SAS 2007

I'm planning to attend the Software Architecture Summit in San Francisco this year. For more info check http://www.ftponline.com/conferences/sas/2007/ See you there!

GEAO and WWISA

I'm a member of the GEAO a global organization for the development of enterprise architecture. Be sure to check out its web site, you can find useful information in the case you want to be a architect.
I'm also a member of the WWISA, so check both sites for information.

Word massive templating systems

We are building proof of concepts around Officewriter a .Net component that automates Microsoft Office tasks such as mail merging. By building a web service around we can share this services between different applications (mainly Java).
The end user writes a standard word document with fields, then a client application calls the service, sends the template and a data source. The service performs the merging of the template with the data from the datasource. After that it returns a merged Word document for the user to approve or modify.

I highly recommend OfficeWriter.

Grid computing

I have a special fascination for Grid Computing. Today i got my first chance to architect one grid application. I'm currently researching Globus toolkit among others.

Another choice is to use common open source infrastructure such as ActiveMQ with a JMS Classloader. I built a proof of concept, publishing "grid work" into a JMS topic, and several dumb clients "listening" for tasks. When the task arrives to the client; with the help of a custom classloader it downloads the java class bytecode of the task. TADA instant mobile code.

This enables all our company servers to have this dumb client and process grid work when idle.

Training new architects

Recently i was given the task to train and mentor new architects for different applications. I've never thought about how i became an architect, so i wandered about my carrer growth, and the following points stood out:

1. Have a vision for the application. Dream about it, lead the developers, show them your vision.
2. Understand the domain and know the principles that guide the business.
3. Creativity. All the restrictions and constraints are the mothers of invention. Explore your limits, always.
4. Know your developers. Develop a good relationship and a strong link with them. Know each of them, their profile, background and dreams. Help them grow inside and outside the organization. There's nothing more gratifying to see one of them reach personal goals, and obtain more responsabilities.
5. Last but not least, research the field of architecture, develop proof of concepts, be an explorer of the unknown. Knowledge of the technology, infrastructure and operations always help.

I'm training the developers on these points, and eating my own dog food, i created a profile for each of them. Some want to be data architects, application architects and others enterprise architects. Some are analytical and rational, some are intuitive. Others are people based and some are task based. This knowledge enables to build a customized career and learning path for each of them.
I'm very proud of them, to take the risk of becoming an architect.

Feliz navidad a todos!