Been looking longingly at SeaWorld Orlando's Kraken coaster, which is clearly, hugely visible from the south windows of the Orange County Convention Center. $70 admission to ride one damn coaster. It mocks me, there on the skyline.
Here inside TechEd, session offerings are listed at three "levels": 200-Intermediate, 300-Advanced, and 400-Expert. When I sat down with K to plan our schedules, one of the first things he did was filter all the courses for "400-Expert" and pick from those. I was horrified, firmly believing that I had no business attending anything labelled "Expert" level.
Yeah. OK.
I accidentally went to a couple of 400-level sessions. They were amazing. Fast-paced, chock full o' useful information, learned tons, and got it.
Then I went to a couple of 300-level sessions. Slow. Kinda repetitive of stuff I already knew. Made me wish for more 400s.
WTF?
Either the "levels" are totally inflated, or, hmm, I'm kinda expert.
So who needs the Kraken when there are such wild roller coasters right there at TechEd?
Showing posts with label architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label architecture. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 04, 2008
Monday, June 02, 2008
Core competencies
Unfortunately for the health of this blog, the best lectures won't get the best blog posts because I'll be busy listening to them.
The Magic Seven core competencies for architects was, for me, greatly encouraging. (I'm trying to reassure K that the stuff I found exciting wasn't precisely the same stuff he objects to on principle.)
A lot of the Magic Seven, I already have.
I have at least a little bit of all of the different types of them.
Some of the things that separate architects from developers are the same sorts of things that cause me not to feel like a true developer sometimes. You mean there's a name for that?
Many of the competencies that I don't have, or need work in, I can think right now of very specific problems I'm having on my project that are caused or worsened by those very things (or the absence of them).
Finally, even supremely competent architects fail. In the middle of an ongoing epic fail, it's pretty much impossible to know whether the architect could have prevented the failure by successful deployment of core competencies, or whether the whole thing was doomed from the start, but one hopes to be able to learn something someday looking back. (Hopefully not looking back from the business end of an espresso machine, though.)
The Magic Seven core competencies for architects was, for me, greatly encouraging. (I'm trying to reassure K that the stuff I found exciting wasn't precisely the same stuff he objects to on principle.)
A lot of the Magic Seven, I already have.
I have at least a little bit of all of the different types of them.
Some of the things that separate architects from developers are the same sorts of things that cause me not to feel like a true developer sometimes. You mean there's a name for that?
Many of the competencies that I don't have, or need work in, I can think right now of very specific problems I'm having on my project that are caused or worsened by those very things (or the absence of them).
Finally, even supremely competent architects fail. In the middle of an ongoing epic fail, it's pretty much impossible to know whether the architect could have prevented the failure by successful deployment of core competencies, or whether the whole thing was doomed from the start, but one hopes to be able to learn something someday looking back. (Hopefully not looking back from the business end of an espresso machine, though.)
Friends don't let friends drink Kool-Aid
The thing is, software + services is almost certainly the right model for us (the place where I work) whether we "like" it or not. :)
And yes, a major draw of "cloud computing" was its Microsoft-killer potential.
But it's still funny-sad to see how hard Microsoft propagandizes for desktop client software plus services, pretending as though their very life didn't depend on it (and as if they weren't also scrambling to get cloudy just in case). "Software plus services! What a great idea! Oh, no reason."
And yes, a major draw of "cloud computing" was its Microsoft-killer potential.
But it's still funny-sad to see how hard Microsoft propagandizes for desktop client software plus services, pretending as though their very life didn't depend on it (and as if they weren't also scrambling to get cloudy just in case). "Software plus services! What a great idea! Oh, no reason."
Pre-conference seminar for Aspiring Architects
Turning software development into a true profession has been a wishlist item for years. If only we had a governing body, unity, standards, education and career paths to follow, networking, community, leverage. Some of my hotheaded friends even threw the word "union" around for a while. Now it's gotten even more specific: turning architecture into a true profession. In all the same ways. Which seems kinda odd considering the original software development profession thing hasn't been solved either. (At least, I don't think it has... hope I didn't miss a memo.)
