent view from the university cafeteria made up for it, though. The lake is just wonderful. The Jyväskylä branch of Kilosoft offices were instrumental in organizing this event. Thank you.

May 2008 was opened in Oulunsalo with two DayTick sessions totaling 13 participants. The dates were May 19th and 20th.

Eleven eager software developers from Mylab Oy learned to tick on 3-Mar-08 in Tampere, Finland. They had read about the method in my fourth article that appeared in this magazine (only in Finnish, sorry). They reacted quickly and managed to catch me still in Finland. It took less than a week to organize the training sessions. It is possible and not even difficult. This might be the first company dealing with clinical laboratories and their information systems. This just goes on to show how versatile Tick-the-Code is and how it can help no matter what your application area. And don't ask me about the programming language they use! The total trainee count is now 549!

This is the big news of this trip! Ardites Training Services, part of Ardites Ltd, licensed the Tick-the-Code training for internal use. Here's the press release (suomeksi). The instructor training had eight participants, all of whom are now capable to train more people. With the licensing they received the training material and supporting background material for the instructors. By the way, now I can call myself head trainer!

Based on the extremely good feedback for the training on 21-Feb-08, a second group was organized on 26-Mar-08 and a third on 28-Mar-08 in Oulu, Finland. A total of nineteen more people took part.

Just before Easter holidays I made the acquaintance of Espotel in Espoo, Finland. I proceeded to school a group of ten participants.

Finally! I held the DayTick training in German for the first time. The participants were extremely patient and understanding. They also helped me get through the places where I forgot the words, or had no idea to begin with. There's room for improvement, but this was a really encouraging experience. Thank you to all who took part! We also broke the magical 500! More than half a thousand software professionals have now had a Tick-the-Code checker training in one form or another. The training took place in Bochum with 9 people on 10-Mar-08.

To complete the hat trick, a third new company ordered a DayTick session. For this I went again to Oulu on 21-Feb-08. Based on the feedback, this session was something extraordinary. Maybe it was the committed and calm group, but it went even better than normal. It was a full class of 10 software developers.

Another new company, this time in Helsinki, organized two groups on Feb 19-20. A total of 18 software professionals learned Tick-the-Code.

A smaller than planned group learned to tick in Oulu of all places. Because of a flu bug and busyness (sigh), there were only 3 participants 15-Feb-08.

Stockholm, Sweden: Qualiteers has opened up the Swedish software market with a well-targeted evaluation training just before Christmas. On the 14-Dec-07 ten new Tick-the-Code checkers were trained in a DayTick session. Sweden is the sixth country Qualiteers has held training courses.

Helsinki 27-Nov-07: 9 new software professionals joined the ranks of Tick-the-Code checkers. Their numbers are 443-451.

After a long while I held a QuickTick session. Compared with DayTick, the pace seems really fast. It is very energizing, but it is a shame not to include all the theory I have in DayTick and practicing more rules is not a bad idea, either. The session took place in Tampere on Friday 23-Nov-07. 9 professionals at CC Systems can tick their code now.

22-Nov-07: I went to the Swedish speaking city of Pietarsaari and trained the software developers (and one mechanical engineer) of Beamex AB. The average (on a scale of 1 to 5 with five being the best) from this DayTick session was 3.7.

Tampere Open, held for the third time on 21-Nov-07, had this time five participants, which made it a very personal experience. I think a nice day was had by all although the planned lunch restaurant welcomed us only with closed doors.

I held a 40-minute talk on my paper "Tick-the-Code Inspection: Empirical Evidence (on Effectiveness)" in the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference on the 9-Oct-07. This was my first conference presentation, hopefully not the last. It is my second scientific paper, following "Tick-the-Code Inspection: Theory and Practice", which was published in Software Quality Professional in June 2007.

Espoo, 3-Oct-07 was the setting for another DayTick session. Once again all the expectations were exceeded. A great group!

On 2-Oct-07 a group of software professionals from several companies in the Jyväskylä region enjoyed learning Tick-the-Code in a DayTick session. The results are encouraging as is the feedback.

The company that wants to remain unnamed had eight more of its software people trained on 10-Sep-07. The training was extremely well received and the skills of finding items in code doubled on average. The expectations of the participants were met and exceed almost threefold!

6-Sep-07 a group of 10 software professionals were trained in a DayTick session in Tampere. The group was very attentive and asked a lot of good questions. One of the participants ticked his code on his laptop and surprised me with how well it went. I'm still not ready to recommend that instead of ticking on paper.

