Some of the biggest problems in software development have nothing to do with technology or process.
Communication.....

(just a half a thought)

I found this in my archive of blog entries that I never posted. Here it is.

Going to JavaOne 2002

My journey started with less than two hours sleep. I was working on a project late Saturday night finished midnight, and then was too wired to sleep till 2 AM. Then I was up at 4 AM getting ready to leave by 4:30 AM. The project was supposed to be small around 8 hours of work thirty hours later and just before JavaOne I was done. Of course, this is not the way to start a journey, but seems typical. I could have finished the project early on Saturday but decided to spend the time with my family during the day.

I was catching a ride with my brother in law who works at the airport… no use spending the extra money on a cab. I am much more frugal after the Internet boom ended.

The plane ride was non-eventful. I had to fly to a hub then off to SF. I feel asleep whenever I could. It was in this state of semi-consciousness that I made my trip to JavaOne. I enjoy this state. I am most creative when I am forcing myself to stay conscience long enough to catch the next plan ride.

At the hub, I decided to get some Starbucks. This was a mistake. It caused me have to go through security checkpoint again. The line was much longer than I expected. Most people would worry. I quit worrying years ago when it almost killed me—now I do my best and go with the flow. Do your best and try to relax is my motto. The line moved fast and I got the plane while it was still boarding—guzzling my vente mocha all the way.

Drinking the mocha was a big mistake that I would soon regret. On the first leg of the trip I was able to sleep. Now I was fully loaded with enough sugar and caffeine to prevent any remote chance of sleep, but I was too tired to do anything productive—too many late nights were taking their toll. I tried to force sleep. It did not work.

Once I got to SFO, it was time to make it on over to the hotel. I was a bit early. I got there and I could not check in yet. I checked my bag and it was off to memory lane.

I worked in SF during the Internet boom. I worked in the media gulch district, which consisted of old sewing factories and warehouses that were converted into office space. The media gulch district was front and center during the any-lame-idea-can-get-venture-funding days of the Internet boom.

I was only half paying attention to where the hotel shuttle was going during the trip over from SFO. Now as I made it over to Moscone, I realized that I was much further than led to believe from our travel coordinator. Granted I was walking distance from Moscone, but I was told that I was right next to it. I was right next to Union Square. Pretty far if you are supposed to carry over stuff that was sent for the booth.

Oh well, I checked my luggage to the hotel and I am off to gallivant SF. As I am walking along my old haunts, I realize I only vaguely remember a lot of what I must have walked past most every day when I worked here three years ago—is this sleep deprivation or am I stupid.. I was not gone long enough for things to change this much. I remembered things wrong. Now I am hungry and it is lunch time…I am going to find Rickenbaukers and get one of those famous steak sandwiches and look at old Harleys. But, where is Rickenbaukers….after walking around for a while my memory started to coalesce. It is as if my feet knew the way (or my stomach I am not sure which). I finally get to Rickenbaukers only to find out that it is closed on Sunday. Oh what horror….
Then I remember that I did the same thing the last time I was at JavaOne—two years before. Its funny how history repeats itself.

After not finding Rickenbaukers, I decided to eat at this SouthWest Mexican food chain restaurant. I am from the south west, and it is a big mistake to eat at chain mexican restaurants!—it only leads to disappointment.

I then register. And then go hunt for the booth. I don’t have a map so finding it was hard until I borrowed someone’s map only to find I was just about standing next to it

I get to the appointment (meeting at the booth to go over the schedule) early. Leave a note, and decide to crash on the bean bag chairs where I write this nice little story. Still too tired to be productive and too wired to sleep!

I found this in my archive of blog entries that I never posted. Here it is.

Going to JavaOne 2002

My journey started with less than two hours sleep. I was working on a project late Saturday night finished midnight, and then was too wired to sleep till 2 AM. Then I was up at 4 AM getting ready to leave by 4:30 AM. The project was supposed to be small around 8 hours of work thirty hours later and just before JavaOne I was done. Of course, this is not the way to start a journey, but seems typical. I could have finished the project early on Saturday but decided to spend the time with my family during the day.

I was catching a ride with my brother in law who works at the airport… no use spending the extra money on a cab. I am much more frugal after the Internet boom ended.