Having said that, the presentation by the founder of the (non-profit) International Software Architects Association (IASA) was really interesting and useful. He's a good speaker, and he addressed so many of the things I struggle with... sure seems like I'm not the only one trying to get my brain around this.
"Architects are technology strategists." (I heard a lot of keyboarding in the room after he said that one, but I'm still contemplating what it means.) "The best developers don't always make the best architects," and vice versa. I do not think that actually means a bad developer can be a good architect, but it does seem to contradict the notion that an architect is someone who's been a developer for > n years for some employer-specific value n. Following that idea, "can architects be made?" From scratch? Is the architecture skill set a refinement of the developer set, or is it something else entirely? IASA guy says the latter. Interesting.
I'm glad for the focus on professionalism, rather than yet another list of articles and/or tools and/or frameworks... not necessarily because I think the pink-unicorn-dream of turning software into classical engineering or medicine or what have you is likely to happen, but because even short of a full-blown professional organization, talking about the professional issues seems to be the right path toward applying architectural ideas to real problems.
Who are you and what right do you have to call yourself an "architect"?
What do you need to know to be any good?
Once you learn that, what's next?
How do you get the support you need from your employer?
How do you get them to listen to you?
How do you prove your value to your employer?
P.S.: I had some doubts about whether Microsoft really was going to be totally on top of every single little detail at this conference. (TechEd veterans may point & laugh at the n00b now.) I needn't've worried. They've got it all covered. E.g., I guess OCCC doesn't necessarily have wireless coverage throughout the center, which seemed like a major oversight, but, duh, Microsoft brought in their own.
Having said that, the presentation by the founder of the (non-profit) International Software Architects Association (IASA) was really interesting and useful. He's a good speaker, and he addressed so many of the things I struggle with... sure seems like I'm not the only one trying to get my brain around this.
"Architects are technology strategists." (I heard a lot of keyboarding in the room after he said that one, but I'm still contemplating what it means.) "The best developers don't always make the best architects," and vice versa. I do not think that actually means a bad developer can be a good architect, but it does seem to contradict the notion that an architect is someone who's been a developer for > n years for some employer-specific value n. Following that idea, "can architects be made?" From scratch? Is the architecture skill set a refinement of the developer set, or is it something else entirely? IASA guy says the latter. Interesting.
I'm glad for the focus on professionalism, rather than yet another list of articles and/or tools and/or frameworks... not necessarily because I think the pink-unicorn-dream of turning software into classical engineering or medicine or what have you is likely to happen, but because even short of a full-blown professional organization, talking about the professional issues seems to be the right path toward applying architectural ideas to real problems.
Who are you and what right do you have to call yourself an "architect"?
What do you need to know to be any good?
Once you learn that, what's next?
How do you get the support you need from your employer?
How do you get them to listen to you?
How do you prove your value to your employer?
P.S.: I had some doubts about whether Microsoft really was going to be totally on top of every single little detail at this conference. (TechEd veterans may point & laugh at the n00b now.) I needn't've worried. They've got it all covered. E.g., I guess OCCC doesn't necessarily have wireless coverage throughout the center, which seemed like a major oversight, but, duh, Microsoft brought in their own.
Resistance is futile: Microsoft TechEd NA 2008
"But this is Microsoft! Why wouldn't they have their pre-eminent developer conference of the year in Seattle?"
The fact that I've now seen two business-suited Orange County Convention Center staffers zip by on Segways suggests an answer to this question. OCCC is mind-bogglingly huge. The quantity and density of hotels in the immediate vicinity similarly challenges the imagination. And, finally, here in Orlando there's stuff to do. Hell, that's all Orlando is, is stuff to do. The whole thing definitely puts the Washington State Convention & Trade Center into perspective: a very tiny perspective.
I've only been here an hour, and I've already seen exponentially more females than I expected. I have a feeling this is not so much a measure of any different ratio than I expected, but rather of the huge size this conference is going to be.
