Datta Vellal

2023

I supervised software competency experts in North America, building on earlier supervisory experience in Philips India. I led the State of Software Craftsmanship report on 138 projects, ran the Back2Basics workshop for about 50 engineers and organized the US developer portal hackathon with the Software Excellence team. All three goals were rated Exceeds Expectations, and feedback from the businesses was 100% positive.

  • 138projects in the craftsmanship report
  • ~50at Back2Basics
  • 1,569reached by the hackathon
  • 24pieces of feedback

What mattered most

  1. 01

    2023 review: all three goals above expectations

    My manager called my impact impressive and pointed to 24 pieces of requested feedback, mostly from the businesses we serve, whose feedback was 100% positive.

  2. 02

    Organized the US developer portal hackathon

    With the Software Excellence team, I organized a two-day hackathon in Cambridge where teams, some travelling from other US sites, built on the internal developer portal.

  3. 03

    Designed and ran a hands-on code quality workshop for about 50 engineers

    I designed and ran a two-hour workshop on design, code, test and review patterns, where engineers reviewed real open-source and shared code knowing they would co-own any bug they approved.

  4. 04

    Led a company-wide software craftsmanship report on 138 projects

    As lead author of the State of Software Craftsmanship 2023 report, I led the analysis of data from 138 projects, about 80% of the software community, and linked low practice maturity to a higher chance of product faults.

“Feedback from businesses is 100% positive and thanks you for your skill and calm, clear communication.”

Manager, Software ExcellencePhilips, February 2024Read the capsule

By month

Also in 2023

  1. 31 October 2023Invited with the head of software excellence to talk design and mastery with the Cambridge data science teamTalk
  2. 25 October 2023Shared bar-raiser interview resources with a Cambridge hiring manager, whose team then asked for a sessionHiring
  3. 24 October 2023Paired with a team for an hour and got their first successful static-analysis build after a week of tryingProject
  4. 29 September 2023Co-hosted a demo area at the Cambridge launch event and demoed software tools, including AI coding assistanceTalk
  5. 29 September 2023Personal thanks from the head of worldwide Software Excellence for work on the Cambridge launch eventRecognition
  6. 19 September 2023Reached five years of service at PhilipsRecognition
  7. September 2023Reviewed the software bill of materials GitHub Action and gave design feedback for its next stepsProject
  8. 4 August 2023Helped a business unit add code-health analysis to its systems pipeline, tracked in its progress dialogueProject
  9. August 2023Backed a business engineer to lead the quality stand-up demo of code-health and open-source scans in CI/CDProject
  10. 26 May 2023Tagged in the Software Center of Excellence's Software Excellence Awards winners announcementRecognition
  11. March ~2023Anytime feedback from a team member on mentoring: a good mentor, colleague and friend, available on busy daysRecognition
  12. 3 February 2023LinkedIn recommendation from a team member: clear context before each task helped him finish on timeRecognition