.NET Development

Contribution: Listening to others

Allen Noakes — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:26:00 GMT

It's been a long time since my last entry and a lot has transpired. The company I work for has implemented SAP. That was a great learning experience as people from around the world were brought together. When this happens there is a new knowledge pool to be gleaned. However, unless you contribute to the pool, you do not learn as you could.

I'm not saying just listening isn't good, but contributing to a project has many different forms.

1) Leading input on a process
2) Debating a process
3) Loosing the debate

Now, I'm the kind of person who drives thoughts and has a plan to execute these into measurable actions, and loosing a debatable decision does not feel good. In fact, I can get down right pissy, but this is where standing back and evaluating the situation is the right course instead of saying "I'm right on this".

Contributing to a project sometime requires standing back and listening to others whether they be contractors, business people, or your peers. I can guarentee someone has been where you are and done what you're trying to do. There really isn't anything new, just different ways of doing something and timing in implementation. So the next time process improvement comes up, it may be the right course of action, but wrong time, or you could be wrong in your plan. Listen to others, that is contribution!

Architecture and Business

Allen Noakes — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 12:58:00 GMT

One of my professional goals is to receive the Microsoft Certified Architect certification and came across this video on Channel 9 http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=251255 it was recorded almost a year ago, but still applies. But after watching this and looking at my current job and following a few people on Twitter, some things clicked for me last night. However, one question came to the front of my mind.

Do you model a business after software or software after the business?

I think you need to combine to improve.

Going through a SAP implementation can be enough to fry any mind. SAP consultants are knowledgeable but can be overly aggressive. But what can stop this, having a good Business Analyst “BA”. I don’t consider SAP Architects, Architects. They are in only one space and do not digress out for better solutions. Don’t get me wrong, SAP is good, but there aren’t Architects, only configuration engineers.

With that being said, time can be saved by knowing business. This is where the MCA comes into play. It’s more than just knowing technology, but how to fit tech into the business process. The point I at in my career is understanding business and how I can fit solutions into that space. I think the Alt.NET community is “possibly” on track to understand this process, but it’s only half of the solution. We as developers, team leads, and aspiring architects need to understand business and processes better.

Just ranting but would appreciate input.

Twitter - What it has done for me

Allen Noakes — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:07:00 GMT

I've been using Twitter since the Fall of last year. I really like using it and have made some new friends. It allows me to follow CEO's, Authors, Presidential Candidates, Techies, Social Butterflies, etc....

In fact, this morning after I logged in, I actually read the twitter roll before I even read the news. I found this very interesting as my normal routine changed. Am I becoming more "social" now? I've been a social person but this is different. In fact, my blog is about .NET Development and I haven't written one post yet about it. I've been more "social".

In fact, as I write this blog I see one of my friends wife is getting ready to have a baby. As long as he keeps twitting, I can rejoice with him.

To wrap up, we are in the information age and is Twitter going to change things? I think the impact will be huge.

3-D Thinking

Allen Noakes — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:25:00 GMT

This is a shortened version of my thoughts on 3-D thinking. Working on a long version with equations, but needed to write this.

What is 3-D thinking? I haven’t been able to find a definitive definition, but a lot of things that refer to it, so I’m going to take a crack at defining what it means.

When we think about solving problems, normally we only think about ourselves as it relates to the issue at hand. However, when we design software applications to meet specific business needs, thinking of multiple connection points 2 or more levels deep with temporal constraints and sensitivity can produce a higher ROI. Because we should be thinking about ROI in everything we do as an IT Professional.

Example, take a project with the goal to streamline and automate a specific manufacturing process for a consumable product. We get our requirements from the client in the form of input data and print it. Normally, we’d see this as an easy data input application, however, were else could this data be utilized?

Since it is a consumable and perishable product, we combine marketing and sales information with the history of this data. By doing this we can determine the quality of our manufacturing process to include what went into the product. Heck, you could take it even further and factor in weather, current events, and even sports to a lesser degree, into the equation which will derive measurable metrics to improve ROI.

How many companies would do back flips for this kind of information. Forecasting to the extreme!!!!

3-D thinking can be simple or as complex as it needs to be. Don’t over-engineer, but think of connection points. That’s what 3-D thinking is all about, connection points. Everything you write has some kind of impact, whether you see it or not, to something else. But understanding there is connection points is only half of it, you have to communicate with these points, or people. Don’t silo yourself, it doesn’t do any good and you’d make a better impression to others by opening lines of communications.

Communication is the catalyst to great ideas, because every idea has a timeframe, don’t wait.

Silverlight demo

Allen Noakes — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 14:38:00 GMT

Have you ever wondered how Silverlight can fit into your Enterprise? I think about it all the time. Why? Because we've been handed controls and features not available in the past.

Most of the time when designing a program it's text boxes, lables, tree views, datagrid, and maybe a chart. Very generic looking. However, now that Silverlight is emerging, we have the capability to improve on our UI. Making it more "Friendly" on how information is displayed.

One example is a Infragistics Demo I came across. Simple but straight forward on what we can do now. Love to hear thoughts on this subject and demo.

New diggs

Allen Noakes — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 12:36:00 GMT

So I'm finally getting settled into my new "diggs". Nice people. Nice location. Etc.......

Now that I actually have a "cube" instead of the corner of a conference room, I'd share pics of it.

My cube!!!

One set of books

Another set of books

So, i'm just digging the new place.

On another note, if anyone needs to know the traffic between Poplar and Walnut Grove on 240 in Memphis, just tweet me. I'll take a look. LOL

Jeff Blankenburg in town

Allen Noakes — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:20:00 GMT

Just noticed Jeff Blankenburg will be in Memphis this week. He's presenting on VS 2008 on March 27. Here's the meeting link

Charles Petzold

Allen Noakes — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 20:11:00 GMT

Now that i'm able to devote some time to research and reading again, I came across a blog entry by Charles Petzold on his new book The Annotated Turing. I had the pleasure of having Charles sit in a presentation I did last year at the .NET User Group CodeCamp. I respect Charles very much as he is a giant in the industry. Take a look at his blog and get the book.

New Blog Site

Allen Noakes — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 17:43:00 GMT

It's been a long time since I've blogged and I decided to consolidate the random blog sites of mine under one banner. I'll be updating this blog on a continual basis. Check back soon.