Sustainable Dual-Track Development: The Future of Software Engineering for Co-located, Remote, and Hybrid Teams

Every decade or so, the software development community reinvents itself to address the dominant problems of the day. Agile methods reacted against slow, bureaucratic, documentation driven development. The next big shift reacts against unsustainable development practices.

This book advances dual-track development as a unifying framework for the best way of designing great products (user-centered design), the best way of delivering software efficiently (agile methods), and strategies for balancing present and future needs (sustainable development).

This book does not just recommend practices. It explains how to implement practices and the surprising science behind the practices, in an approachable, sometimes cheeky style. You won’t find a “Dual-track Master” telling you that you must do it exactly this way, otherwise you’re a sellout. Rather, this book describes a set of sociotechnical tools and gives advice for adapting these tools to your unique context.

Welcome to the future of software engineering that you actually want: one that embraces
clean code, hyper-productive programming, belongingness, empathy, environmental sustainability, economic feasibility, pro-social impact, and organizational justice.

Todd Sedano, PhD (Carnegie Mellon University), enjoys creating inclusive engineering environments, empowering others to excel, and coaching others by listening and reframing from a growth mindset. He has more than 25 years of experience as a software engineer and engineering manager at leading organizations including NASA JPL, Pivotal Labs, VMware, Enjoy, Gusto, and ID.me. Todd has published scholarly articles on software development waste, agile teams, product backlogs, and dual-track development. His academic research became the foundation for this book. His current hobbies include riding roller coasters, improvisational theater, and American Kenpo.

D. Paul Ralph, PhD (British Columbia), is an award-winning scientist, author, consultant, professor of Software Engineering and director of the Dalhousie Software Engineering Lab. His cutting-edge research at the intersection of software engineering, human-computer interaction, and project management investigates how to improve the environmental, social, economic, and technical sustainability of software development. Paul’s previous research has been published in over 100 peer-review articles and has been used by leading technology companies including Adobe, Amazon, AT&T, Canon, IBM, Google, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, Oracle, PayPal, Samsung, Salesforce, VMware, Yahoo!, and Walmart.

Todd Sedano, PhD (Carnegie Mellon University), enjoys creating inclusive engineering environments, empowering others to excel, and coaching others by listening and reframing from a growth mindset. He has more than 25 years of experience as a software engineer and engineering manager at leading organizations including NASA JPL, Pivotal Labs, VMware, Enjoy, Gusto, and ID.me. Dr. Sedano has published scholarly articles on software development waste, agile teams, product backlogs, and dual-track development. His academic research became the foundation for this book. His current hobbies include riding roller coasters, improvisational theater, and American Kenpo.

D. Paul Ralph, PhD (University of British Columbia), is an award-winning scientist, author, consultant, professor of software engineering, and director of the Dalhousie Software Engineering Lab. His cutting-edge research at the intersection of software engineering, human-computer interaction, and project management investigates how to improve the environmental, social, economic, and technical sustainability of software development. Dr. Ralph’s previous research has been published in over 100 peer reviewed articles and has been used by leading technology companies including Adobe, Amazon, AT&T, Broadcom, Canon, IBM, Google, HP, Microsoft, Netflix, Oracle, PayPal, Samsung, Salesforce, Yahoo!, and Walmart.