A few years ago I was thrown into the deep end and was put in charge of some really large systems. Up until then I had primarily been working in development teams on very large systems that required teams of up to 50 people across all boards. Realising how large and technically complicated those systems were and how incredibly stressed most of the stakeholder and team leaders were I began to think was this really the job for me. Being the incredibly chilled person that I am I started to realise that this enterprise software world was not as chilled as I am and for a while wondered if it ever would be.

Until somebody gave me a book to read  “Patterns of Enterprise Application Architecture” by Martin Fowler this book save my life and it instilled a belief in me that large enterprise applications development need not to be a difficult and stressful process and by following some basic values , methodologies, principles and with the help some very clever tools we could tame this beast called enterprise applications and together the beast and I could sit back and CHILL and develop something special and at the same time keep the stakeholders happy.

Martin Fowlers laid back style of writing and his constant re-iteration of a “KEEP IT SIMPLE” approach and together with a “BEST OF BREED” methodology made me realise that application architecture need not be the stressful part of application development.

In this book his recommended architectural design pattern for an ASP.NET Web application development was the Table Module Architectural design pattern.
This statement causes quite a stir in the development community between the DDD (Domain Driven Development) /nhibernate followers and the MDD followers.
Personally I feel that MDD is the only architecture to go with when developing web applications.

Being predominantly a web application developer and a Microsoft junkie I began using the Table Module Architectural design pattern and started adopting a MDD (Model driven development) approach to architecture. Then a natural progressions lead me to an AMDD style of development. And by adding a little fun to it I developed the AGILE DISCO BALL methodology. I will go into more detail about the AGILE DISCO BALL in future blogs.
After adopting these methodologies I notice an immediate result, I began enjoying the world of software again and notice a huge success rate when delivering large scale applications.
My world was CHILLED once again.

But at the end of the day it comes down to personal preference. I believe if you are going to be using agile methodologies in your development environment apply some of the same values when choosing your architecture.

1. Simplicity. “KEEP IT SIMPLE.80% of web applications outlive the developers working on the project .A simple architecture allows for easier handover, future scalability and ease of use. I will go into a lot more detail about simplifying architectures and tools that can be used in the development process in future blogs.
2. Courage. Choosing an architecture for a large enterprise is a huge responsibility. And by sticking to what you know and by playing on your strengths you will have the confidence to choose the best architecture to suite your style, personality and skill.
3. Humility. “DON’T BE A SMART ALEC” The best developers today are not afraid to say that they are wrong nor are they afraid to ask for help. However smart you think you are there are people out there that are smarter and no matter what problem you have there are people out there that have solved it. Another thing that Architects must realise that the people that are going to be doing the development on your project are not as experienced as they are and the people that might be taking over from you might also not be as experienced. So when developing an architecture, develop it in a way that you are NOT going to be the only person in the world that is going to understand it.

By following some of these basic values when designing and choosing a web application architecture, I believe that you will have a better success rate when developing systems and will more have time to argue with stakeholders whether the font should be pink or blue.

Please join me for my future blogs where I will be discussing why I think projects fail, Agile modelling, MDD and some of the fundamentals of building a successful web application. I will also be going into more detail about my AGILE DISCO BALL THEORY.

Hi there my name is Stanton Roux. I have 12 years experience in developing web applications. I have my MCSE and MCSD.NET and I am currently working as senior software engineer for Webnow.

The confusion with most people regarding the iPad, is why? It can’t make calls, it doesn’t have a camera, it can’t do multi-tasking...it’s a glorified iPod Touch, but housed in a bigger chassis.

YET...this is where the genius of it all comes in to play. If a device has only 3G-and Wi-Fi connectivity, then its only connection to the outside world must be via the Internet (...yes there is a USB dock connection). If it’s only connection is via the Internet, then how do you access external media...iTunes, of course.

Apple is, subtly, driving the destruction of physical media, and implementation of network-delivered media content. Why buy a movie on DVD if you can just download it and play in on an iPad – or use the Dock Connector port to hook it up to your TV.

This follows the same reasoning why iMacs, still today, don’t have an option to have a Blu-Ray drive. I am sure there is some “technical” reason that makes it very tricky to embed in to the iMac casing – but by not providing this feature, Apple are trying to bypass the step of Blu-Ray and drive everyone straight to digital downloads.

That is all well and good, but today’s public networks are just not yet ready to support such heavy data traffic.

The telco’s and network carriers are stuck in a Catch-22: upgrading their networks requires substantial investment – yet, why invest if there is no real demand for high-speed Internet connections. By pushing out wireless devices, Apple is manipulating consumers to create the demand.

Apple’s motive to drive digital downloads is purely traffic and financially motivated (towards iTunes). For the consumer, it means faster bandwidth, at better prices, with larger/unlimited monthly caps. It is a win-win situation for all.

The above scenario then becomes very important to WebNow’s business offerings.

Current network speeds allow generic web and email hosting, with an increased demand for online video. Double the network bandwidth, double range of online possibilities. The range is really to your imagination:

PCs shrink the size of your fist – with the operating system hosted online by Microsoft or Google, with all of your photos on Flickr, music on iTunes, videos at NetFlix. The concept of mass local storage becomes redundant.

