Jan 262014
 

One Jazz professional’s perspective….

https://dtoczala.wordpress.com/

My name is Dan Toczala.  Most of my friends and business contacts actually refer to me as “Tox”, since that is a LOT easier to pronounce.

I have worked in software development since the age of 16, starting out as a developer in high school, followed by some development jobs in college.  Once I graduated from RIT, I began working for large aerospace firms on military systems like the Seawolf submarine, F-22 fighter, and various missile defense systems.  I worked in a variety of jobs, developing code, providing infrastructure and tools for testing, working as a lead programmer, and doing some project management.

I started work for Rational Software in 1998, and have worked for them ever since.  In 2003 (I think it was 2003), Rational was acquired by IBM, so I am now an IBM employee.  I began this phase of my career in sales, and then moved to professional services.  I was considered one of the leaders of the change and release management community of practice at IBM.

Then I saw the new Jazz products as they were being developed, and I have been involved with them ever since.  I now spend the majority of my time helping architect software development infrastructures (vision, implementation plans, hardware, software, tools, support organizations, and measurement plans) for our customers around the world.  I get to do a lot of travel in my current role, although my customers never seem to be based in nice Caribbean locations.

In March of 2010, I joined the Jazz Jumpstart team.  This team is focused on enabling our Jazz customers and in getting them quickly up and running with Jazz solutions.  I can make a small claim to fame, with my blog posting on Jazz and Open Source now translated into Russian.  I read the Google translated version of it, and I am not sure that I approve of the translation (grin).  In April of 2011, I became the manager of the Jazz Jumpstart Team, a worldwide team of highly skilled people who help enable IBM internal resources and customers with the various Jazz and OSLC technologies.

I am also active in other communities of practice at IBM, and have recently been focused on providing my customers with environments where they can easily measure the impact that software development has on their organizations.  I am also beginning to get active in the definition and deployment of Cloud based implementations of Jazz.  So this blog reflects that.  You will notice that a lot of my blog entries focus on the value Jazz brings to a software development organization, and measuring the overall economic impact that software development (or IT) has on a business.

My family recently moved to Round Rock, TX, (near Austin), and we love our new home.  In my “spare” time I enjoy playing hockey, and I formerly served as the President of the Skating Club of New Hartford, where my daughter used to skate.  My wife and I also enjoy chasing around our granddaughter.  All together I have a wonderful wife, a son, two daughters, a granddaughter, a pack of gerbils, a rabbit, and my dog Lucy.  My dog Boomer (whose picture you see on the top of my page) passed away in late 2012.

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