Department in Focus: Development

Two million lines of code, eight teams working across three different countries, which, together, comprise one deparment. The development department is the beating heart of TOPdesk.
TEXT: CLAUDIA FUNK

A lot has changed over the past 15 years, claims Bart Buil, Head of TOPdesks Development department. We used to be able to respond to certain client requests within a week. That was when the software was technically less complex and we had fewer customers to deal with. Due to this, the developers were more flexible in their responses and would even send clients an improved version of TOPdesk on a floppy disk if considered necessary.

after these changes. It is our responsibility to ensure that a new functionality is indeed a valuable addition to the software. Creating a product that is easy to use has always been our mission. For this reason, we first develop functionalities which make TOPdesk more user-friendly and are useful from a technical point of view. Prioritizing is of key importance here, and we cannot decide immediately what to do with every idea. We live in a dynamic world in which the wishes and priorities of our clients and the market change rapidly. In order to respond to these ever-changing wishes and demands, our schedule is never set in stone, which is why we cant always promise to include every requested functionality; but

we do spend a lot of time thinking it through. The developers and the support department work closely together and consultants who visit clients every day know exactly which issues are pressing. The main ideas for the development of TOPdesk are discussed during change meetings, which not only developers and the general management attend, but also representatives from other departments. In a recent meeting, the decision was made to prioritize reviewing the Change Management module in version 4.3 of TOPdesk and to update the graphic display of Configuration Management.

Inspired by clients
Nowadays, the development team has a greater responsibilty and has to meet higher requirements. As it stands, the team collects and prioritizes input from colleagues and clients. Marianne van der Meulen, product manager at TOPdesk, describes her tasks as follows. We receive approximately 2000 feature requests and ideas from clients annually. For every one of these requests, we examine the underlying problems that users want us to resolve with a new functionality. Accordingly, we need to know to what extent our clients expect TOPdesk to improve

Growth as a valuable challenge

As TOPdesk began gaining popularity among clients and grew as an organization, it soon became necessary to look for new developers. It turned out that finding suitable candidates in the Netherlands was more challenging than anticipated. According to Bart, Most of the computer science students in the Netherlands seem to find

WERE ONE BIG TEAM, ONLY WE SIT AT DIFFERENT LOCATIONS

Sara Ponga, Development Team Leader, Kaiserslautern

18 DEPARTMENT IN FOCUS

L-R: Niels Kuiper, Arvind Ganga and Mark van Meurs from the Dutch Development team

jobs as consultancy or technical consultants, while in Germany they end up working as programmers theyre more technical there. Our TOPdesk branch in Kaiserslautern received many applications from IT specialists, which is why a new development team was set up there in 2007. To ensure that we will be able to find suitable candidates for our development department in the future, we even added a development team in Budapest this year, Bart explains.

discuss matters face to face, but our use of various communication devices has enabled our continuous communication. Senior developer Roel Spilker adds, International presentations are given on a regular basis. Using a conference call, we can all watch the same presentation at the same time from three different branches. Upholding good communication between the various teams is one of the key challenges, says Benno Richters, who was one of the first TOPdesk developers in 1997. He joined forces to set up the development team for the German branch; he is now doing the same for Budapest. We work intensively with one another, which means that the performance of one team directly influences that of the other. That is why it is crucial to formulate substantial plans and clear agreements. Besides TOPdesk, we also use a wiki, which is very

useful for documentation. And we are still looking for an online discussion tool that will make it easier to exchange ideas with one another. Furthermore, an exchange between developers from the different branches occurs on a regular basis. During their training period in Delft, new employees really get to know their colleagues and the company.

Continuously reviewing the development process

With 74 employees, making it the second largest department at TOPdesk, the Development team has not only expanded geographically, but has also begun specializing internally. We have appointed a specialist for each TOPdesk module. Each specialist is responsible for building up a lot of knowledge about the module and is the contact person for consultants and support

COLLABORATION WITH OTHER DEPARTMENTS IS VITAL FROM THE START

Marianne van der Meulen, Product manager

Sara Ponga, who has been heading the development team in Germany for the past 1.5 years, describes the collaboration with the main office in Delft as follows. We work as one large team and do exactly the same job as they do in Delft we just work from a different location. We even use the same schedule, because the product is still seen as a whole. Everyone is responsible for a specific part of TOPdesk and, in the case of larger projects, teams from all the branches can work together. Of course its more efficient to

L-R: Sara Ponga, Kalin Rashev and Jessica Pfeifer from the German Development team

20 DEPARTMENT IN FOCUS

employees, explains Bart. To ensure that every developer has the same vision of the product, collaboration with other departments is vital from the start. Benno Richters describes how the different teams have recently started working with so-called tracer bullets. It means that during our regular meetings, we set a certain short-term goal that must be reached within a couple of weeks. During the following meeting, we discuss the homework with representatives of the consultancy and sales departments and we consider the next steps. The advantage of this is that you can steer the right course whilst in the middle of the development process. This saves time while still valuing personal initiative. You can really express your opinion at TOPdesk about how things should work and be implemented, explains Sara. The development process upholds quite

a strict structure which goes for everyone, but you are still flexible to work within those boundaries. It is expected that every employee shows initiative, thinks critically and thus helps to create the best possible product, adds Marianne van der Meulen. We dont work with programmers, but with developers who work proactively. Once every two months, a test version is released internally so they can check the stability of TOPdesk. During the entire development process, the test team is crucial in maintaining the quality of the product, says Bart. This team tests the software with as many variables as possible to ensure a stable and problemfree new version. Stabilizing the TOPdesk software is the next step after the functional deadline has passed. According to Bart, We cannot predict every possible scenario internally at TOPdesk,

WE DONT WORK WITH PROGRAMMERS, BUT WITH PROACTIVE DEVELOPERS

Bart Buil, Department Head

which is why it is important to us to test how the new version responds to various combinations of settings and databases. In the future, all TOPdesk components will be transferred to the new style of software for which we use Mango as a framework. Mango is a technology which enables a clear structure of the software code and can thus be easily maintained. The introduction of this new technology also serves another purpose: to enhance the user-friendliness of TOPdesk even further. The interface is becoming more advanced, the interaction between TOPdesk and the user is being improved and functions are being added, explains Bart. Improving the usability of the software is an important factor. User-friendliness is not only of importance for the development department, but every department of the company takes it into account. These departments may work from different locations, but the product remains a whole.

L-R: Lrnt Pintr, Lajos Uti, Krisztian Horvath, Andrs Gbor Serny and Benno Richters from the Hungarian Development team

DEPARTMENT IN FOCUS 21