All of the family phones, calendars, GPS locations are tracked by an iPad-like tablet, embedded in the front of the fridge door, so you are able to track each family member’s current and future whereabouts by a mere flick of a finger.

Online gaming will become completely mainstream – swap your Xbox 360 and game DVDs for a merely a small network receiver that plugs in to your ADSL router and your TV, alongside a joystick that connects wirelessly to the receiver. All the graphical processing done on the game servers somewhere on the other side of the world.

All of the above examples will need to be created and hosted in redundant data centres across the globe. ISPs and web hosts will play an important role in delivering services across the physical network that the telcos will (hopefully!) put in front of us!

There is a buzz around the office and an air of excitement. Something is looming....

Identifying that "something" is the challenge. There are winds of change blowing over the industry. Many experts predict that 2010 will be the year that defines our Connected Futures.
So how do one approach such a time? By coming up with new and improved ways of doing business. Innovation will be the order of the day, new products should come to the forefront, new levels of customer service will required in order to differentiate yourself from your competitors. This is an exciting time to be a client.  

It seems clear that SaaS (software as a service) offerings will be the definitive answer to the question, What happens now? Faster and more reliable broadband connections ensures that South Africa is ready for this movement. Although be it, a few years behind our 1st world compatriots, we are gearing up to explore this untouched landscape.

What does this mean for everyday South Africans? Gone are the days that you need to install a program or application with a cd or dvd on every computer in your office. Things will run more securely and much faster. All you will need is an internet connection to  access and utilise your Accounting Programs.

WebNow is spending quite a lot of time researching and developing these "services" and we are preparing the release of some fantastic concepts. These services will change the way we do business from now on. 

If all this post did, was to intrigue you, then I succeeded. The time is right to get online and be part of something big. As mentioned, all you need is an internet connection!

WebNow is pleased to announce that we are sponsoring the Hosting and Re-Development of the “Consider Us” website.

About Consider Us

The Consider Us campaign has been conceived and developed by Zoom Advertising, part of the Ogilvy group.

  The campaign calls for children, between six and eighteen, to explain in 20 words why world leaders should consider them when signing their climate change treaties. What is precious about our world? Why is it worth saving?       These messages then appear, in real time, on a dedicated website, serving as a voice of the generation with the most to lose.

  A TV, radio and print campaign will advertise Consider Us; a ‘guerrilla' campaign masterminded by Heart (the social enterprise hub that incubates new social enterprises) includes a chalking project, whereby messages are chalked up in the communities and a greening/planting project. Two dedicated websites are now live for the posting of messages. A social media campaign using free MXit and website banner advertising makes up a full digital media campaign to support Consider Us.

Parents, teachers and children are being encouraged to participate in the campaign so that these messages can be delivered to the world's financiers, who can deliver them to the United Nations Climate Change Conference that is currently underway in Copenhagen.

Follow the campaign on www.considerus.org or www.considerus.mobi.

Jean-Pierre Dumont, CEO of WebNow,  on sponsoring the online channel for Consider Us: “ I can certainly see that the “Consider Us” project is an extremely worthwhile initiative and our organisation would definitely like to be associated with it and assist where we can. “

We will be using an Enterprise hosting infrastructure that will be tailored to suite their specific needs such as anticipated increase in global site activity and subsequent load.

On the Web Development side, WebNow has a proven track record in the design and development of content management and database driven websites. We have made a name for ourselves by providing best of breed solutions for brands such as Toyota.

In addition WebNow will also be advising on the correct and most effective use of social media networking.

We are developing a flexible yet robust framework to support the site now and into the future!

Please view www.considerus.org and make a difference.  

A couple of months ago, WebNow launched its tagline competition.

We have received fantastic feedback from a variety of sources. And it is truly has been a successful campaign, to create awareness and gain some positive input from our clients and supporters.

Some of the highlights so far has been:

WebNow - Connect with Confidence!

WebNow - Expanding your wired World.

WebNow - Solutions for Growth.

To name just a few. 

I would like to remind you that this competition will close at the end of December. So time is running out to get your line to us.

The Tom Tom GPS is a fantastic prize and anybody with a vehicle will greatly appreciate this little gadget!

Go to http://www.webnow.co.za/tagline.asp to enter today. Remember you can enter as many times as you want.

WebNow today launched a major upgrade of our messaging platform, ContactNow.  ContactNow provides a single portal for all of your online messaging needs including:

• Newsletter management
• Sending out single or many sms messages
• Two-way SMS solutions
• Fax to Email
• Email archiving
• Email branding

To conincide with the launch we will be running  number of promotions such as free credits and half price on setup fees.

 

Earlier this year we got a brand and marketing expert on board to assist us in creating a brand and marketing strategy for WebNow.   The strategy was superbly crafted and all that needed to happen was to implement it.  Well we have been doing just that....not as quickly as I had hoped mind you but nevertheless progress is being made.

