Webinar, Architecting Software the SEI Way: Now Available on Demand

More than 630 people from 68 countries joined the Carnegie Mellon Software Engineering Institute (SEI) three-hour, live virtual event entitled Architecting Software the SEI Way: Essential Steps Toward Mastery on February 28, 2012. The three hour-long webinars from the event are now available for on-demand viewing at http://www.sei.cmu.edu/go/architecting-software-the-sei-way/.

In the three webinars, SEI researchers Rob Wojcik, Felix Bachmann, and John Klein share insights from their work, including

• what software architecture is and why it is important
• why architecture evaluation methods can continuously ensure the creation of successful systems
• how a system-of-systems perspective improves the analysis of enterprise architectures

To watch the webinar recordings, download the webinar slides, and get more information about software architecture, please visit http://www.sei.cmu.edu/go/architecting-software-the-sei-way/.

Strolling in St. Petersburg, Florida

As SATURN 2012 approaches, look past the conference venue for a number of exciting things to do and see in St. Petersburg, Florida during your stay. Here is our take on the Top 5 Ways to Experience St. Pete:

1.     Peek Out From the Pier

The St. Petersburg Pier, a five-story inverted pyramid 3000 feet from the water’s edge, houses specialty shops, bars and restaurants, and the Pier Aquarium. Rent a bike at Wheel Fun Rentals and glide past palm trees and docked sailboats. Dive into the water for dolphin cruises, fishing, and boat rentals, or hang out on the Pier for live music on Sundays from 1pm-4pm.

The Collaboration Theme at SATURN 2012

As projects continue to grow in scale and complexity, effective collaboration across geographical, cultural, and technical boundaries is increasingly prevalent and essential to system success. SATURN 2012 will explore the theme of “Architecture: Catalyst for Collaboration.”

The theme of collaboration will be pervasive throughout all of the keynote addresses, plenary sessions, panels, presentations, and tutorials at SATURN 2012 this year. In particular, SATURN will offer a tutorial on the morning of Tuesday, March 8 by John Klein of the SEI titled Effective Stakeholder Collaboration and a Thursday afternoon panel discussion on architecture and collaboration.

New SEI Advanced Software Architecture Workshop to be Offered at SATURN 2012

A new course from the SEI, Advanced Software Architecture Workshop, will be offered publicly  for the first time at SATURN 2012 in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 7 and 8. Register now.

The course, taught by Felix H. Bachmann of the SEI, is targeted to

• software architects and software lead designers who want to practice what they learned in the SEI software architecture curriculum, and
• seasoned software architects who want to get ready for a project that requires major architecture improvements

SATURN 2012 Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for the eighth annual SEI Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) 2012 Conference. Register by April 9 to take advantage of early-bird savings, which include $250 off the regular full-conference rate.

SATURN 2012 will be held May 7-11, 2012 in St. Petersburg, Florida  at the St. Petersburg Bayfront Hilton hotel. The conference is presented in collaboration with IEEE Software magazine.

Architecture: Catalyst for Collaboration

The SATURN 2012 program includes more than 25 technical sessions, tutorials, courses, panel discussions, and keynote addresses that will explore how effective collaboration across geographical, cultural, and technical boundaries is increasingly prevalent and essential to system success. You will leave the SATURN 2012 conference with new ideas and solutions to implement in your organization. You will also have the opportunity to

• Share ideas and hear case studies on hot topics including cloud computing; software architecture for ultra-large-scale systems; certification, culture, and process; architecture evaluation and review; enterprise architecture; and the interaction of architecture and Agile development
• Take the first public offering of a new course from the SEI, the Advanced Software Architecture Workshop
• Learn from and interact with industry leaders (including keynote speakers Michael Stal and Andy Hunt), researchers, and senior members of the SEI staff

To register and review rates, visit the SATURN 2012 website. We hope to see you in Florida!

Free Webinar: Architecting Software the SEI Way: Essential Stops Toward Mastery

Start down the path to using architecture-centric practice more effectively. Join SEI researchers on February 28 at 1:00 pm ET for a FREE webinar, Architecting Software the SEI Way: Essential Steps Toward Mastery.

