RedMonk's O'Grady doesn't hold back with his opinions of 1and1.
The lesson I've learned time and again is that, even when my anger with a vendor is at its peak... when I say I'm never going to use them again, a well-timed explanatory and realistic phone call can soften my mind. I don't doubt Stephen's resolve to quit 1and1 but, assuming there actually is anybody at 1and1 who cares about his custom, I'd still be tempted to make a go of restoring his opinion of me.
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Monday, May 22, 2006
Am I missing something?
I've just seen an advert for "Digital UK" on ITV2.
Digital UK is the organisation tasked with encouraging TV owners in the UK to invest in a model capable of receiving digital broadcasts.
ITV2 is only available in multi-channel homes.
Am I missing something?
The worst thing is that I have a horrible feeling that I'm paying for this organisation in some indirect way.
Digital UK is the organisation tasked with encouraging TV owners in the UK to invest in a model capable of receiving digital broadcasts.
ITV2 is only available in multi-channel homes.
Am I missing something?
The worst thing is that I have a horrible feeling that I'm paying for this organisation in some indirect way.
HTX
Darren describes some of the other stuff going on in Hursley today.
Sadly, I only had time to attend my own session. If I'd known Darren and Roo had found a way to play with Lego on work time or that Simon Singh was there, I would have tried to clear more time in my schedule.
Sadly, I only had time to attend my own session. If I'd known Darren and Roo had found a way to play with Lego on work time or that Simon Singh was there, I would have tried to clear more time in my schedule.
Vodafone's 3G coverage sucks
I was very excited when I received my Vodafone Mobile Connect Card last year. I'd finally be able to get more work done on the train and I'd be able to stay in touch with work when working at remote locations.
Sadly, the reality has been somewhat less successful. 3G coverage at my current client location is almost non existent and I can't even get GPRS at the hotel.
As for when I commute between London and Winchester (to get to Hursley), forget it. I'm lucky if my card can maintain a connection for more than a few seconds.
At least losing a connection doesn't cause my machine to blue-screen (like the GPRS card did) but it's still unacceptable. Come on Vodafone... sort it out!
Does anybody know if any of the other providers are any better?
[Posted from a South West Train somewhere near Clapham Junction.... hopefully]
Sadly, the reality has been somewhat less successful. 3G coverage at my current client location is almost non existent and I can't even get GPRS at the hotel.
As for when I commute between London and Winchester (to get to Hursley), forget it. I'm lucky if my card can maintain a connection for more than a few seconds.
At least losing a connection doesn't cause my machine to blue-screen (like the GPRS card did) but it's still unacceptable. Come on Vodafone... sort it out!
Does anybody know if any of the other providers are any better?
[Posted from a South West Train somewhere near Clapham Junction.... hopefully]
Blog Post Length
Bill Higgins asks what the optimal length of blog posting is. His question was prompted by Irving W-B's Reflections on his year of blogging.
My preference is for short, snappy posts and for them to be made regularly. Perhaps it means I'm still tied to the world of appointment media but I particularly like Raymond Chen's technique of delivering a short-ish post every day at the same time.
He's not the only one to do this (Tim Worstall is a British political blogger who can be relied on to produce a stream of snappy insights at roughly the same time every day but I promised I'd keep politics off this blog so I'll say no more :-) )
Does this mean I don't read blogs with long postings? No... it just means I tend to put them to one side when I'm doing one of my regular "speed reads" through my reader. The danger is that they'll expire from my viewer before I get to them but I guess that would be my loss.
My preference is for short, snappy posts and for them to be made regularly. Perhaps it means I'm still tied to the world of appointment media but I particularly like Raymond Chen's technique of delivering a short-ish post every day at the same time.
He's not the only one to do this (Tim Worstall is a British political blogger who can be relied on to produce a stream of snappy insights at roughly the same time every day but I promised I'd keep politics off this blog so I'll say no more :-) )
Does this mean I don't read blogs with long postings? No... it just means I tend to put them to one side when I'm doing one of my regular "speed reads" through my reader. The danger is that they'll expire from my viewer before I get to them but I guess that would be my loss.
I'm in Hursley today
.... presenting on WebSphere Process Server.... just what on earth is it?!
Come and say hello.
I've marked the presentation confidential primarily because that means more people will come if they think they'e going to hear something secret...
Come and say hello.
I've marked the presentation confidential primarily because that means more people will come if they think they'e going to hear something secret...
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Feeling Gloomy
No. Not me. I feel rather good.
I'm talking about the fab club I went to last night.
Who'd have thought being miserable could be so much fun?
I'm talking about the fab club I went to last night.
Who'd have thought being miserable could be so much fun?
Friday, May 19, 2006
Mini-housing surge slowing?
I was called by two estate agents today asking if I was still looking for a flat. For most of this year, agents have wasted no time reminding me that buyers were ten-a-penny and it was vendors they were desperate for. One anecdote does not make a trend but I thought it noteworthy, nevertheless.