Every brand stragey includes a fairly in depth discussion around logo and tagline - of course a tagline is not that crticial but for our business we felt it was an important element - we are a young brand and many of our customers have a strong affiliation to our brand - our business values and our goals and objectives need to be translated into our brand and our customers need to have a strong affiliation with our brand.  For potential cusomers our tagline needs to spell out what we do and what we stand for in a few words.

To add a bit of fun and get the creative juices flowing our brand consultant suggested we launch a tagline competition.  So that's what we did.  The competion is aimed primarily at our customers and we are really asking them to think about WebNow and their experiences they have had in interacting with our brand.  We believe that we can elicit some incredibly important feedback from our customers and this feedback will be used during the finalisation of our tagline.  

The competition is now open so head over to our website for more information (helpful when submitting ideas for a tagline) and enter the competition online.  We will be talking a lot about this competition over the next few weeks so keep a look out for updates right here, on our website and on Facebook.  You can also follow us on Twitter.

So speaking of New Media...apart from directly communicating with our clients we have been talkng about our brand and the tagline competition on social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. 

The reach of these sites is incredible and can put you in direct contact with professionals and industry thought leaders.  On LinkedIn a small topic re our tagline that I posted on the Brand and Communications group ended up generating a lot of feedback and spawned a debate intitally around the merits of us running a tagline competition to a heated discussion aound Brand guru's doing pro-bona work.  All of the participants had never heard of WebNow before they joined the discussion....now they do.  One of the participants was none other than the Brand and Communications Director from Yahoo!  It demonstrates just how effective new media can be.

What has happened in the IT world this past month?

Latest rating on ISP’s  -
The lowest rated ISPs were Telkom Internet with an average score of 5.59 out of 10 and MTN Business with 5.67.  Telkom Internet was also rated the worst ADSL ISP in 2007 and 2008.
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/ADSL/9599.html

Winston the pigeon  -
New satirical website aims to shed light on data transfer speeds in South Africa
A new project called Pigeon Race 2009 aims to highlight the inadequate data transfer speeds over fixed lines in South Africa.  The website http://pigeonrace2009.co.za/ states that “The Unlimited faces great challenges in getting data from its locations across KZN back to its central location for storage. These are large files, and it was postulated that a pigeon could do this faster than a normal landline could.”
The company behind the Pigeon Race 2009 is The Unlimited World describing themselves as a “dynamic company that is Making a Difference in South Africa.”  The company offers insurance and lifestyle products including 911Assist, Motor Assist and SOS Assist.
The Pigeon Race project could be viewed as a viral campaign which is mainly aimed at promoting The Unlimited World brand and giving the company additional exposure through an innovative online advertising campaign.  
http://mybroadband.co.za/news/ADSL/9510.html

Warning to all  -
A warning to people thinking of buying soccer World Cup tickets on the Internet was circulated on Thursday by Project 2010, a web-site promoting the competition.
The warning originates with Symantec, the Internet security firm, which said it expects a huge rise in World Cup-related spam and phishing attacks in the run-up to and during the football finals.
Symantec urged web users to purchase tickets only from FIFA registered sellers and avoid deals that sound too good to be true, as they probably are.
 http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Internet/9665.html

While I was on my travels in the USA I came across some very interesting technological advances that has not yet  reached the shores of South Africa.
The first noticeable difference is the transport system.

They have buses running continuously on specified routes from key points in the city.
The routes varies from the airport to key tourist attractions, for example from Washington Airport to the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.
You pay an x amount for a day-pass, but always try to give the correct amount, as you will not receive change.
Next up , the train system.

The Metro Train system runs from early hours in the morning to late in the evening.
They have five active lines running, Blue line , Yellow line , Orange Line , Green Line and the Red Line.
These trains run from underground subway stations, over bridges and even in between traffic on the highway.
You can jump on and off these trains at any time to get to your desired destination.
The Metro bus service which I took while I was in Washington, also stops at these subway stations which are very convenient when trying to get to your required destination on time.
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Top Tips for Change Management: The First steps of having a successful change process. by Christo Vermeulen

Implementing Change Management is much more than a simple process roll-out -- it is a major strategic undertaking.

Today’s organizations are faced with unending competition, changing circumstances and increased customer demands more so within the ever changing IT environment. To remain viable and competitive, their IT and services organizations must be in complete alignment with the strategic goals of the organization.

In businesses, this means that IT has to be a partner in delivering value to the customer. One of the important challenges of doing this is to ensure that changes are implemented without disrupting the delivery of that value to the customer. ITIL Change Management (CM) provides the necessary framework to guide organizations in meeting this challenge.

While no methodology can guarantee absolute success, a standardized Change Management process with clearly defined roles and responsibilities, increases the likelihood that the business objectives and goals are successfully achieved and limits the likelihood of embarrassing and costly mistakes in implementation.

ITIL Change Management is one of the most effective ways to provide stability to the IT organization. It is the linchpin of any ITIL implementation because it both controls many of the ITIL processes and also ensures the other processes are not attempting to work with an unstable environment.
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