The plane ride was non-eventful. I had to fly to a hub then off to SF. I feel asleep whenever I could. It was in this state of semi-consciousness that I made my trip to JavaOne. I enjoy this state. I am most creative when I am forcing myself to stay conscience long enough to catch the next plan ride.

At the hub, I decided to get some Starbucks. This was a mistake. It caused me have to go through security checkpoint again. The line was much longer than I expected. Most people would worry. I quit worrying years ago when it almost killed me—now I do my best and go with the flow. Do your best and try to relax is my motto. The line moved fast and I got the plane while it was still boarding—guzzling my vente mocha all the way.

Drinking the mocha was a big mistake that I would soon regret. On the first leg of the trip I was able to sleep. Now I was fully loaded with enough sugar and caffeine to prevent any remote chance of sleep, but I was too tired to do anything productive—too many late nights were taking their toll. I tried to force sleep. It did not work.

Once I got to SFO, it was time to make it on over to the hotel. I was a bit early. I got there and I could not check in yet. I checked my bag and it was off to memory lane.

I worked in SF during the Internet boom. I worked in the media gulch district, which consisted of old sewing factories and warehouses that were converted into office space. The media gulch district was front and center during the any-lame-idea-can-get-venture-funding days of the Internet boom.

I was only half paying attention to where the hotel shuttle was going during the trip over from SFO. Now as I made it over to Moscone, I realized that I was much further than led to believe from our travel coordinator. Granted I was walking distance from Moscone, but I was told that I was right next to it. I was right next to Union Square. Pretty far if you are supposed to carry over stuff that was sent for the booth.

Oh well, I checked my luggage to the hotel and I am off to gallivant SF. As I am walking along my old haunts, I realize I only vaguely remember a lot of what I must have walked past most every day when I worked here three years ago—is this sleep deprivation or am I stupid.. I was not gone long enough for things to change this much. I remembered things wrong. Now I am hungry and it is lunch time…I am going to find Rickenbaukers and get one of those famous steak sandwiches and look at old Harleys. But, where is Rickenbaukers….after walking around for a while my memory started to coalesce. It is as if my feet knew the way (or my stomach I am not sure which). I finally get to Rickenbaukers only to find out that it is closed on Sunday. Oh what horror….
Then I remember that I did the same thing the last time I was at JavaOne—two years before. Its funny how history repeats itself.

After not finding Rickenbaukers, I decided to eat at this SouthWest Mexican food chain restaurant. I am from the south west, and it is a big mistake to eat at chain mexican restaurants!—it only leads to disappointment.

I then register. And then go hunt for the booth. I don’t have a map so finding it was hard until I borrowed someone’s map only to find I was just about standing next to it

I get to the appointment (meeting at the booth to go over the schedule) early. Leave a note, and decide to crash on the bean bag chairs where I write this nice little story. Still too tired to be productive and too wired to sleep!

Upgrade Your Staff

I wrote down my feeling about skill management and other stuff at the start of 2002. I found this stuff while I was sifting through a wounded laptop that I am replacing.
I thought I would share it.

Upgrade your staff

The dot boom went dot bust. According to Business week 2.0, this bust is a temporary thing due to wild speculation. They cite a study that compares the Internet speculation to the early speculation for railroads and canals in merry old England. The railroad and canals had periods of wild speculation, then a bust, then a long sustained growth cycle.

I remember the bad old days of the dot boom, when you could not get Java developers. The qualification for some places seemed to be a heart beat. A heart-beat developer could make close to six figures and get a hefty supply (about a gazillion) stock options. Finding talented developer during the glory days of the dot boom was tough to say the least.

I left a good job and went chasing the dot com dream. I was given a lot of stock options (about a gazillion—and no I am not a heart beat developer), which turned out to be worthless. I eventually wised up and moved back home, Tucson AZ. I gave up on the two-hour commute and the twelve-hour days.

The funny thing about most of these dot boom shops was that everyone seemed to be a little bit lost. Actually, it started with the management and trickled down to developers. Developer developed software on Internet time, which typically meant painting yourself into a corner. They worked crazy hours and often got nowhere.

The time ended, most shops can go beyond heart-beat developers. Perhaps it is time to upgrade your staff. I know that sounds pretty harsh. Before you judge me, consider there are some humane ways to upgrade your staff.

