Bill Udell
Chief Operating Officer
Talks & Presentations by Bill Udell
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From Ideas to Action: A Hands-On Innovation Workshop
- Aug 13, 2025 | Kansas City Developer's Conference 2025
Every innovation starts with a person and an idea—but most early ideas won't ultimately succeed. How do you quickly assess, refine, and validate an idea so it either gains traction or fails fast so you can move on to the next one?
In this interactive, fast-paced workshop, you’ll bring your own idea for a startup, product, or feature and work through a series of activities to:
- Expand your perspective and add structure to your idea.
- Explore new possibilities by generating ideas you hadn’t considered.
- Assess desirability, feasibility, and viability to refine your concept.
- Identify concrete steps to bring your idea closer to reality.
- Tap into the collective intelligence of the room to accelerate your progress and maximize your experience at KCDC.
Whether you’re tech lead shaping a new feature, a senior developer with a side project, or a manager fostering innovation in your team, this workshop will equip you with the tools and insights to move from idea to action and help others do the same.
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Building Better Products, One Sprint at a Time with the SWEBOK
- Dec 5, 2024 | Omaha .NET User Group - December 2024
Turn the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) principles into practical steps that drive real improvements in your product outcomes. By focusing on key SWEBOK areas, we'll uncover how you and your team can build essential skills within your regular sprints—creating opportunities for growth with every release. This session will share tips on embedding continuous improvement into your daily workflow, empowering you to steadily raise your game and deliver better software. Whether you're aiming for stronger design, higher quality, or smoother project management, you'll leave with actionable ways to make SWEBOK part of your journey toward product excellence.
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Opportunistic Active Learning for Actual Intelligence
- Jun 27, 2024 | Kansas City Developer's Conference 2024
Bill Udell, Chief Operating Officer at Don't Panic Labs, discusses strategies for enhancing software engineering competencies through active and opportunistic learning. It highlights the importance of creating learning opportunities within the software development lifecycle and emphasizes the need for systematic approaches to improve project success rates. The presentation also introduces the Software Engineering Body of Knowledge (SWEBOK) as a framework for defining and assessing competencies. Practical tips for integrating critical thought into daily tasks and encouraging continuous learning are provided, along with a call to action for implementing these processes and becoming thought leaders in the software engineering community.