Making it tangible
Yesterday was one of those days that reminded me quite how intangible the stuff I do really is.
I'm currently working full time on a project for a communications company which involves lots of interesting SOA, Process Choreography, Business Process Modeling and integration issues. I'm leading the SOA assembly team.... we're the ones wiring everything together, so to speak.
In a different team is one of my colleagues: he is the voice guy.... and yesterday made me realise he had by far the cooler job. His day seemed to consist of dialing numbers on cell-phones, desk phones and soft-phones and watching various other phones ring. What made it fun to watch was that everything was being routed through a piece of software that had trace turned on.
Watching the trace whizz across the screen whenever he pressed "green" or "red" or picked up a handset was very fun.
So, whilst the stuff my team is doing to integrate all the voice stuff with some interesting back-end technologies will make for a very useful solution, there's no escaping the fact that making real, physical devices beep and ring and flash makes for a far more tangible work experience than musing over flavours of doc/lit wrapped web services.
I'm currently working full time on a project for a communications company which involves lots of interesting SOA, Process Choreography, Business Process Modeling and integration issues. I'm leading the SOA assembly team.... we're the ones wiring everything together, so to speak.
In a different team is one of my colleagues: he is the voice guy.... and yesterday made me realise he had by far the cooler job. His day seemed to consist of dialing numbers on cell-phones, desk phones and soft-phones and watching various other phones ring. What made it fun to watch was that everything was being routed through a piece of software that had trace turned on.
Watching the trace whizz across the screen whenever he pressed "green" or "red" or picked up a handset was very fun.
So, whilst the stuff my team is doing to integrate all the voice stuff with some interesting back-end technologies will make for a very useful solution, there's no escaping the fact that making real, physical devices beep and ring and flash makes for a far more tangible work experience than musing over flavours of doc/lit wrapped web services.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
DataPower
I don't have much to say about this recent IBM acquisition except that the excitement in my colleagues is palpable.
It's not just because the acquisition was in "our area" (it could just as easily have gone "NIH")... everyone who sees it explained can't help but be excited by the possibilities.
It's not just because the acquisition was in "our area" (it could just as easily have gone "NIH")... everyone who sees it explained can't help but be excited by the possibilities.
$
Bobby points to a claim that employers are paying a premium for WebSphere skills (amongst others).
I was hoping to use Google Trends as a lazy way to demonstrate graphically why this is but the results for WebSphere are inconclusive.
SOA, however, is quite remarkable. [I'm assuming I can discount the non-IT-specific Dutch contribution to that chart by assuming it was constant across the period in question]
In situations of this sort, it is customary to joke about asking for a pay rise. I know I should resist.
I was hoping to use Google Trends as a lazy way to demonstrate graphically why this is but the results for WebSphere are inconclusive.
SOA, however, is quite remarkable. [I'm assuming I can discount the non-IT-specific Dutch contribution to that chart by assuming it was constant across the period in question]
In situations of this sort, it is customary to joke about asking for a pay rise. I know I should resist.
Defalcation
I don't learn new words anywhere nearly as often as I should.
It's especially pleasing that, when I do spot a new word, it sounds so delightfully vulgar.
define:defalcation
It's especially pleasing that, when I do spot a new word, it sounds so delightfully vulgar.
define:defalcation
Sunday, May 14, 2006
Viper
I don't tend to blog about databases but this preview of the new release of DB2 is pretty positive.... I need to do some research into what impact the XML support will have in the areas I work and what opportunities it presents.
Saturday, May 13, 2006
What if inflation really were higher than stated?
I blogged some time back that my personal experience of inflation is somewhat more extreme than the benign official figures would predict.
It seems that the Euro allows Spanish property investers to make some free money since the Euro-area interest rate is lower than the Spanish rate of inflation. (in short: mortgages are the easiest way for regular people to borrow large sums of money and, at present, this money is better than free... party while you can!).
Now, let's assume my personal experience of inflation is correct and that I really do experience inflation at a higher rate than the the interest rates currently on offer to me. Is there any financial device that would allow me to profit from this?
It seems that the Euro allows Spanish property investers to make some free money since the Euro-area interest rate is lower than the Spanish rate of inflation. (in short: mortgages are the easiest way for regular people to borrow large sums of money and, at present, this money is better than free... party while you can!).
Now, let's assume my personal experience of inflation is correct and that I really do experience inflation at a higher rate than the the interest rates currently on offer to me. Is there any financial device that would allow me to profit from this?
Google Trends
How "Gendal" is not in their database, I'll never know. Grrrr.
If you were ever in any doubt about the amazing power of globalisation, look no further than the "city rankings" for each of these searches...
WebSphere
Java
Service Oriented Architecture
Web 2.0
Enterprise Architecture
I know my limitations and I understand comparative advantage. Those graphs tell me all I need to know on where to focus my ongoing education if I still want to have a job in five years.