You could motivate your staff to transcend their current skill level. I think a combination of training, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study grouping and brown bag lunching has a way to motivate your staff to excel.. Remember, individuals will set and achieve goals, but your job as the Alpha Geek is to help motivate others to achieve goals. Your leadership can turn a ho-hum staff into a force to be reckoned with.

Ask yourself this, has every member of your team read the Design Patterns by Gamma et al. If not, why not! If your team is doing EJBs, have they read Mastering EJB by Ed Roman et al at a minimum or EJB Design Patterns and Idioms by Floyd Mariscuea for the more advance.. If your team members are not motivated to transcend their current skill level than they are bound to make costly mistakes. You must encourage this.

This is a two part series. The next part I will define the terms Alpha-Geek, brown bags lunches, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study groups etc.

I wrote down my feeling about skill management and other stuff at the start of 2002. I found this stuff while I was sifting through a wounded laptop that I am replacing.
I thought I would share it.

Upgrade your staff

The dot boom went dot bust. According to Business week 2.0, this bust is a temporary thing due to wild speculation. They cite a study that compares the Internet speculation to the early speculation for railroads and canals in merry old England. The railroad and canals had periods of wild speculation, then a bust, then a long sustained growth cycle.

I remember the bad old days of the dot boom, when you could not get Java developers. The qualification for some places seemed to be a heart beat. A heart-beat developer could make close to six figures and get a hefty supply (about a gazillion) stock options. Finding talented developer during the glory days of the dot boom was tough to say the least.

I left a good job and went chasing the dot com dream. I was given a lot of stock options (about a gazillion—and no I am not a heart beat developer), which turned out to be worthless. I eventually wised up and moved back home, Tucson AZ. I gave up on the two-hour commute and the twelve-hour days.

The funny thing about most of these dot boom shops was that everyone seemed to be a little bit lost. Actually, it started with the management and trickled down to developers. Developer developed software on Internet time, which typically meant painting yourself into a corner. They worked crazy hours and often got nowhere.

The time ended, most shops can go beyond heart-beat developers. Perhaps it is time to upgrade your staff. I know that sounds pretty harsh. Before you judge me, consider there are some humane ways to upgrade your staff.

You could motivate your staff to transcend their current skill level. I think a combination of training, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study grouping and brown bag lunching has a way to motivate your staff to excel.. Remember, individuals will set and achieve goals, but your job as the Alpha Geek is to help motivate others to achieve goals. Your leadership can turn a ho-hum staff into a force to be reckoned with.

Ask yourself this, has every member of your team read the Design Patterns by Gamma et al. If not, why not! If your team is doing EJBs, have they read Mastering EJB by Ed Roman et al at a minimum or EJB Design Patterns and Idioms by Floyd Mariscuea for the more advance.. If your team members are not motivated to transcend their current skill level than they are bound to make costly mistakes. You must encourage this.

This is a two part series. The next part I will define the terms Alpha-Geek, brown bags lunches, mentoring, pair programming, certification, study groups etc.

I wrote down my feeling about last year's JavaOne (March 2002), but I never shared them with anybody. Well my laptop is flaking out, and I am moving over a bunch of files and I read this, and thought I would share it.

JavaWon?

This year’s JavaOne (2002) was good. The technical session were, well, technical and for the most part the marketing spiels were kept to the exhibit hall. This is good. Developers will come to these. Attendance was lower than two years ago when I went, but that is expected. JavaOne is not the mosh pit that it used to be, but the mood was hopeful and upbeat.

I’ve been a fan of Java for a long time. It is a great language, which became a great platform for developing server-side code and I hear other stuff too (I’ve been known to do some Swing development on occasion). I like Java. I use Java. I am firmly in the Java camp at this time and for the past six years or so.

However, the keynotes were a little over the top. And, before I go into a long diatribe about Sun and Scott McNeally, let me say the following. Sun, IBM, et al did an excellent job of providing real choice in the market place.

I do not miss the days when in order to upgrade my first Java IDE (J++) I had to upgrade my operating system to Windows NT 4.0. The real ironic part of this IDE OS upgrade fiasco was that it was for Java and Java is suppose to be cross platform yet the IDE would not work on a later version of the same platform (boo hiss). By the way, I am a big Netbeans fan who is going to try out Eclispe. I like having the Java platform. I like having the choice of best of breed tools.

