If You were a Music Legend who would you be and why?
I would love to be Asa – Bukola Elemide (Disclaimer: I do not know anything about her personal life.). She’s musically sophisticated, a creator, an African and creates beautiful music with an African touch. So in another life, I would be Asa.
Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do for Thoughtworks.
My name is Wandera Nimrod and I work with ThoughtWorks as a software developer. I have been a programmer and statistician before. I am specifically interested in data, mathematical modelling and analytics. Music is what I go to when I am not doing anything with maths or software.
How is your work at Thoughtworks putting a meaningful dent in the universe.
I think the ‘universe’ would be in a better position to answer this since any answers from me are bound to have a at least some bias. If you don’t mind a healthy amount of bias, here are some reasons I think the work I am doing at ThoughtWorks is significant.
- We are the largest Agile software development house in Kampala. We work very closely with our clients and users to solve the most challenging of business and consumer problems with software specially tailored for them, all the while delivering working software every few weeks, then learning from the users and improving over many small iterations. This is a fresh new way of creating software in the Ugandan software industry. It allows the client to specify the details of the software while they use parts of the software and allows ThoughtWorks to apply the changes and new features the client needs in a matter of weeks, bringing more value for money for our clients by delivering very high quality software and shortening the time-to-market for new ideas. As a developer, I am responsible for making sure the If you asked me, this is a very significant change.
- We are a company with a social agenda at the core. We work everyday towards seeing a more inclusive, more equal, and more just society. Whether it is through teaching 10-year-olds how to program, paying special attention to young female developer to make software development a more accessible career option for women, or creating a world-class software development practice in Africa for Africa by africans, the agenda is the same. I am honored to take part in all these initiatives and to be part of a team of like minds and the same agenda at the core.
Why should people care about focusing on the user?
Because they are creating software for the user, and regardless of what those people might think, they don’t know what the user wants.
What is the worst customer interaction Experience you have encountered.
I think the worst customer is the disinterested customer. You might ask yourself why such a customer would waste money paying for software they don’t want. The answer lies in the fact that many organisations conceive and build software for users they have not consulted. Unfortunately, developers get pulled into such projects and have to contend with user disinterest and sponsor frustration. A disinterested user is frustrating because at the end of the day, I get my satisfaction from seeing users finding utility (and perhaps happiness) in the software I create.