A few other interesting tidbits... IT Governance - ever wonder why you'd never heard of this before 2004, here's your answer....
And finally... talk about monomania! SAP...
[EDIT 2006-05-13] Hmmm... seems the trends happen pretty quickly... the graphs have changed! Summary: SAPers spend a lot of time in Walldorf searching on themselves, Enterprise Architecture will continue to exist, all the other technologies are being aggressively learned worldwide and in a lot of lower-cost economies in particular]
If you were ever in any doubt about the amazing power of globalisation, look no further than the "city rankings" for each of these searches...
WebSphere
Java
Service Oriented Architecture
Web 2.0
Enterprise Architecture
I know my limitations and I understand comparative advantage. Those graphs tell me all I need to know on where to focus my ongoing education if I still want to have a job in five years.
A few other interesting tidbits... IT Governance - ever wonder why you'd never heard of this before 2004, here's your answer....
And finally... talk about monomania! SAP...
[EDIT 2006-05-13] Hmmm... seems the trends happen pretty quickly... the graphs have changed! Summary: SAPers spend a lot of time in Walldorf searching on themselves, Enterprise Architecture will continue to exist, all the other technologies are being aggressively learned worldwide and in a lot of lower-cost economies in particular]
Friday, May 12, 2006
More than you ever wanted to know about SAP
Philip Hartman has some fascinating posts about SAP from a non-SAP specialist's perspective. Well worth a read.
Thursday, May 11, 2006
BA Security
Bruce Schneier talks about some strange security practices at British Airways. When I've booked personal travel with them to the US in the past, they've always sent me an email with a link in it. Clicking on that link would allow me to update various aspects of my booking without further authentication. I'd always been concerned by this but the sheer convenience of it always won me over. That, in a nutshell, is the problem with security... users prefer the short-term gains to be had by removing it.
As Microsoft are discovering with their current Vista betas, optimising both for security and ease-of-use is HARD.
As Microsoft are discovering with their current Vista betas, optimising both for security and ease-of-use is HARD.
Versioning and Dynamicity (again)
I'm presenting to an internal audience of Process Server experts today via teleconference on my pet subject of versioning and "dynamicity" (a made-up word, if ever there was one). This is a very switched-on and knowledgeable crowd so I'm sure I'll get some excellent questions.
This is a re-run of a presentation I gave at WSTC last week but it will be good to get the information out to a wider audience. If you're not an IBMer, don't fret! The same basic information is given in my developerWorks article and PodCast.
This is a re-run of a presentation I gave at WSTC last week but it will be good to get the information out to a wider audience. If you're not an IBMer, don't fret! The same basic information is given in my developerWorks article and PodCast.
The Sultan's Elephant
I had the fortune to stumble across "The Sultan's Elephant" this weekend. Arriving back from Vegas bleary-eyed and jet-lagged, I was browsing through the paper and saw an article about it. I headed to St. James's Park on Sunday afternoon and there was the little girl.
Hurrying towards Regent Street to meet some friends for a coffee, I was stopped in my tracks by a massive crowd. Turning around, I realised the problem... a 42 tonne elephant was walking towards us.
An utterly bizarre and fantastic piece of street art.
Naquada has a nice writeup
Hurrying towards Regent Street to meet some friends for a coffee, I was stopped in my tracks by a massive crowd. Turning around, I realised the problem... a 42 tonne elephant was walking towards us.
An utterly bizarre and fantastic piece of street art.
Naquada has a nice writeup
Tuesday, May 09, 2006
WSTC Wrapup
I was going to post about my trip to Vegas but Andy's pretty much written the definitive summary.
All I can add is:
I took yesterday and today off... and am back at my client in Ipswich tomorrow. Joy!
All I can add is:
- I want a table made out of the same stuff as the bar in i-Bar. Imagine a table made out of millions of Cadbury Mini-Eggs all stuck together in some sort of transparent resin. Fantastic stuff.
- The Rio was nicely compact (compared to the MGM at least).
- There is something fundamentally wrong about being in Vegas in May at midday and shivering. The aircon was *far* too cold.
- Spoke to loads of colleagues I hadn't seen for ages.... which was very useful
- Found out lots of things about our products, strategies and direction that you just can't get from conference calls
- I didn't go to a single DataPower session, which makes me unique and probably somewhat shortsighted if the buzz around that product is anything to go by
I took yesterday and today off... and am back at my client in Ipswich tomorrow. Joy!
BPEL != BPM
Just found this excellent article by Phil Gilbert.
Key insight: "BPEL is orthogonal to the problem-space of managing business processes, and of becoming more process-centric as a business."
Can't argue with that.
I think the IBM toolset fits quite nicely into the world Phil describes. I'm often asked why we have a tool called WebSphere Business Modeler, which can generate BPEL and a separate tool called WebSphere Integration Developer, which can also generate BPEL.
