Before making a significant change it would be worthwhile to describe the final state of that change (How will you feel when you get there?) in case the change takes too long without giving a measurable result. Or, in other words, name your PKI's before you go live with your goals.
I had the same thoughts before starting regular jogging last summer. I thought that I wouldn't need to measure the obvious things, but what if the obvious is not the obvious?
Thus, the detailed question was: “How could I measure my jogging without interrupting the jogging?”
The answer came when I googled some modern jogging pages. Having read a few articles, I have chosen an all-inclusive, private “e-coach” package, with the following list of tools:
1. The mobile phone with GPS → the winner is “Samsung Galaxy i900”
2. The e-coach software → the winner is “Endomondo Pro”
3. The hardware for heart rate measure → the winner is “Zephyr bluetooth”
Pros:
1. Finally, I have found the motivation for buying a smart phone with Android :) Earlier on I was happy enough to use Nokia E51 (BTW, my new Samsung still spends in a drawer more time than in my pocket)
2. I was highly motivated for jogging during the first months
3. I measured my real physical condition
4. I have become very impressed about the e-sports market and the potential it has
Cons:
1. Now, jogging requires at least 5 minutes more to start :) The whole package of tools (including Samsung smartphone and Zypher) equals the whole package of questions: “Is it working?”
Resume:
I expect that one day the mobile technology will help us to live more pleasant life, and as we can see, this time is approaching, but for now, I prefer jogging then measuring along with jogging :)
I feel a real pleasure of jogging without extra tools.
Recommended solution:
Do jogging without extra tools each day and measure the progress only once per month.
No matter what your religion is and what methodology you practice, this sentence is true for ever “longer means more time than normal” :)
I would like to dedicate this particular phrase to “Oracle SOA Suite” installation process on two different OS platforms. It sounds sophisticated, but who cares, dedication is still dedication.
I heard about a new SOA Suite 11.1.1.5 release of a version previously, and moreover, I had to check one issue with the Oracle Human Workflow engine (the SOA Suite component). So, the time for a new (renew) SOA installation has come :)
This time, as usual, I have started from making/copying the OS background. Here I don't have a full stop thinking process. The answer is rather standard: “VirtualBox+Ubuntu”.
There are many references “how to install particular SOA Suite on a particular platform”, so it is easy to find it on the Internet (BTW, it is a good practice to have the installation guide, or some white-paper called “step-by-step” that helps to avoid stupid mistakes).
Nevertheless, an interesting part of this story has begun at a place where I have never thought before it could, or more precisely, with installation of “Oracle XE DB Universe” (BTW, the recommended DB version for small deployment instances). It took me (as never before) an hour to make it stable. I will repeat that sentence: “the whole long hour”, and only after that I was able to move to the main SOA Suite installation steps (WebLogic, RCU, etc.) An interesting (thriller) story continues. After those SOA installation steps, my virtualbox has started to throw errors suddenly “Read-only file system”.
I have spent the next hour with this unstable virtualbox (it had the virtual disk error, etc.). Anyway, the result is that I have decided to give up and to switch to an old package of mine which is still worth trying to use when I get nervous: “Vmware Player and Windows 2003 Server”.
Oh yes, .... Windows :)
And then, based on Oracle recommended “Quick Start Guide for SOA Suite”, I took a very quick tour with SOA installation on Windows. It went without a single error, and it took me … not more that an hour.
Resume (2h>1h)
Longer means longer, no matter what your OS religion is :) When time is an issue, there is no time for religion :)
So, the very last recommendation:
“When you have to install some proof of concept platform for just one test and you are not sure about the installation process, make use of Windows OS. It has more users so it should be tested widely. Shorter means shorter, popular solutions has more testers :)”
And what about production environment?
Hmmm, the answer is simple: "it depends" or in other words: "make a new decision" ;)
We are having a hot summer time here, so sharing clever thoughts has become challenging for me. Nevertheless, I would like to write some words here, in short: "Identity Management".
Based on my last experience from diving into the world of unknown, or in other words: "the experience from hardening my knowledge base", I'm starting to redefine my learning principles. Earlier I had an opinion that the best, yet structured, way to learn something big and new is to find a new book (bible) and just to read it from cover to cover. And only after such a hard reading, with hands-on exercises, one could be able to form some conclusions and feel more comfortable in that new area.
The fact is, the book offers an in-depth understanding of how to design, deploy and assess identity management solutions. It provides a comprehensive overview of current trends and future directions in identity management, including best practices, the standardization landscape, and the latest research finding.
