Ninjas Needed ASAP

Well I never thought I would turn into a recruiter but it turns out my firm has secured a couple of large projects in the new year, all dealing with Integration and SOA technologies. I can’t do all the work myself and so I am looking for other to join Online Business Systems and my team in delivering SOA/Integration solutions to our customers.

This is an open plea to confident application developers, data modellers and support analysts to make the move to consulting. We provide challenging opportunities, 3K yearly training allowances and a stimulating work environment. Really, I do like it and I am placing a bet that you would like it here as well. My firm pays for relocation from all over the world and we are experienced in helping with immigration issues, etc. While we have offices all over North America, I would like you to consider moving and working out of Calgary, Canada.

Drop me a line and I will personally call to discuss these opportunities. No pressure just an honest offer of employment. Consider this quote from Ashida Kim, my Ninja Mentor, “One cannot embark on the path of enlightenment all at once…”. Make the first step and come join me on the journey of a lifetime!

See you soon!
Murray Laatsch
The SOA Integration Ninja

Edmonton CIPS Conference Day Two 7Nov2006

I apologize for being late with this instalment but it appears I have a real job with actual deadlines so writing a BLOG ends up lower on my priority list. Go figure? For this very same reason, my ranting will be short and to the point. Lucky you!

Session 1 Role of an Enterprise Architect

Architect delivering this ‘course’ was well spoken and I gleaned a few lessons learned from the material. Here it is in point form.

.TOGAF – This methodology was mentioned yet again as a reference point for architecture.

.Level 1 and Level 2 OMG Architect Certification is recommended. I agree and I intend on reviewing the course material and certification requirements before I pass judgement. But, on the surface, it sounds good and I can vouch for the credibility of the organization overall. They are part of the Integration Consortium and the representatives that I have met and the material on their site is first rate.

.Roles for the Architect include:
- Take responsibility
- Put your own credibility on the line
- Risk not Assumption so you get a mitigation plan and try to avoid blame game
- 2 week revisions on Architecture deliverables – refactoring essential
- Make people feel smart
- VISION, ROADMAP, EXECUTION
- Empower and step back to let others shine by supporting them 110%
- Know who has the Power and make them look good or make them feel/look smart

.Concerns and Questions from The SOA Integration Ninja
- Agility of the Options/Recommendations approach must be emphasize3d. Always expects change
- UML Standards for modeling were not emphasized. I think they should be
- The Zachman Framework was not brought up and I believe this deserves more emphasis as a resource for Enterprise Architects. Balance this methodology with TOGAF and with what the client wants and understands. Bingo – you are thinking outside the box.
- I am always frightened that the role of an architect changes into a justifier of change orders when the project is funded through a Fixed Price model.

Slides are available for this architecture presentation on the ice conference website. I would encourage aspiring integration consultants to understand and consider working towards a role as an Enterprise Architect.

Session 2 (My Work, Not the Conference Stuff)

I find myself in my hotel room working on a Service Design Process Model for a client. I will return to the Conference for a social event this evening and return home tomorrow morning. I discovered/designed a sublime method of providing Service Contract metadata with policy assertions, that I would love to share with you. Now, this is based on a design pattern that was proposed for the Provincial Health Integration Engine (Hub). This design included a service management front end with Oracle data structures that represent the metadata that would influence the runtime behaviour of services (parameters). Instead of this approach, which involves the creation of a front end administration module and a set of data structures, my more modest clients have turned to XML Schemas to define the contract/policy metadata. As an XML instance, the management can be through any XML aware admin console, even stooping to using IE Web Browser (read notepad) or some utility (preferably with Stylesheet support) that provides security administration capabilities with XML Schema editing.

The approach centers around the design of a contract XML Instance for every business service that is created and deployed. As the service runs, it uses the attributes on the instance to stamp the context for the event messages with the information maintained within this service contract. This occurs as the first step in a service process orchestration. After which, the service needs no further knowledge from the requestor or producer of the event since that context is provided through the contract (physically though the XML Instance).

Anyway, it seems much more important in my head as a design concept that it does as a revelation on paper. It deserves more respect and so I may write more in an upcoming whitepaper I am currently writing for the May 2007 Integration Consortium Summit(s). If you would like to write a paper, the call is open with details on their website.

“When there is no justice, the Ninja appear. They are not called to action by anyone.
They are just ordinary people in extraordinary situations. They need not have a clan or
credentials, or even a great deal of training. They only need the Will. The Ninja do what must be done.”
Ashida Kim, Secrets of the Ninja, DOJO Press 2000

Get IT done.
The SOA Integration Ninja

Edmonton CIPS Conference Day One 6Nov2006

Welcome to the CIPS ICE conference in Edmonton , Alberta, Canada 6Nov-9Nov2006. Check out www.iceconference.com for a complete agenda. But, Edmonton you ask? Yes, the SOA Integration Ninja finds himself in the hinterland attending the first day of a four day conference dedicated to the IT industry in and about Edmonton. I will attempt to cover the proceedings so you feel as if you are attending yourself. If you behave yourself and ask nicely, I have safely preserved the prestigious leather case, complete with calculator (donated by ATCO I-TEK ) that was given out as part of the giveaways/graft for all attendees. It is yours for the asking.

On with the commentary then!

I started off the day meeting with Jason Bloomberg, of ZapThink fame, since he was asked to present at both a morning presentation and an afternoon follow-up. It is these sessions that are the primary draw for me. I am, of course, an honorary member of the ZapThink architecture alliance J I respect these gents for their non partisan stand on the benefits of Architecture and SOA in particular. Online Business Systems has sponsored an entire track, placed a full page ad in the Agenda and sponsored a table at the executive dinner this evening. Read on for my comments about the day. Enjoy.