Phil's article is probably the best explanation I've seen to date: BPM is not the same as BPEL. You can do a business process modeling exercise or implement a business process management project (or programme) without touching a single piece of runtime software. A tool (such as WebSphere Business Modeler) provides huge value in such situations (simple modeling environment, simulations, reports, team support, etc, etc).
But... if your analysis determines that some sort of automation is required then we do have a piece of runtime software for process automation (WebSphere Process Server) and yes... it executes BPEL. The tooling for this middleware is WebSphere Integration Developer.
Rather nicely, in Modeler you can identify the portions of a process that needs to be automated and push that down into Integration Developer, where the techies can wire it into the fabric of your enterprise. But, as Phil ably points out, BPM is far bigger than BPEL.
Key insight: "BPEL is orthogonal to the problem-space of managing business processes, and of becoming more process-centric as a business."
Can't argue with that.
I think the IBM toolset fits quite nicely into the world Phil describes. I'm often asked why we have a tool called WebSphere Business Modeler, which can generate BPEL and a separate tool called WebSphere Integration Developer, which can also generate BPEL.
Phil's article is probably the best explanation I've seen to date: BPM is not the same as BPEL. You can do a business process modeling exercise or implement a business process management project (or programme) without touching a single piece of runtime software. A tool (such as WebSphere Business Modeler) provides huge value in such situations (simple modeling environment, simulations, reports, team support, etc, etc).
But... if your analysis determines that some sort of automation is required then we do have a piece of runtime software for process automation (WebSphere Process Server) and yes... it executes BPEL. The tooling for this middleware is WebSphere Integration Developer.
Rather nicely, in Modeler you can identify the portions of a process that needs to be automated and push that down into Integration Developer, where the techies can wire it into the fabric of your enterprise. But, as Phil ably points out, BPM is far bigger than BPEL.
iTrip
I have been freed from the tyranny of the Today programme
Thanks to Griffin's marvellous iTrip, I can listen to my iPod in the bathroom and can escape the awful John Humphrys. Hurrah!
Of course, I'm not saying I do use my iTrip to escape the awful John Humphrys. It's not obvious that the law would permit me to do so...
[Update 2006-05-09 10:42... I've just emailed the Today programme about a news story I think they should pick up. Lest I be accused of hypocrisy, I thought I'd better mention it here just in case their producer happens to peruse my blog...]
Thanks to Griffin's marvellous iTrip, I can listen to my iPod in the bathroom and can escape the awful John Humphrys. Hurrah!
Of course, I'm not saying I do use my iTrip to escape the awful John Humphrys. It's not obvious that the law would permit me to do so...
[Update 2006-05-09 10:42... I've just emailed the Today programme about a news story I think they should pick up. Lest I be accused of hypocrisy, I thought I'd better mention it here just in case their producer happens to peruse my blog...]
Friday, May 05, 2006
Is Bruce Schneier the brains behind Holy Moly?
When Bruce Schneier anticipates a Holy Moly article, you know something weird is going on...
Exhibit 1: Bruce's article about using a laptop to hack into a car's security system to steal it
Exhibit 2: Today's "Holy Moly" mailout (signup required, rarely safe for work... don't say you weren't warned) describes a famous celebrity's problem of hackers stealing her car.
The only explanation is that Bruce's sleuthing skills, and knowledge of how to circumvent strict security, both make him perfectly placed to be Mr. Holy Moly. Who'd have thought it?
Exhibit 1: Bruce's article about using a laptop to hack into a car's security system to steal it
Exhibit 2: Today's "Holy Moly" mailout (signup required, rarely safe for work... don't say you weren't warned) describes a famous celebrity's problem of hackers stealing her car.
The only explanation is that Bruce's sleuthing skills, and knowledge of how to circumvent strict security, both make him perfectly placed to be Mr. Holy Moly. Who'd have thought it?
WebSphere Services Technical Conference
I've been at an internal IBM conference this week - 1500 WebSphere consultants in one hotel in Vegas. Truly a scary place to be.
It's been remarkably useful: it's not often that we get to meet our colleagues from around the world face to face.
I ran two sessions - a technical presentation on how to build dynamic solutions with WebSphere Process Server and a non-technical roundtable on how to prevent projects becoming troubled. They both went pretty well.
All I have to do now is survive a 10 hour flight home...
It's been remarkably useful: it's not often that we get to meet our colleagues from around the world face to face.
I ran two sessions - a technical presentation on how to build dynamic solutions with WebSphere Process Server and a non-technical roundtable on how to prevent projects becoming troubled. They both went pretty well.
All I have to do now is survive a 10 hour flight home...
Monday, May 01, 2006
The Anonymous Lawyer...
... I can normally tell when something is a spoof or not but I just can't tell with this blog. His essay on the sheer terror of having nothing to do, however, is spot on regardless of whether he is for real.
Mindless Process
Coté kindly links to me in this article that pulls together various strands from discussions that have happened in the last few weeks.