Tampere Open August 2007: All nine participants were satisfied with the training. Some came, against the precondition, with sceptical minds, but were convinced of the benefits of the method during the 3-hour session. Total participant count so far is up to 377.

Cramped conditions in a huge company
On 27-Aug-07 the head-trainer of Qualiteers, Miska Hiltunen (37), experienced probably the tightest training session of his professional career. Eight software engineers were cramped into narrow room with a large table. The experience was almost unbearable as the training session lasted the whole day. The software development is on a firm foundation in this company, which wants to remain anonymous (for good reason), as all the participants held through the whole day and managed to learn how to tick code as well. "I truly hope I don't have to end up in a similar situation again," said trainer Hiltunen. "Just last month I almost fainted in Russia, because there was no time for breakfast," exclaimed the exhausted instructor, "and now this!" "There was no air, no space, although the fruit platter went quite a long way towards making up. All in all I am glad to have survived unscathed," so clearly-relieved Hiltunen today.
*This news item contains humor.*

Qualiteers in Russia! Ten developers from Astrosoft in Saint Petersburg got their Tick-the-Code skills on 12-Jul-07.

June -07 yield: 32 new Tick-the-Code checker inductees and the paper "Tick-the-Code Inspection: Theory and Practice" published in Software Quality Professional.

Among others, trainee number 316 received his certificate in the Tampere Open event held at the Kilosoft offices.

Three new companies and fourteen trainees was the yield at the event at University of Jyväskylä 15-May-07.

We're back in business! OpusCapita Oy had 20 software professionals trained on 12 and 13-Apr-07 in Tampere, Finland. Isn't the versatility in the application areas of our customers just wonderful? For example, OpusCapita is an expert in cash flow automation.

Participants 268-273 work in the telecommunications industry in Helsinki. They were trained on Friday afternoon 16-Feb-07.

After almost a year of suggesting, postponing, negotiating and arranging, Rocket Science Ltd. finally got the taste of Tick-the-Code.

Two full groups, i.e. 16 people were trained in an undisclosed company in Tampere on Valentine's Day.

1-Feb-07: Qualiteers is 1 year old! So far 9 different companies have requested the services of Qualiteers and 244 software professionals have been trained in the first year. On the publishing front, there was the one Better Software article and a few rejected attempts. I didn't manage to get into any conference as speaker this year, but the hunger remains.

Year 2007 kicked off with a bang in Finland! Vertex Systems Oy had three more groups trained, in total 22 people. In other words, they invited me back! That should give confidence to other hesitating customers. Vertex now have a big enough critical mass of trained checkers to make sure Tick-the-Code becomes a weekly habit there.

The first licensing deal for Tick-the-Code was signed 10-Jan-07! Kilosoft Oy now has the exclusive right to market and sell Tick-the-Code in Finland.

The first Tick-the-Code session on German soil took place 23-Nov-06. Trainees 214-222 are ready for real action!

Not strictly seen a customer, but newsworthy anyway: The Better Software magazine published the article "Happy Are the Software Engineers..." as the Last Word column in its December 2006 issue. The writing about feelings and quality engineering was Miska's first published article. The Sticky Notes about Tick-the-Code Inspection are available.

Atostek Oy in Tampere tested the training and the method with a group of 8 professionals on Friday Oct 27th 2006.

Wapice Ltd.: An excursion to Vaasa on Oct 25th and the total participant count exceeds 200! Over two hundred software professionals have gained a new skill during my freelancer career.

A total of 23 trainees took part in training at an unnamed telecommunications giant in Helsinki and Tampere on Oct 23rd and 24th.

Kilosoft Oy trained 10 people on a Saturday!

Vertex Systems Oy made the sensible decision to train 16 of their software developers into effective source code checkers on 20-Oct-06. Training took place in Hervanta, Tampere.

Participants number 146, 147 and 148 were trained in Tampere at a company called DB-Manager Oy. The date was 17-Oct-06.

On Monday 16-Oct-06, I trained 6 international participants in Helsinki at Tieto-X Oyj (nowadays Ixonos Oyj).

Parrot S.A. in Paris, France had its personnel trained in "Tick-The-Code" Inspection in June 2006. 46 participants.

In February 2006, "Tick-The-Code" Inspection training premiered at a telecommunication giant in San Diego, California, USA. 93 software professionals were trained.

As internal trainer in 2004 and 2005, Miska trained about 200 software professionals of Nokia in Finland (Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu), Germany (Bochum) and UK (Southwood) as effective code inspection checkers.