I attended a talk by Scott Ambler today where he covered a number of growing pains in the Agile Development community. Particularly of interest was the observation that the agile methodology is not independent of modeling - particularly requirement and architectural modeling. Scott really drove into this point fairly thoroughly for the time alloted, but its something that many organizations should keep firmly in mind. Being agile doesn't mean ignoring the proper setting of direction.
Now the interesting question should be: how do organizations take requirements and architecture and bring some of that agile methodology to these disciplines as well. Take requirements modeling for example:
Now the interesting question should be: how do organizations take requirements and architecture and bring some of that agile methodology to these disciplines as well. Take requirements modeling for example:
• User Stories - most of us know that user stories are great, but they don't really tell the whole story; really, they just tell the user's experience, not the needs of other stakeholders who have equally valid needs
• Operational Scenarios - user stories for the operations folk; this can be a lot of fun - how can things go wrong and what do we need to support these scenarios; this is really dependent on having people who can really think in mean and nasty ways about things that are supposed to work normally
• Quality Capabilities - this refers to the "ilities" that make our systems worth using; our experience has shown that these are best fulfilled through some basic scorecard structure (we also recommend throwing this at your architects or operational folks)
• Strategy - architecture really needs to be responsible for projecting out and explaining where the development is headed after the first major iterations; this doesn't need to be grandiose or full of detail, but it does need to clearly articulate major concepts and changes from initial direction
• High Level Design - this really needs to occur at what we call the "box and pipes" level; nothing as rigorous as UML, but just a basic indication of the players and why they are needed (if you're going below the component level, you've gone way too far)
• Standards - this one seems obvious, but we recommend a slight change to the norm: don't develop all-inclusive standards; instead, focus on the bare minimum needed that everyone will have to bide by in order for development to be orderly and without conflict (this, like many things in agile requires a bit of experience)
Working on a major effort as part of my day job and I was asked about the biggest risk in a particular environment.During the course of discussing it, I tripped upon a theory of architecture - not exactly rocket science, but it occurred to me that no one ever articulates these things (or even really attempt to prove them - we simply accept them as lore), so I decided to make a point of documenting the obvious (something I believe falls squarely within the architect job description).
Any way, on to the theory:
Any way, on to the theory:Theorem: Given any technology environment, when the ratio of business functionality to the overall number of systems favors business functionality, there is a positive relationship to the cost and complexity of the environment.
Corollary: When the ratio favors the number of systems, there is a negative relationship with the cost and complexity of the environment.
I've purposely used relatively non-mathematical language as this approach presents a few problems:- How do we measure "business functionality"?
- How do we normalize the business functionality measurement with the number of systems?
- How do we define the terms of the relationship between the ratio and cost/complexity?
- How do we define complexity in mathematical terms?
I'll be speaking at Dr. Dobb's Architecture & Design World at the end of this month in Chicago (topic is Legacy SOA - basically a primer on how to implement SOA in a complete, heterogeneous environment as opposed to homogenous new development). If you're in town, drop me a line.
As part of a larger effort to identify the role, skills and practices of the various types of IT architects, I have assembled a survey to collect feedback from people currently carrying the title of "architect." The survey itself is relatively short (30 minutes was the average during testing) and is designed to hone in on the skills and responsibilities of various architects in their current jobs. If you are currently working as an architect, please take the time to complete the survey. No information of a personal nature will be collected during the survey and cookies will only be used to help ensure that the survey is only taken once (no personal information is embedded in the cookie).
If you are eligible and interested in taking the survey, please click here to begin.
If you are eligible and interested in taking the survey, please click here to begin.
Wednesday saw the triumphant return of Jerry to Underground and he didn't disappoint with a game of Supersystem. We had a group of about five out to play, with me and other taking the forces of Dr. Simian, Ape Ace and Mecha-Gor (that's the big robot ape), Bot and a crap-load of S-Men. Everybody else sided up with the S-Men and the traitorous Ape-Austin. I got to take Mecha-Gor and a squad of Plastic Men and we had a blast in the 3-4 hours we played. I rocked the party with Mecha-Gor whooping up on Gigantess and Ember, being laid low in the last round by some getting absolutely rocked by Brute. Great game with really simple mechanics, though they remind me a lot of the Champions rules. The game really captured the 4-color feel of comic books and was a blast to play. Also, props to the crew that put together the terrain (from WorldWorks) - it really drove home the feel of the game!