Although not quite the same thing, I was thinking about process when he remarked in PodCast 8 that filling out his expense claims was the worst thing about working for RedMonk. It made me wonder whether they had an expense policy and a travel policy and a travel booking process and a travel approval process...
Large companies such as IBM, as you might imagine, do have these sorts of things. A travel policy outlines what kinds of expenses will be reimbursed, what kinds of flights you can take, exceptions, approval processes, ... you get the drift. The problem with these sorts of policies, when drafted sloppily or applied mindlessly, is that they can drive perverse behaviour. Whether a country is "per diem" or "actuals" will determine what kinds of meals you eat and whether you choose to book into a hotel that includes breakfast in the room rate. Bad travel policies will incentivise consultants to "game" the system.... e.g. deliberately choosing perverse routings to trigger a business class flight, etc.
These unintended consequences of overly rigid travel policies are one of the main reasons that large companies have found it useful to explicitly include statements that allow managerial discretion. They are experienced people, whose incentives are correctly aligned to balance the needs of the business with the needs of the consultants.
Exactly the same thing is required for software development: if you mandate a rigid process that applies in all cases and at all times, you remove the need for professional judgment. Adhering to the process will be elevated above the true objectives of the project and you'll descend into process hell. So, like enlightened travel policies, the key to a good development process is ensuring the guiding principles are understood and you allow those with maturity and experience to do what they're paid to do: use their judgment.
Although not quite the same thing, I was thinking about process when he remarked in PodCast 8 that filling out his expense claims was the worst thing about working for RedMonk. It made me wonder whether they had an expense policy and a travel policy and a travel booking process and a travel approval process...
Large companies such as IBM, as you might imagine, do have these sorts of things. A travel policy outlines what kinds of expenses will be reimbursed, what kinds of flights you can take, exceptions, approval processes, ... you get the drift. The problem with these sorts of policies, when drafted sloppily or applied mindlessly, is that they can drive perverse behaviour. Whether a country is "per diem" or "actuals" will determine what kinds of meals you eat and whether you choose to book into a hotel that includes breakfast in the room rate. Bad travel policies will incentivise consultants to "game" the system.... e.g. deliberately choosing perverse routings to trigger a business class flight, etc.
These unintended consequences of overly rigid travel policies are one of the main reasons that large companies have found it useful to explicitly include statements that allow managerial discretion. They are experienced people, whose incentives are correctly aligned to balance the needs of the business with the needs of the consultants.
Exactly the same thing is required for software development: if you mandate a rigid process that applies in all cases and at all times, you remove the need for professional judgment. Adhering to the process will be elevated above the true objectives of the project and you'll descend into process hell. So, like enlightened travel policies, the key to a good development process is ensuring the guiding principles are understood and you allow those with maturity and experience to do what they're paid to do: use their judgment.
Back in Las Vegas.
Like Andy, and pretty much all my IBM Software Services for WebSphere colleagues, I'm in Las Vegas this week for a technical conference.
I've just arrived on Virgin's direct VS43 flight from Gatwick. Eleven hours in economy was just as painful as you would imagine it would be but it will hopefully be worth it in order to spend a lot of time face-to-face with my extended team. The trip was made more enjoyable by the very friendly couple who were sitting next to me. They were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. Wow. As a rule, I don't approve of strangers talking to me on aeroplanes but I'm glad I relaxed my "do not even think of speaking to me; can you not see I am reading?" exterior for this trip. I hope they have a great time this week... they're on the same flight as me on the way back so I'll be sure to look out for them.
I'm staying at the Rio, which is the first time I've stayed off the strip in Vegas. I've been here several times before and never made enough of an effort to get "into it". Once the first session I'm leading is over (tomorrow afternoon), I'll be able to relax and have a proper look around.
Until then, I'll be making sure the intro presentation to my round table on "When Projects Attack" lays out the terms of debate sufficiently clearly. Trying to control a roomful of consultants for 75 minutes will be impossible if I don't.
I've just arrived on Virgin's direct VS43 flight from Gatwick. Eleven hours in economy was just as painful as you would imagine it would be but it will hopefully be worth it in order to spend a lot of time face-to-face with my extended team. The trip was made more enjoyable by the very friendly couple who were sitting next to me. They were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary. Wow. As a rule, I don't approve of strangers talking to me on aeroplanes but I'm glad I relaxed my "do not even think of speaking to me; can you not see I am reading?" exterior for this trip. I hope they have a great time this week... they're on the same flight as me on the way back so I'll be sure to look out for them.
I'm staying at the Rio, which is the first time I've stayed off the strip in Vegas. I've been here several times before and never made enough of an effort to get "into it". Once the first session I'm leading is over (tomorrow afternoon), I'll be able to relax and have a proper look around.