Apparently it is not enough to like Java and use it. According to Scott McNeally we must become “Java disciples”. Yes he said this in a keynote. I prefer not to mix politics at the office and tend not to be fanatical and dogmatic about technology.

I agree with Sun. Java is a platform. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Scott McNeally, but I don’t agree with him about discipleship. Java is not a religion. Scott McNeally is not a savior. And, Bill Gates is not the anti-savior. Perhaps in the Java Religion it is Jedi McNeally. I can’t decide if Bill Gates is the Borg or Darth Geek in McNeallyism.

First, if you are an IT decision maker, I will not trust you if you are dogmatic about a technology. The best way for Java to win is to continue to be the best technology. IT managers and business folks want the best ROI, i.e., the biggest bang for the buck not a bunch of dogmatic Sun worshippers.

McNeally referred to JavaOne as JavaWon. This may be true. But, the key to winning is not to quit fighting and not to be overconfident. Java is winning, but the battle is not over yet. Scott, the “great monopoly” likes it when companies get over confident.

Yes. I am sure you can spout statistics. Let me spout the past. I was an OS/2 zealot. I was using OS/2 to do Windows 3.1 development at time when Windows 3.1 seemed to crash every twenty minutes (at least for Windows developers). I used OS/2 Window on Windows (WOW) to restart Windows sessions when they died. I really like OS/2. I thought Windows NT was doomed to failure, and OS/2 would rein the supreme OS. I even went to OS/2 user group meetings. Well we all know what happened. Windows NT reined supreme and my IT manager rammed Windows NT down our throats.

Think about the fate of OS/2, Netscape, Novell, WordPerfect, Paradox, Lotus 123 and a long list of former market leaders. Now think about Windows NT/2000, Explorer, MS-Word, Access, Excel and more. To win against .Net is going to take a lot more than dogmatic disciples. Novell, OS/2, WordPerfect, Paradox had dogmatic disciples—it was not enough. It is too early to say Java won. The battle has just begun.

Java is going to have to remain the best technology for getting the job done. It is going to need billions of dollars in research and development and a real commitment (money) from the partner companies. I hope the seven-year head start will give Java some advantage. Java won in the past because companies like BEA, IBM, Sun, Oracle and more got together and competed against the great monopoly.

I am not saying that these companies have not made a major investment in Java. I am just saying that now is not the time to rest on their laurels. There is an 800-pound gorilla heading their way! (Fast forward March 2003, looks like they are doing a good job!)

And, the reality is .Net is very likely going to be a factor. It will attract developers. (Fast forward Mach 2003, not as many as I thought) Microsoft is throwing everything they got into the fray. The Java and .Net battle will benefit one technology. The real winner of this battle will be web services, the lingua franca for B2B and EAI.

One of the messages of this year’s JavaOne is that web services will become part of J2EE. SOAP, ebXML, UDDI, and more will all be supported by J2EE! The upcoming great development platform war will advance the cause of web services like no single platform could do alone. Let me repeat: The real winner of the great platform war will be web services!

If it is not, I hope web services will at least allow me to bridge between my Java applications and .Net applications written by Scott McNeally’s prodigal-sons, the .Net disciples—the Sith.

Given Microsoft’s past track record, might explain Scott’s demeanor. Granted, Microsoft bashing is a time-honored tradition at JavaOne. Typically, Scott does his fair share. In the past he seemed more upbeat about it. Now he seems more serious.

I wrote down my feeling about last year's JavaOne (March 2002), but I never shared them with anybody. Well my laptop is flaking out, and I am moving over a bunch of files and I read this, and thought I would share it.

JavaWon?

This year’s JavaOne (2002) was good. The technical session were, well, technical and for the most part the marketing spiels were kept to the exhibit hall. This is good. Developers will come to these. Attendance was lower than two years ago when I went, but that is expected. JavaOne is not the mosh pit that it used to be, but the mood was hopeful and upbeat.

I’ve been a fan of Java for a long time. It is a great language, which became a great platform for developing server-side code and I hear other stuff too (I’ve been known to do some Swing development on occasion). I like Java. I use Java. I am firmly in the Java camp at this time and for the past six years or so.

However, the keynotes were a little over the top. And, before I go into a long diatribe about Sun and Scott McNeally, let me say the following. Sun, IBM, et al did an excellent job of providing real choice in the market place.