Another games night has come and gone and boy howdy, did we play some games! We had a fairly light turnout at about 10 adults, but we made up for it by gaming till 2am. We started out the games with Kirk's brand spanking new copy of Fire and Axe. We had a three player game that went fairly well (or so I thought). The game is pretty good, not too confrontational, but with a lot of unique ways to twist the game in your favor. There is a bit of sniping in the game, but not so much that it gets in the way of having fun. Kirk ended up winning (and its not even a racing game!) with me edging Greg about by a point (tee-hee!). The lady-folk knocked out a game of Apples to Apples and Kirk's new copy of Time's Up, which they seemed to enjoy quite a bit. The gamers in the group continued on to try out my new copy of Munchkin Cthulhu. It actually adds quite a bit to the whole Munchkin concept - its definitely a harder game to win and I definitely haven't adjusted to it yet, but I look forward to trying! Now that I think about it, Kirk won that too...that's odd... The lady-folk continued to chit chat and so we broke out an oldie, but a goodie, Roborally. We had a pretty good time playing an option heavy map, though some people did get a bit carried away gathering options - did I mention that Greg won that one? We finally got the full group together for my newest acquisition, Mall of Horror. This is a great little game that I think would do really well in the mass retail channel. Basically a political voting game with a whole bunch of cut throat behavior, but the game itself sets it up so that there's no real rancor. Good thing since I was the first to be wiped out...Kirk's wife, Jill, ended up squeaking out a victory. Eager for more gaming, we moved on to something to close out the night, Shadows Over Camelot. I've mentioned this one before and am pretty pleased to say we had another great win 10-2, although I think everyone was really surprised to see that there was no traitor - with a full seven players! Argh!
As an addendum, Asher and I got in a game of Star Wars Miniatures on Sunday, playing with our new board. Tried a heavily thematic game, with Asher taking a force of Republic Jedi and me taking a group of Sith. Good game and I promise to have some pics of the new board up soon.
As an addendum, Asher and I got in a game of Star Wars Miniatures on Sunday, playing with our new board. Tried a heavily thematic game, with Asher taking a force of Republic Jedi and me taking a group of Sith. Good game and I promise to have some pics of the new board up soon.
The agile craze has struck my workplace (seems to strike about once a decade) once again and is creating problems for the architectural engagement process we put into place so long ago. In response, I started looking back at the history of architectural processes and was struck by the general lack of agility - even in those that were founded amidst iterative processes (I'm talking about you Rational!). I've thrown out a strawman at work that seems to fit the bill for our use, but I may dress it up a bit and post here if it takes off.
Been playing quite a bit, so there's been some blog-lag!
Mini-Games Night
Had a small group get together and played a few games after being frustrated at not getting to play over Easter weekend! Shadows of Camelot was the game du jour. Good game and seemed to have some good re-playability. The forces of good trounced the forces of evil (i.e. Tristin) with a whopping 12 white swords - a total that has elicited several cries of "you probably weren't playing right." We ended the night on a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill which has lost a bit of the luster in our eyes, but it was a good game anyway. Greg ended up the traitor with a veritable horde of insects at his disposal and neatly mopped up our ragtag band of heroes.
Hard Core Night
Hard core night did not disappoint! Four whopping titles were played! We started off with Railroad Tycoon, which was a really great game, but definitely favors those who've played through once or twice. That said, I managed to spawn a massive system that allowed me to sneak into second, losing by a single point to the forces of Travis! Next on the docket was another Eagle Game, Conquest of the Empire. We played the eurogame version and...well...uh...we're Americans. We immediately launched into a policy of warfare that ultimately favored the turtle in chief, Greg. I swear to play it like a eurogame next time - really! We quickly progressed into a game of Cosmic Encounter which has been on my "to play" list for a while. I really liked the idea of a confrontational eurogame, though I really don't think this compares to Twilight Imperium (Yeah, they're both in space, but that's about it). Kirk led a rousing early expansion - after figuring out how the game worked, I rode his coat tails into a victory using the power of peace (pacifism kicks butt!)! It was at this point that we became desperate for a Kirk win (did I mention it was Kirk's birthday?) - so we did the only thing we could - we pulled out a racing game.
Daytona 500 is a racing game with a Nascar theme to boot! Regardless of my understandable skepticism, this was a really good game that I would seriously consider picking up. And Kirk won. We wound up the night with a game of Tongiaki, which can best be described as Carcasonne with chain reactions - a neat little game that wound up in a tie between Kirk and myself (but he won the tiebreaker).
Video Games
Halo 2 maps are out - remakes of Derelict and Hang 'em High. The maps are gorgeous and they play well. I think the Derelict remake will be the most popular in the long term. Good symmetric map with lots of opportunities for clever play and some really dynamic movement. The other is a great wave of nostalgia, but I really only want to play snipers and rockets on it.
My most current addiction is a little game for the DS, Puzzle Quest. You may have seen the Penny Arcade guys writeabout it. This game is lethally addictive - just go buy the darned thing...trust me.