Until then, I'll be making sure the intro presentation to my round table on "When Projects Attack" lays out the terms of debate sufficiently clearly. Trying to control a roomful of consultants for 75 minutes will be impossible if I don't.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
It seems I like elephants too much
Several readers have told me my blog renders very oddly at times, and that my passing appreciation of the elephant has become a front-page story. I'll look into this this evening. In the meantime, if you're not reading blogs using an RSS reader, get with the programme!
[UPDATE 2006-04-26 Hurrah! Problem seems to be fixed. An unfortunate combination of a possible blogger bug and a definite Internet Explorer wierdness now fixed.]
[UPDATE 2006-04-26 Hurrah! Problem seems to be fixed. An unfortunate combination of a possible blogger bug and a definite Internet Explorer wierdness now fixed.]
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Jonathan gets the top job
So, Scott has decided to move on.
Like I said last year, I still don't know what Sun are for but it's nice to know that a geek can get to the top. Congratulations, Jonathan!
Like I said last year, I still don't know what Sun are for but it's nice to know that a geek can get to the top. Congratulations, Jonathan!
Monday, April 24, 2006
WSDL-first development
Jeff Schneider talks about the role of contracts and requirements in a service-oriented world.
I'm working on a project at the moment where we're facing very similar questions.
On the interface secification front, we're doing something what he suggests: where an interface doesn't already exist (i.e. where we need to work in top-down mode), we take the use-cases and UML sequence diagrams as input and identify the interface a service needs to expose.
We then generate a WSDL file. In our case, we use a nice property of WebSphere Integration Developer to speed us up: a WebSphere Process Server interface is a WSDL file so our product-specific tooling generates a globally-usable WSDL file automatically. This neatly gets round the problem of "do we do the WSDL first or the implementation-specific interface first?"
The second question he addresses is a little deeper: how do we deal with the "analysis impedance mismatch" between the "old" world of function-specific use-cases and the "new" world where we need to think in terms of reusable distributed services?
Again, we're doing something similar to his colleague: we have a document that identifies what operations each service must expose if we are to be able to meet the stated requirements. However, we add an extra step. We use WebSphere Business Modeler to allow the business analysts to draw end-to-end flows. For example, a particular business process flow would show how we provision a service all the way from the user logon to a portal to the invocation of the back-end systems.
The analysts use the tool in "basic" mode, where operations and data types are hidden. However, this model is then passed directly to the service composers - who switch to an "advanced" mode - where data types, interfaces and operations and conditions are shown. By analysing the flow, and questioning how to get from one step to the next, requirements on interfaces that wouldn't otherwise be obvious can be deduced. It is the use of this extra tool that allows us to simplify the handover from analysis to design.
Of course, if this was *all* we used the Modeler for then it would probably be overkill. Fortunately, this assistance in identifying interfaces drops out of its normal usage.
I'm working on a project at the moment where we're facing very similar questions.
On the interface secification front, we're doing something what he suggests: where an interface doesn't already exist (i.e. where we need to work in top-down mode), we take the use-cases and UML sequence diagrams as input and identify the interface a service needs to expose.
We then generate a WSDL file. In our case, we use a nice property of WebSphere Integration Developer to speed us up: a WebSphere Process Server interface is a WSDL file so our product-specific tooling generates a globally-usable WSDL file automatically. This neatly gets round the problem of "do we do the WSDL first or the implementation-specific interface first?"
The second question he addresses is a little deeper: how do we deal with the "analysis impedance mismatch" between the "old" world of function-specific use-cases and the "new" world where we need to think in terms of reusable distributed services?
Again, we're doing something similar to his colleague: we have a document that identifies what operations each service must expose if we are to be able to meet the stated requirements. However, we add an extra step. We use WebSphere Business Modeler to allow the business analysts to draw end-to-end flows. For example, a particular business process flow would show how we provision a service all the way from the user logon to a portal to the invocation of the back-end systems.
The analysts use the tool in "basic" mode, where operations and data types are hidden. However, this model is then passed directly to the service composers - who switch to an "advanced" mode - where data types, interfaces and operations and conditions are shown. By analysing the flow, and questioning how to get from one step to the next, requirements on interfaces that wouldn't otherwise be obvious can be deduced. It is the use of this extra tool that allows us to simplify the handover from analysis to design.
Of course, if this was *all* we used the Modeler for then it would probably be overkill. Fortunately, this assistance in identifying interfaces drops out of its normal usage.
People over Process
Bill Higgins talks about the welcome introduction of Coté to Redmonk.
Bill talks about the role of process in software development. I remember when I first joined IBM and was placed into a team that wrote the stress tests for our Message Broker product. I was fresh out of university where I had just won a distinction thanks, in part, to my programming project - which I had written in the archetypal single-coder, late-night, coffee and pizza style.
The culture shock was intense, to put it mildly.
Looking back on it, I realise I didn't have the maturity to see that managing a 100+ man development and test team, distributed over multiple continents and timezones, is different to writing some code in your bedroom. The development process was there for a reason - and it worked. The thing that frustrated me most - the apparently endless meetings and time taken to take a change from concept into product - wasn't slowed down by the process, but was enabled by it. Sure - things could have been done more quickly if the process hadn't been there but, six months later, there would have been utter chaos and we'd have never got anything out of the door.