I do not miss the days when in order to upgrade my first Java IDE (J++) I had to upgrade my operating system to Windows NT 4.0. The real ironic part of this IDE OS upgrade fiasco was that it was for Java and Java is suppose to be cross platform yet the IDE would not work on a later version of the same platform (boo hiss). By the way, I am a big Netbeans fan who is going to try out Eclispe. I like having the Java platform. I like having the choice of best of breed tools.

Apparently it is not enough to like Java and use it. According to Scott McNeally we must become “Java disciples”. Yes he said this in a keynote. I prefer not to mix politics at the office and tend not to be fanatical and dogmatic about technology.

I agree with Sun. Java is a platform. I have the deepest respect and admiration for Scott McNeally, but I don’t agree with him about discipleship. Java is not a religion. Scott McNeally is not a savior. And, Bill Gates is not the anti-savior. Perhaps in the Java Religion it is Jedi McNeally. I can’t decide if Bill Gates is the Borg or Darth Geek in McNeallyism.

First, if you are an IT decision maker, I will not trust you if you are dogmatic about a technology. The best way for Java to win is to continue to be the best technology. IT managers and business folks want the best ROI, i.e., the biggest bang for the buck not a bunch of dogmatic Sun worshippers.

McNeally referred to JavaOne as JavaWon. This may be true. But, the key to winning is not to quit fighting and not to be overconfident. Java is winning, but the battle is not over yet. Scott, the “great monopoly” likes it when companies get over confident.

Yes. I am sure you can spout statistics. Let me spout the past. I was an OS/2 zealot. I was using OS/2 to do Windows 3.1 development at time when Windows 3.1 seemed to crash every twenty minutes (at least for Windows developers). I used OS/2 Window on Windows (WOW) to restart Windows sessions when they died. I really like OS/2. I thought Windows NT was doomed to failure, and OS/2 would rein the supreme OS. I even went to OS/2 user group meetings. Well we all know what happened. Windows NT reined supreme and my IT manager rammed Windows NT down our throats.

Think about the fate of OS/2, Netscape, Novell, WordPerfect, Paradox, Lotus 123 and a long list of former market leaders. Now think about Windows NT/2000, Explorer, MS-Word, Access, Excel and more. To win against .Net is going to take a lot more than dogmatic disciples. Novell, OS/2, WordPerfect, Paradox had dogmatic disciples—it was not enough. It is too early to say Java won. The battle has just begun.

Java is going to have to remain the best technology for getting the job done. It is going to need billions of dollars in research and development and a real commitment (money) from the partner companies. I hope the seven-year head start will give Java some advantage. Java won in the past because companies like BEA, IBM, Sun, Oracle and more got together and competed against the great monopoly.

I am not saying that these companies have not made a major investment in Java. I am just saying that now is not the time to rest on their laurels. There is an 800-pound gorilla heading their way! (Fast forward March 2003, looks like they are doing a good job!)

And, the reality is .Net is very likely going to be a factor. It will attract developers. (Fast forward Mach 2003, not as many as I thought) Microsoft is throwing everything they got into the fray. The Java and .Net battle will benefit one technology. The real winner of this battle will be web services, the lingua franca for B2B and EAI.

One of the messages of this year’s JavaOne is that web services will become part of J2EE. SOAP, ebXML, UDDI, and more will all be supported by J2EE! The upcoming great development platform war will advance the cause of web services like no single platform could do alone. Let me repeat: The real winner of the great platform war will be web services!

If it is not, I hope web services will at least allow me to bridge between my Java applications and .Net applications written by Scott McNeally’s prodigal-sons, the .Net disciples—the Sith.

Given Microsoft’s past track record, might explain Scott’s demeanor. Granted, Microsoft bashing is a time-honored tradition at JavaOne. Typically, Scott does his fair share. In the past he seemed more upbeat about it. Now he seems more serious.

I saw two more of the tutorials that we worked on were recently released as follows:
Introduction to creating a Web service from a Java class , and Creating a Web service from a Stateless Session Bean.

These are both part of the WS series we worked on for IBM.

I saw two more of the tutorials that we worked on were recently released as follows:
Introduction to creating a Web service from a Java class , and Creating a Web service from a Stateless Session Bean.

These are both part of the WS series we worked on for IBM.