Hays W. Skip McCormick, Consultant

Skip is a successful IT author and consultant to companies including Litton/PRC, Northrop Grumman, Harris Corp., The Discovery Channel, Satellite Services of America, The US Patent and Trademark Office, SAIC, DARPA, The Office of the Secretary of Defense, The Interoperability Clearinghouse, the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA), and the Objective Technology Group. Skip has accumulated a diverse background in many information systems areas, including computer security, artificial intelligence, super-data-computing, ultra-large scale data mining, distributed object computing, and technical project management with the MITRE Corporation as chief software architect and development lead for secure, web-based distributed collaboration and the NIMA Interoperable Technology Reification with Objects (NITRO) project for the National Imagery and Mapping Agency [now the National Geospatial Agency (NGA)], and MITREs Data Integration and Synergistic Collateral Usage Study (DISCUS) project.

As webmaster and coordinator for the AntiPatterns Group (www.antipatterns.com), Skip interfaces constantly with fellow Patterns and AntiPatterns discoverers, and is always working on a new book.

Skip is a sought-after speaker, recently speaking at JAOO, the Premier European Conference on Java" and Object Orientation in Denmark and the Visual Basic Insiders' Technical Summit (VBITS) in Orlando. Skip is a co-author of the AntiPatterns series published by J. S. Wiley, including AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures and Projects in Crisis, AntiPatterns and Patterns in Configuration Management, and AntiPatterns in Project Management, and has written for technical journals including Dr. Dobbs.

Skip holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and resides in Manassas, Virginia , with lovely his wife, Kim, and two children.

Track:   Keynote

Abstract:

The trouble with using experience as your guide is that sometimes the final exam comes first, then the lesson. But it can be big fun studying the goofs other smart people make, and you still get to learn from it! This is the root of AntiPatterns, which has become a useful (and fun) extension of design patterns research and practice. As we reach and surpass the 50-year mark in developing programmable digital systems, the software industry has yet to resolve some fundamental problems about how humans translate business concepts into software applications. It is arguable that the emergence of design patterns has provided the most effective form of software guidance yet available. Moreover, the whole patterns movement has gone a long way in codifying a concise terminology for conveying sophisticated computer science wisdom. According to the collective wits of the Portland Pattern Repositorys wikiweb (http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?AntiPatterns) an AntiPattern is a pattern that tells how to go from a problem to a bad solution.

While it is reasonable to assume that the principal reason we write software is to provide solutions to specific problems, it is also arguable that these solutions frequently leave us worse off than before we started. In fact, academic researchers and practitioners have developed thousands of innovative approaches to building software: from exciting new technologies to progressive processes, but with all these great ideas, the likelihood of success for practicing managers and developers is grim.

AntiPatterns clearly identify real problems and provide real solutions. AntiPatterns identify and categorize the common, and sometimes not-so-obvious mistakes we make every day in software practice. AntiPatterns introduced some of the earliest thinking in Refactoring, a concept which has become another terrific offshoot from Patterns, and which has been successfully popularized by interesting authors such as Martin Fowler.

This address draws from some of the most interesting AntiPatterns from the co-authors three popular AntiPatterns books, and introduces some emerging new AntiPatterns ideas being worked on for a new book.

Rules for AntiPatterns Writers:

1. AntiPatterns authors must not take themselves seriously. Example: here's how stupid the authors were: We've tried things like getting our ex brother-in-laws to quit drinking even though we knew fully what our sisters were like.

2. We insist on having more fun times than sucky times. We've discovered it's really no more work to have fun while busting our tails working than it is not to. While diligence is a virtue, extreme diligence does not guarantee results.