I reflected on this as I read Bill's post. He argues that endless, mindless process is an enemy. Quite right. The only thing I'd add is that, in order to classify a process as mindless and choose to throw it out, you don't just need good people; you need experienced people.
Bill talks about the role of process in software development. I remember when I first joined IBM and was placed into a team that wrote the stress tests for our Message Broker product. I was fresh out of university where I had just won a distinction thanks, in part, to my programming project - which I had written in the archetypal single-coder, late-night, coffee and pizza style.
The culture shock was intense, to put it mildly.
Looking back on it, I realise I didn't have the maturity to see that managing a 100+ man development and test team, distributed over multiple continents and timezones, is different to writing some code in your bedroom. The development process was there for a reason - and it worked. The thing that frustrated me most - the apparently endless meetings and time taken to take a change from concept into product - wasn't slowed down by the process, but was enabled by it. Sure - things could have been done more quickly if the process hadn't been there but, six months later, there would have been utter chaos and we'd have never got anything out of the door.
I reflected on this as I read Bill's post. He argues that endless, mindless process is an enemy. Quite right. The only thing I'd add is that, in order to classify a process as mindless and choose to throw it out, you don't just need good people; you need experienced people.
Spooky maths problems
Cool post on the mainframe blog taking a potshot at non-mainframe hardware.
As someone who doesn't really have much exposure to mainframes, I found this post fascinating for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I didn't know about that feature - and it's always nice to learn new things.
Secondly, and more importantly, this was a perfect example of taking a geeky train-spotter technical observation and making it relevant to the business. Here's something that no other platform has, and which I'm sure doesn't appear in anybody's ROI or TCO or performance calculations, but which could be utterly crucial in certain applications.
I'm sure I'm not alone in having assumed that all hardware would be as equally vulnerable to cosmic ray- or heat-induced mistakes. I didn't realise until now that there was a platform that explicitly protected you from them. Nice.
As someone who doesn't really have much exposure to mainframes, I found this post fascinating for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, I didn't know about that feature - and it's always nice to learn new things.
Secondly, and more importantly, this was a perfect example of taking a geeky train-spotter technical observation and making it relevant to the business. Here's something that no other platform has, and which I'm sure doesn't appear in anybody's ROI or TCO or performance calculations, but which could be utterly crucial in certain applications.
I'm sure I'm not alone in having assumed that all hardware would be as equally vulnerable to cosmic ray- or heat-induced mistakes. I didn't realise until now that there was a platform that explicitly protected you from them. Nice.
Sunday, April 23, 2006
How to moderate a panel discussion
I'm hosting a discussion on the topic of "Project Failure" at an IBM conference next week and have the tricky task of keeping a room of IBM WebSphere consultants under control.
I'm scheduling a call with a colleague whose opinions I respect in these matters and am perusing the web for ideas but thought I'd throw the topic open to my wise and generous readers.
Have any of you picked up good tips for successfully moderating panel discussions?
Comments, as always, are open.
I'm scheduling a call with a colleague whose opinions I respect in these matters and am perusing the web for ideas but thought I'd throw the topic open to my wise and generous readers.
Have any of you picked up good tips for successfully moderating panel discussions?
Comments, as always, are open.
Am I missing something?
I just read this useful article on Dennis Howlett's blog. It's about using RSS as an integration platform.
I haven't had time to follow all the links yet but it sounds like the idea is to use an RSS feed to "push" events from one application to another.
e.g. in the typical "Customer Sync" EAI scenario, rather than writing an event to an event table or publishing an event to a bus or writing a message to a queue, the "new customer" appears in a particular RSS feed instead. All interested applications subscribe to this feed and, hey presto, we're done!
The idea has many merits - RSS (superficially at least) is a simple way to do pub/sub and neither publisher nor subscriber would need to invest in any expensive middleware.
The areas that confuse me - and perhaps would be answered by following the links - are things like:
* My RSS feeds routinely miss items (e.g. if it's been a while since I last polled). I hope that wasn't your future best customer you forgot to sync to the billing system!
* My RSS feeds routiney double-up items. Better hope you didn't debit that guy's account twice!
* Unless I'm missing something, RSS isn't really "push" pub/sub. Rather: it relies on frequent polling by clients. That must place severe loads on the publishing servers.
I can't help thinking that the solution to these problems (and others) would lead us to re-discovering asynchronous messaging, a middleware tier and all the stuff we already have.
However, I'm prepared to suspend any cynicism and investigate a little further....
I haven't had time to follow all the links yet but it sounds like the idea is to use an RSS feed to "push" events from one application to another.
e.g. in the typical "Customer Sync" EAI scenario, rather than writing an event to an event table or publishing an event to a bus or writing a message to a queue, the "new customer" appears in a particular RSS feed instead. All interested applications subscribe to this feed and, hey presto, we're done!