I shall be trying to stay attentive to what they're teaching here, shying away from Kool-Aid but remaining open to actual knowledge. :) I shall also be trying not to fall apart from feeling way in over my head. Stay tuned.
The fact that I've now seen two business-suited Orange County Convention Center staffers zip by on Segways suggests an answer to this question. OCCC is mind-bogglingly huge. The quantity and density of hotels in the immediate vicinity similarly challenges the imagination. And, finally, here in Orlando there's stuff to do. Hell, that's all Orlando is, is stuff to do. The whole thing definitely puts the Washington State Convention & Trade Center into perspective: a very tiny perspective.
I've only been here an hour, and I've already seen exponentially more females than I expected. I have a feeling this is not so much a measure of any different ratio than I expected, but rather of the huge size this conference is going to be.
I shall be trying to stay attentive to what they're teaching here, shying away from Kool-Aid but remaining open to actual knowledge. :) I shall also be trying not to fall apart from feeling way in over my head. Stay tuned.
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
We finally get an opportunity to learn VSTS....
... and it turns out I haven't bought my team the proper licenses. No hands-on for us!
I guess this is where all those VSTS planning meetings I skipped might have come in handy.
This is so going on my perf eval....
Update: Proper licenses (and my job) secured. Now get to work. :)
I guess this is where all those VSTS planning meetings I skipped might have come in handy.
This is so going on my perf eval....
Update: Proper licenses (and my job) secured. Now get to work. :)
Introducing TDD to an existing codebase
When you find a bug, prove it's a bug by writing failing unit tests for it, then fix the bug. Now you've got unit tests around pre-existing code. Magic!
Monday, November 05, 2007
Architecture for... me (p&p summit, day 1)
"Pragmatic Architecture"
Demystifying architecture. What is an architect? That person who gets paid more than everybody else and has management fooled? "Architect" == Latin for "cannot code anymore"?
Infrastructure architect, enterprise architect, systems architect.
An architect's areas of concern/decision-making: communication, presentation, state management, processing, resource management, tools.
A higher-level perspective than implementers typically think at.
Addresses the high-level decisions that are really, really difficult to refactor (e.g., changing from WinForms to a web app is not a "refactor").
This stuff seems less frightening this way.
My problem is a lack of vocabulary: patterns, libraries, the specifics. I learn the abstract concepts, the "rules", the grammar a lot more easily. (Linguistics vs. language... the same reason I can't speak more than a few words of French, Russian, Spanish or German today but can describe broad commonalities and differences among them...)
Swag update: cozy p&p summit polar fleece vest.
Day 2 update: "Architecture is that stuff that if you don't do it right, it costs too much to fix."
A good target for stories is not that you can't think of any more to add, but that there's nothing you can take away.
"What do you do with troublesome senior devs who won't cooperate with agile methodologies and can't get along and get in the way of the team?" "Make 'em architects!" [audience LOL. pause.] "Hmm, seriously, that might work."
Demystifying architecture. What is an architect? That person who gets paid more than everybody else and has management fooled? "Architect" == Latin for "cannot code anymore"?
Infrastructure architect, enterprise architect, systems architect.
An architect's areas of concern/decision-making: communication, presentation, state management, processing, resource management, tools.
A higher-level perspective than implementers typically think at.
Addresses the high-level decisions that are really, really difficult to refactor (e.g., changing from WinForms to a web app is not a "refactor").
This stuff seems less frightening this way.
My problem is a lack of vocabulary: patterns, libraries, the specifics. I learn the abstract concepts, the "rules", the grammar a lot more easily. (Linguistics vs. language... the same reason I can't speak more than a few words of French, Russian, Spanish or German today but can describe broad commonalities and differences among them...)
Swag update: cozy p&p summit polar fleece vest.
Day 2 update: "Architecture is that stuff that if you don't do it right, it costs too much to fix."
A good target for stories is not that you can't think of any more to add, but that there's nothing you can take away.
"What do you do with troublesome senior devs who won't cooperate with agile methodologies and can't get along and get in the way of the team?" "Make 'em architects!" [audience LOL. pause.] "Hmm, seriously, that might work."
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