But this book is to much theoretical and overly one-concept-oriented. Note that reading this book sooner or later you will punch the head against the wall called: "SAML" :)
I'm not saying that SAML is bad or even that it is not worth reading about, etc, I'm just saying that the book, the concept of IdM, has to narrow description (you could learn even more about SAML from wikipedia and its references).
I'm just asking myself silently, where are more chapters about SSO, IdM solutions, protocols, e.g.: CAS, JOSSO, Athens, OpenAM? ;)
After finishing this book I was still hungry for knowledge about the IdM (especially about the SSO solutions), so I went googling for more. I was more than happy about the results finally. I have found plenty of articles about CAS usage and what is more interesting, I have come across the "CAS and APEX integration" tutorial.
I have done the whole example and I must say that CAS integrates smoothly with APEX. Moreover the author gives more good advices for APEX, open web solutions, hardening, e.g. using ModSecurity.
Resume:
Never stop searching :) and nevertheless the bad experience from the last book, next time I will try to
search for better "bible" ;)
P.S. If you can do something with APEX smoothly (in this case CAS integration) you will be able to do it with Java and so on.
Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author.
After reading this book, I don't feel like an expert on "Content Strategy" but I will try to introduce this concept for you in short sentences.
Thus, the best way to start a clever explanation of the subject is to use Wikipedia-based sentences.
So, Wiki says: .... Content Strategy is "the practice of planning the content creation, delivery, and governance" and "a repeatable system that defines the entire editorial content development process for a website development project."
It would be clever enough to stop here, after a few words "... content creation, delivery and governance" ;) but if you are still interested in this topic and don't have time to study the whole book, you could only read a short article called "The Discipline of Content Strategy" written by the same author.
Still hungry for getting to know the Content Strategy?
OK, you could go and read the whole book, it is really worth reading. The language is simple and yet the author has this cosy humour. The only minor disadvantage which I have found there is missing chapter numbers (I like mapping logical structure and it is easier to do it with logical numbers).
During the journey into the knowledge world of content strategy, please note the main steps for the Content Strategy process:
Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author.
Over time almost all the software products get extra features. With each new version they grow with at least 5% of the new lines of code, I assume. New modules appear in the light of the day, everything is getting bigger and bigger (sometimes even slower and slower, and then it is optimized with the next release over and over again).
It is a usual practice, and it is inevitable even in the majority of cases, I predict, because customers generally look to get most for their money.
Bang for the Buck
I may say: 'Oh, what a wonderful world of the software applications with the never ending story where more features mean more work to do/upgrade!' :)
Comparing the other worlds e.g. cars or mobile phones we see many similarities.
Who uses more than five features of their phones? ;)
I'm not going to criticize it, or even I may argue that it can be fully acceptable in case the new options are simply manageable, 'turn on/off', e.g. Firefox has add-ons.
Thus, the main question is: Should the core functionality of the systems be simply manageable as well?
The answer is as always the same: 'It depends ...'
OK, ok, ok. But, why am I bothering about that now? :)
Yesterday I read an interesting post '8 CMS features customers want but never use' and I found this list a little bit surprising. The 8 CMS features (see below) are really common in the RFP (Request for Proposal) which I regularly encounter at my work and I have always been sure that those features are MUST BE not NICE TO HAVE for the CMS customers. I will now have to look at them from the different perspective.
Workflow
Color coding changes
Microsoft Office integration
Future preview
Back-end analytics
Advanced search
A/B testing
Frontpage editing
The above mentioned list was created at a meeting of the European CMS Expert Group, which meets regularly to share experiences and sets the agenda for the industry, thus, the list is supported statistically.
Having prepared my 'mind organizing platform', I have shifted to the first practical challenge with a template of the mind map called: 'Reading journals'.
The book that I have had in my restless mind for a long time was Getting Started With Oracle BPM Suite 11g R1: A Hands-On Tutorial. I came it across accidentally while I was searching for the pre-installed Oracle BPM virtual box.
Moreover, I could also recommend this Oracle URL as a valuable starting point to the world of Oracle BPM. After completing the whole hands-on tutorial in that book on pre-installed virtual box, I can state now that you would deservedly feel as a marine that has just returned home from a lonely yet simple journey.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post I have 'packed' the whole book with XMind. And I must agree that it has fully confirmed my expectations. Below you can see the snapshot of the result (the snatch of my mind map from this reading).