The idea has many merits - RSS (superficially at least) is a simple way to do pub/sub and neither publisher nor subscriber would need to invest in any expensive middleware.
The areas that confuse me - and perhaps would be answered by following the links - are things like:
* My RSS feeds routinely miss items (e.g. if it's been a while since I last polled). I hope that wasn't your future best customer you forgot to sync to the billing system!
* My RSS feeds routiney double-up items. Better hope you didn't debit that guy's account twice!
* Unless I'm missing something, RSS isn't really "push" pub/sub. Rather: it relies on frequent polling by clients. That must place severe loads on the publishing servers.
I can't help thinking that the solution to these problems (and others) would lead us to re-discovering asynchronous messaging, a middleware tier and all the stuff we already have.
However, I'm prepared to suspend any cynicism and investigate a little further....
Saturday, April 22, 2006
Are WS-* specs too top down?
David Ing has a good post which essentially says that read-only operations are so common and so important that it is a good idea to treat them as a special case, which is what he claims GET does in the REST world.
It's a fair point but it seems to assume that the whole swathe of WS-* specs are necessary in all cases. If all you're doing is a straight query, you don't need WS-AtomicTransaction, WS-ReliableMessaging, WS-Notification or pretty much any of the other stuff. You just need to define what your request looks like, what you expect to get back (most often as a couple of XSDs) and describe how to ask the question. REST seems to do this by providing a URL which encodes the full identity of the resource being queried; WS-* does this by specifying the location of the server in one place and uses the concept of an 'operation' to specify the "question". There's not a great deal of difference at this level that I can see.
The biggest difference I see when perusing documentation is that the WS-* guys give you a WSDL and some XSDs and expect you to figure it out (or feed it to your tools). The REST guys give a nice example of what the XML flowing over the wire should look like. Sometimes that's *all* they give, which just scares me, but that's not a criticism of the entire approach - and the example that is often provided is fantastic.... it lowers the barrier to user experimentation significantly.
Where I think WS-* shows its value is when somebody then asks you to update the data you've just received or if you need to do it securely, for example. WS-* provides a way to call operations with side effects - and to do it in a security context, or transaction context, or whatever - using precisely the same model as the simple query. It's not that the "query" special case is hidden away inside this spaghetti of specs. Rather, the query is the simplest case and everything else builds on it where necessary.
It strikes me that one of the biggest weaknesses of WS-* is in PR: people seem to believe you need to understand the whole lot in order to achieve anything. Not true. I've certainly never read the WS-Notification spec or many of the others (I probably shouldn't admit that in my line of work but still...)
It's a fair point but it seems to assume that the whole swathe of WS-* specs are necessary in all cases. If all you're doing is a straight query, you don't need WS-AtomicTransaction, WS-ReliableMessaging, WS-Notification or pretty much any of the other stuff. You just need to define what your request looks like, what you expect to get back (most often as a couple of XSDs) and describe how to ask the question. REST seems to do this by providing a URL which encodes the full identity of the resource being queried; WS-* does this by specifying the location of the server in one place and uses the concept of an 'operation' to specify the "question". There's not a great deal of difference at this level that I can see.
The biggest difference I see when perusing documentation is that the WS-* guys give you a WSDL and some XSDs and expect you to figure it out (or feed it to your tools). The REST guys give a nice example of what the XML flowing over the wire should look like. Sometimes that's *all* they give, which just scares me, but that's not a criticism of the entire approach - and the example that is often provided is fantastic.... it lowers the barrier to user experimentation significantly.
Where I think WS-* shows its value is when somebody then asks you to update the data you've just received or if you need to do it securely, for example. WS-* provides a way to call operations with side effects - and to do it in a security context, or transaction context, or whatever - using precisely the same model as the simple query. It's not that the "query" special case is hidden away inside this spaghetti of specs. Rather, the query is the simplest case and everything else builds on it where necessary.
It strikes me that one of the biggest weaknesses of WS-* is in PR: people seem to believe you need to understand the whole lot in order to achieve anything. Not true. I've certainly never read the WS-Notification spec or many of the others (I probably shouldn't admit that in my line of work but still...)
Friday, April 21, 2006
How many system calls to serve a single webpage?
Groovy images on a zdnet blog that purports to demonstrate that Windows is "inherently" harder to secure than Linux. That may or may not true but I don't think the diagrams show what the author thinks they do. It is entirely possible they just show greater modularity in Windows.
Either way, the pictures are interesting and it could be a useful way to reason about such things if applied carefully.
[EDIT 2006-04-22. Corrected typo. Thanks for spotting it, Dave]
Either way, the pictures are interesting and it could be a useful way to reason about such things if applied carefully.
[EDIT 2006-04-22. Corrected typo. Thanks for spotting it, Dave]
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
