An average person attending a lecture about “model-driven system development” would likely be lost and confused within minutes. Likewise, as Stephen Liddle has attempted to teach this concept in his ISys 532 class, he is often met with blank stares.
“It’s been like pulling teeth to get my students to buy into this concept,” Liddle says. “I was puzzled as to why it was so difficult to motivate them.”
However, those currently enrolled in ISys 532 will have the unique opportunity to learn from a professor who has gained a whole new perspective.
“This year I learned more about modeling approaches and discovered I was going about it the wrong way,” Liddle explains.
This insight, among others, has taught Liddle that technology entrepreneurship should not be something that is merely read about in textbooks or theorized about in the classroom—it is a hands-on learning experience that can only be understood after dealing with the issues and challenges a real start-up company faces.
Liddle, professor of information systems and director of the Rollins Center for eBusiness, spent the last eight months on half-time leave from BYU, working with a start-up technology company. He acted as chief technology officer, which led him to deal with issues concerning everything from engineering to management.
“I have been able to hone my technology skills, hone my management skills, and get more hands-on experience I can use in my teaching,” Liddle remarks. “I still have a lot to learn, but this experience has taken me a long way down the road to a vastly improved understanding of how a start-up lives and breathes.”
Liddle plans to tweak or even re-vamp some of the classes he teaches, including ISys 532, to incorporate the knowledge he has gained and help his students better understand theory and principles through hands-on activities. “There are a thousand details about working with a company that are impossible to predict, even if you have a solid theoretical background,” he says. “But I will be able to use examples, share war stories, and better prepare my students for the specific challenges they will face as e-business entrepreneurs.”
One of the key things Liddle plans to teach his students is the importance of learning how to build a unified team of people with different personalities. He says the ability to adapt to how others react in certain situations is crucial to reaching a company’s goals.
“I have really enjoyed helping to build this team, and then seeing them face challenges and overcome them together,” he remarks. “Having an idea is great, but being able to work together and execute on that idea is much more important.”
Although he feels he has almost had to earn a degree in organizational behavior to handle some of the challenges, Liddle believes that the management experience will make him a better director of the eBusiness Center, a better judge for business plan competitions, a better speaker during the e-business lecture series, and a better mentor.
“Whether this company falls on its face or achieves great success in the future will not affect how beneficial these lessons have been to me,” he says. “I highly recommend this type of professional development leave to other faculty members.”