>> Hello, I'm Shawn Pratt.
I'm from Boise, Idaho working for Hewlett-Packard.
I am a section manager for one of our R&D organizations,
specifically focused around software and services.
I started at HP about 22 years ago as a software development engineer
and I've basically progressed through several layers of different types of management style,
management work, different types of R&D type activities, program managers, I've held a number
of different jobs through this process.
My role is basically to look at all those projects I'm doing and work
through the strategic didactical delivery of getting them implemented.
So, I work with my director, my partners
to really say what is the strategic direction we want to with this software,
establish that strategic direction and then translate
that into what are the tactical deliveries or tactical releases that would get it,
you know, get us through that process.
With software it's kind of unique in the sense of you don't try to just lease a box.
You don't try and lease, you know, a piece of metal and then you're done
and then you go back-- then you go back and build the next piece of metal.
What you're doing is you're building software and services over time,
and so you start out with something fairly small and you take the stepwise approach
to eventually get to that overall vision that you want to get to.
And then, what you do is you sell it along the way.
So, you're selling customers new features, new versions of that software
and new solutions along that way that gives them more functionality and more things
that they can do with their business.