Miniature Games
Last but not least, this weekend I got Mongoose'sVictory at Sea and the brand-spanking new AT-43 rulebook. Victory at Sea is going to be one of those games that I'll end up blowing $100 or so on the miniatures and I'll drag out to play every so often. Its an alright system, but the rulebook isn't great, though the inclusion of counters so that people can play right away is terrific. AT-43 on the other hand is likely to become my number 1 or 2 game - its that good. These rules are tight and logical. They go right up to the point of simulation and then back away slowly - giving me exactly what I want: a minimum of "that just doesn't make sense" moments. And we're talking about well-painted, pre-painted, reasonably priced miniatures to boot. Color me impressed.
Mini-Games Night
Had a small group get together and played a few games after being frustrated at not getting to play over Easter weekend! Shadows of Camelot was the game du jour. Good game and seemed to have some good re-playability. The forces of good trounced the forces of evil (i.e. Tristin) with a whopping 12 white swords - a total that has elicited several cries of "you probably weren't playing right." We ended the night on a game of Betrayal at House on the Hill which has lost a bit of the luster in our eyes, but it was a good game anyway. Greg ended up the traitor with a veritable horde of insects at his disposal and neatly mopped up our ragtag band of heroes.
Hard Core Night
Hard core night did not disappoint! Four whopping titles were played! We started off with Railroad Tycoon, which was a really great game, but definitely favors those who've played through once or twice. That said, I managed to spawn a massive system that allowed me to sneak into second, losing by a single point to the forces of Travis! Next on the docket was another Eagle Game, Conquest of the Empire. We played the eurogame version and...well...uh...we're Americans. We immediately launched into a policy of warfare that ultimately favored the turtle in chief, Greg. I swear to play it like a eurogame next time - really! We quickly progressed into a game of Cosmic Encounter which has been on my "to play" list for a while. I really liked the idea of a confrontational eurogame, though I really don't think this compares to Twilight Imperium (Yeah, they're both in space, but that's about it). Kirk led a rousing early expansion - after figuring out how the game worked, I rode his coat tails into a victory using the power of peace (pacifism kicks butt!)! It was at this point that we became desperate for a Kirk win (did I mention it was Kirk's birthday?) - so we did the only thing we could - we pulled out a racing game. 
Daytona 500 is a racing game with a Nascar theme to boot! Regardless of my understandable skepticism, this was a really good game that I would seriously consider picking up. And Kirk won. We wound up the night with a game of Tongiaki, which can best be described as Carcasonne with chain reactions - a neat little game that wound up in a tie between Kirk and myself (but he won the tiebreaker). Video Games
Halo 2 maps are out - remakes of Derelict and Hang 'em High. The maps are gorgeous and they play well. I think the Derelict remake will be the most popular in the long term. Good symmetric map with lots of opportunities for clever play and some really dynamic movement. The other is a great wave of nostalgia, but I really only want to play snipers and rockets on it.
My most current addiction is a little game for the DS, Puzzle Quest. You may have seen the Penny Arcade guys writeabout it. This game is lethally addictive - just go buy the darned thing...trust me.
Miniature Games
Last but not least, this weekend I got Mongoose'sVictory at Sea and the brand-spanking new AT-43 rulebook. Victory at Sea is going to be one of those games that I'll end up blowing $100 or so on the miniatures and I'll drag out to play every so often. Its an alright system, but the rulebook isn't great, though the inclusion of counters so that people can play right away is terrific. AT-43 on the other hand is likely to become my number 1 or 2 game - its that good. These rules are tight and logical. They go right up to the point of simulation and then back away slowly - giving me exactly what I want: a minimum of "that just doesn't make sense" moments. And we're talking about well-painted, pre-painted, reasonably priced miniatures to boot. Color me impressed.
I've been working on a new concept for a presentation involving the practicality of BPM for small businesses when I came across this blog posting at JBoss' site. Now everyone is entitled to their opinion as we go about figuring out how to apply these new technologies, but this one really struck me (I was a bit frustrated at the time - I had just finished getting JBoss' BPM package up and running - an absolute joy). I appreciate the point of the post, but its so woefully aimed at IT that its not even funny. BPEL is an integration technology, but that is EXACTLY what makes it a BPM collaborator. BPM by itself is just a bunch of fancy diagrams with code generation at best - explain it to any business partner and watch the yawns begin. Now, throw in a bit of BPEL to link those shiny services with your shiny business processes and take a look at what you get - real flexibility and agility in the development process. Not poorly generated code, but a truly dynamic business environment. That, my friends, is a winner with the business because it delivers tangible, business value - not just another technology toy. In my opinion, if this position is truly representative of the view of JBoss, then they might as well get out of the business and leave the others who are adopting this more complete mentality (IBM, BEA) to continue to dominate the field.