As a short summary I will give some points about the following:
Disadvantages
The beginning of this book (especially the first three chapters) are full of sentences that sound like: 'Oracle solutions are the best so … '. Sorry, I don't like such sentences. Based on the content of the book, it is I think dedicated to IT specialists rather than to sales representatives, so, such sentences are worthless.
Advantages
It provides a short introduction to the major concepts of BPM
Consistent hands-on tutorial is examined throughout the whole book
There are many 'print screens' so you will not miss your way along that simple tutorial
Don't worry in case you are not sure about the result of the tutorial because the same example has already been completed on the Oracle BPM virtual box
It covers not only the BPM implementation along SOA platform but BAM and Business Rules usage as well
Least but not last, if you are still not sure where to BPEL and/or BPMN put in your SOA stack, you can get more information about that here.
Disclaimer: I did not get paid to review this book, and I do not stand to gain anything if you buy the book. I have no relationship with the publisher or the author.
I have recently noticed that the market of the personal mind managers software has been blooming as never before and a word 'mind' combined with extra words makes the following powerful coinages: 'mind organizer', 'mind manager', 'mind-notes', 'mind maps', etc.
Phase No1. The very first mind-mapping touch
Seven years ago I was a big fan of Tony Buzan ideas for a 'mind structure' called: 'mind-maps'. I read his all books then, moreover, it inspired me to go for more and I started 'speed-reading' courses on my own. The result: each time I was learning or reading something bigger I always used to make mind-maps on a large sheet of paper with colourful pens. I used to like it very much, I can recall those drawings in my mind even now.
Now I'm asking myself; why have I stopped practising these two skills? The answers are:
1. The speed-reading
I have never reached satisfying results (1,000 words per minute with 50% comprehension or above). Additionally, I have noticed that it was adapted more to simple reading of the news rather than for intensive (learning) reading when the subject is difficult and requires many 'mind-breaks' for, e.g. exercises.
Moreover, I have read an article about this methodology weaknesses or even criticism and I have stopped using it at all.
2. The mind-maps
I haven't found a useful tool for organizing of mind maps. All the maps I have made are somewhere in the drawer, they are big and are not at one's elbow.
During those seven years I made a few attempts to return to mind-mapping. One of the returns closest to success was with a tool FreeMind. With that new tool I made approximately no more than five maps and I finally gave up. Don't ask me why it hasn't succeeded, I may only guess that probably it wasn't for me or maybe the user interface simple wasn't friendly enough.
Nevertheless, I had my favourite software for my minds management and quick noting all that time. That super tool doesn't have any particular name because it is a simple text editor. :)
Phase No2. Ever/Never note has come
A simple text editor for minds organizing has at least one tiny weakness, or speaking in general: it is a single, locally stored text file. Thus, to avoid that, I have installed Evernote, also known as NeverNote in Linux world (BTW, despite NeverNote has fewer functions than Evernote, in my opinion it is better to use a 'native' NeverNote for Linux than wine+Evernote). The result: with this simple Evernote cloud service I have solved the problem of simple minds managing. The second problem was still opened because in my opinion NeverNote is to weak to manage a stream of minds that comes with every next page.
Phase No3. The return of mind-mapping
One week ago I found a very good UML video course accidentally, and what is more interesting, the author has made his smooth mind presentation with a mind map tool XMind. WOW! I have never thought it was possible to do such a smooth and professional presentation only with mind mapping. I have already known that it is good for mind organizing but not for presentation (BTW, I'm going to try that presentation option in the near future).
The second very nice XMind feature, apart from the fact that it is free of charge for its basic version, it has predefined templates. One of them is: 'Reading journals', or, in other words, the template that I have been searching for ages :)
Phase No4. The final mind-mapping package
Having installed Ever/NeverNote with XMind I feel that I finally have all the most necessary tools for a comfortable 'minds management'. NeverNote, with the cloud storage, has become my mind managing platform that can handle embedded mind maps from external, yet powerful XMind application.
P.S. For more interesting (basic level) reading about mind mapping please visit this page.
I've been working in the IT industry since 1999. I started from Oracle PL/SQL programming and then I became a software architect for serum.com.pl, which is a Web_Toolkit AKA Apex based system. In the subsequent years, I've shifted my focus to SOA, BPM, EA and IT architectures. At the moment, I'm a solution architect working in one of the biggest Lithuanian IT companies.