The day started with a keynote regarding nanotechnology. “Not your favourite breakfast topic” one fellow conference attendee at our table noted. I truly struggled to find relevance to the keynote until the very end. Surprisingly enough the relevance has a lot to do with SOA in that it highlights the need to approach business problems from different perspectives. The lessons learned is related to the aspects of building in less of a margin of error since nanotechnology designed products that can convert raw molecules into machines that can then manufacture/construct at a larger nano level, other machines. These machines build larger structures/machines that in turn build to a larger scale until something we can actually be seen is built (in relatively short time) and it matches exactly the digital model that is its very design. A replicator from star trek comes to mind and this is the exact metaphor for SOA such that what you imagine technology is capable of doing will and can be done if you are able to assemble and construct the building blocks, starting even from the sub-molecular level.

Above and beyond the building blocks analogy for SOA is the reiteration that SOA is about thinking outside of the box and embracing new technologies to enable business agility. What a simple solution to be able to design an object using a model and have it manufactured from raw molecules. Simple and powerful abstraction and soon to be a reality I would bet.

Session 1 Business Case for SOA

This session is part of the overall ZapThink material that Online Business Systems has been certified to deliver through their certified Architect program. There are 10 courses/sessions that revolve around the book ‘SOA or Be Doomed’ and Jason delivered the first summary/introduction material to an appreciative audience of over 100. The people attending come from all aspects of IT delivery, CIOs, IT Managers, Architects, etc. A very broad audience indeed. The session went well, as always, with a highlight being the distribution of the ZapThink SOA Roadmap posters. I have a few if you are interested. Drop me a line J Remember though, a real roadmap is hammered out internally and the poster is to help you visualize one path, with considerations for completing your own roadmap for your own company. This concept is hard to grasp since everyone seems to want a silver bullet or set of 10 things that if they follow them, will lead to SOA panacea. Of source, software Vendors will play into these desires and make promises in order to close the sale. Did you buy SOA from your Vendor? I think not. But whatever allows you to sleep at night is OK sometimes.

I have the slides for this presentation and the next one and in fact, the entire 10 modules along with 2 bonus modules that cover the emergence of SOA Vendor software and a set of case studies normally presented only on request. I would love to share these with you. Through the ZapThink certified Architect program we are able to leverage this material to spread the good word of SOA as long as we give credit to ZapThink as authors of the slides. Great program and great session this morning.

Session 2 SOA Governance and Risk Management

Another well attended session with over 100 people, most of whom did not attend the morning sessions. Many companies buy corporate memberships and share them amongst staff. I noticed a few colleagues with whom I am or have consulted with in the past, attending this session. Not among these was one IT Manager at my table that said “I don’t really get this SOA stuff. It is new to me and I guess it will sink in sometime. I just have to keep getting refreshed.” I often wonder if the concepts of SOA are really understood by an audience and I believe that most DO get it or can take some aspect of what they learn and add value to their own project/initiatives. It is no wonder that SOA is best understood by Architects since it is Architecture after all J

Questions and comments form those that attended the first session were answered during this session, that focused on Policies and how policies, contracts and services fit together in the context of governance. I know this is a hot topic with a few projects in Edmonton that have been working towards the early adoption of SOA based solutions, are talking this problem already. The session provided excellent direction on the considerations for design but does fall short of providing a template for a policy (XML Schema for instance. Pun intended). I really want to materialize this concept and I currently have a client that is going through he design stage and in need of a metadata source for Service Contracts and their associated Policy assertions. So, as you can see, I really enjoyed this refresher and it was very topical for me and seemed to be well received by the audience.


Executive Dinner

This evening, I was accompanied by Joe and Joe from Online to the Mayfair Country Club where Online sponsored a table at the ‘invitation only’ executive dinner. The keynote speaker was a VP at Nova who was once the CIO. The talk centred around the successful rationalization of multiple Oracle databases into streamlined IT Operations such that plants are now operated by half the people and with a higher safety record to boot. The topic was interesting and the company at our table was very engaging. I will not name names since these are Executives with more of a reputation to uphold that I have. Needless to say, I was honoured to be in the presence of senior leaders within the Edmonton IT community. If you are one of these Leaders, pat yourself on the back. I am sure I talked way too much for some tastes but is very seldom that an Architect gets to sit with technology decision makers and gets the chance to perhaps influence (even in a small way) IT policy.
Topics of conversations revolved around call centre solutions, healthcare and the normal sharing of ideas and situations that occur in a social settings like this. One conversation the Ninja found engaging related to the general acceptance that the next generation could be termed ‘Gamers’. I first heard this term when reading an article in Wired magazine and it generalizes the new generation as being highly accepting of technology collaborations mediums (MSN, Google, YouTube, etc.). These methods are now an expected and normal way of communication. In comparison, we offer stringent tools to our people in the corporate setting. Very inflexible conared to what the gamers are getting used to on the we. That is the message that Web 2.0 is set to deliver to the world. A new wave of expectations by the basic system user that demand maximum flexibility and at the same time flawless execution. Kind of like Mortal Combat or the other gamers games like Halo, World of WarCraft, etc. that allow a gamer to interact with the environment, controlling almost every aspect of the game (imagine business workflow) by changing metadata. My Son spends more time on Play Station games managing the metadata related to how the game should behave than he does actually playing the game itself. The fun and the challenge is in controlling the entire environment through metadata. We are best advised to begin offering solutions in the corporate world that allow this type of customization, by the business. The gamers will demand it. Flawless Execution!