Went over to Guinn and Scott's for their monthly game night (no photos - just didn't cross my mind to be honest). Relatively light turn out this month, but the gaming was a laundry list of favorites:
- Marvel Heroes - Ended up playing the Fantastic Four, partly just to recheck our theory that they might be broken. Given that I didn't win, I probably shouldn't think of them as broken, but they've definitely got some great synergy. Guinn ended up leading the X-Men to a full route, but I wasn't that far behind! Just as a note, I was also testing out the theory that the game can be played in a relatively short amount of time. I'm happy to report that our game took about an hour and a half after all interruptions were excluded. Fairly typical for a strategy board game!
- Munchkin - Total domination by yours truly. 'nuff said.
- Boggle - Believe it or not, I've never actually played Boggle before. That said, I take my getting owned by my three life-long boggle-playing opponents in stride. Nice game - might see if its something I can play when time permits..
- Roborally - Haven't played it in a while as the last time I played, I personally didn't have a lot of fun. After last night's game, I might make a habit of pulling it out more often. Had a blast even if there weren't a whole lot of hijinks (and Guinn won - but I maintain that's mostly due to Scott's treachery!).
Threw down in a 1000pt game last night - two of us playing those zany zealots, the Protectorate, and my ol' college chum Chris bringing the hurt with the Cryx. Not a good day to be a fanatic - we got routed fairly badly (as shown by the bonejack standing right about where Severius was standing before he discovered that Cryx can do shooty). Good game overall - tactically we were sound, we just couldn't catch a break and so we rolled up pretty quickly.
I also picked up a copy of Rackham's new AT-43: Operation Damocles. Soon as I kick the tires a bit, I'll post some impressions.
Sorry - had to get that out of my system. BrettspielWeit is an online board game service (out of Germany, but even a relative novice such as me can get by). What kind of board games? The good kind! I've been playing a good bit of Caylus and Carcassonne, and I'm dying to get some Power Grid in when I get a chance. Check it out if you've got the time (though I do recommend the fat client - the applet seems a bit wonky).
The Crucible is being performed by Theatre Charlotte as is being advertised by the local NPR station. The advertisement raises the age old claim of "a timely parable of our contemporary society."
Is there a period in history where this is not true? The fundamental genius of Miller's work is that the themes of scapegoating and social exclusivity are not in fact "once in a generation" themes, but are in fact pretty frigging constant. By way of example, an overview of the last half of the 20th century:
The point? Let The Crucible remain a brilliant piece of literature that explores the human condition and give up the tired old trite tale of political mob-mentality by the "bad" people.
Is there a period in history where this is not true? The fundamental genius of Miller's work is that the themes of scapegoating and social exclusivity are not in fact "once in a generation" themes, but are in fact pretty frigging constant. By way of example, an overview of the last half of the 20th century:
- 50's: Err....do I have to do this one....really? McCarthyism is so cliche!
- 60's: This one is elegant in to be honest. On the one hand, you've got the various hippy aligned movements who were ostracized and promptly struck back through the same concepts! What's that, its not the same because they weren't in power? How ya' figure? If we're dealing with issues of principle, isn't the principle of the thing all that matters?
- 70's: Can you say war veterans? Ostracized and ignored, seems like they became the scapegoats for the actual leaders to me...
- 80's: Homosexuals anyone? Sorry - I don't care what you may believe about the 80's, the hysteria and rhetoric is simple noun substitution from the 50's...
- 90's: There are lots of little McCarthy moments here, but let's pick on the goths, emos and misfits in the 90's - I mean, they were out shooting all their friends, right? Wait...that was just media-fueled hype after one or two tragic incidents?
- 00's: Err...I believe they refer to them as Arab-Americans - but let's face it, most Americans weren't so considerate as to limit their scapegoatting to such a small group - we've cleverly branched out into anyone who isn't white or black (it is refreshing that we can get over hating some differences in order to hate others...)
The point? Let The Crucible remain a brilliant piece of literature that explores the human condition and give up the tired old trite tale of political mob-mentality by the "bad" people.
Wow. As a note, 300 is how many times I will end up watching this movie. Phenomenal. Its really quite impressive how they took the narrative form of that particular comic style and made it seem more powerful, more poignant than the traditional storytelling techniques used in cinema. Highly recommended.
Looks like I'm headed back to Chicago to revisit the topic of Legacy SOA enablement. I'm pretty excited overall - I think its a great topic and its easily one of my favorite talks to give. The A&D World website seems to be down for updates, so you'll have to wait for the full agenda. See everyone in Chicago!