Get an expert perspective on three key areas in this webinar:

• Fundamentals: Learn what software architecture is and why it is important
• Improved Practice: Get a quick look at architecture evaluation guidelines
• Bridging Technical and Business Goals: See how to use architecture methods to analyze and evaluate enterprise architectures

Register now.

Record Number of Abstract Submissions for SATURN 2012

The SATURN technical committee and I are delighted by the number of people who showed interest in presenting at SATURN 2012 by submitting abstracts in response to our call for submissions. We had our highest number of abstracts ever this year, 92!, far exceeding our previous high of 73 submissions last year. Clearly there is growing interest in software architecture and in the SATURN Conference. The topic of this year’s conference–Architecture: Catalyst for Collaboration–spurred authors to submit on a wide variety of topics, including traditional uses of architecture (such as in coordinating large, distributed, or challenging projects), as well as more recent developments such as using architecture in Agile design evolution, outsourcing, and coordinating multiple Agile projects.

In the next several weeks, the program committee will be reviewing these proposals and crafting a high-quality technical program for SATURN 2012. We plan to notify presenters sometime during the first week in January about the status of their submissions. With such a large number of submissions, the conference must be more selective, and the acceptance percentage will be lower this year than in past years. My quick scan of the abstracts tells me that we will have some difficult decisions to make.

Thank you for your interest and engagement with SATURN 2012. We look forward to seeing you in St. Petersburg, Fl. May 7-11.

George Fairbanks
Technical Program Chair, SATURN 2012

SATURN 2012 – Architecture: Catalyst for Collaboration

Here at the SEI, we are excited to be planning for SATURN 2012, which we will hold in St. Petersburg, Florida on May 7-11, 2012. SATURN has grown in attendance, influence, and stature every year since its inception in 2005 as a small gathering of practitioners and SEI technical staff members. With another successful conference last year in San Mateo, California, SATURN is now a truly international conference with prestigious keynote speakers and a technical program that has become more ambitious in scope and engaging in content each year.

Along with the SEI SATURN Technical Committee–Ipek Ozkaya, Robert Nord, John Klein, and Soumya Simanta–I’m happy to announce the theme we have chosen for SATURN 2012 and invite you, our SATURN blog readers, to consider being a part of the SATURN technical program by submitting an abstract for a presentation or tutorial. Entering the third year of our mutually beneficial collaboration with IEEE Software magazine, we again offer to SATURN presenters the possibility that a paper based on their presentations will be featured in a future issue of IEEE Software. Papers from presentations at SATURN 2011 will be published in forthcoming issues this year.

As projects continue to grow in scale and complexity, effective collaboration across geographical, cultural, and technical boundaries is increasingly prevalent and essential to system success. SATURN 2012 will explore the theme of “Architecture: Catalyst for Collaboration.” We will include presentations, courses, and tutorials on

• collaboration in software development; for example, architecture in an Agile project
• collaboration in the context of mobile computing, cloud computing, social networking, open frameworks, and service-oriented architecture
• knowledge management for effective collaboration
• systems of systems and ultra-large-scale systems: how to achieve collaboration across independently funded and managed organizations
• multi-agent systems and collaboration among non-human entities such as software and networks
• collaborative design and architecture tools

SOA and Cloud Computing: Hot Topics at SATURN 2011

In celebration of the 7th year for the SATURN Conference, this year’s SATURN technical program is organized around “7 things you need to know about the next 7 years in architecture.” One of the themes we will explore at SATURN 2011 is service-oriented architecture and cloud computing. We have invited leading practitioners and industry experts to discuss their ideas and experiences on SOA and cloud computing.

Highlights include the following:

Agile Architecting: Hot Topic at SATURN 2011

Over the past 10 years, Agile software development has become increasingly influential. Once applied predominantly to IT-based applications developed by small co-located teams, Agile practices are now being implemented on large multi-team projects, across distributed-development environments, and on embedded safety-critical products.

As Agile projects grow in scope, breadth, and size, however, challenges emerge as practitioners wrestle with the need to scale up Agile practices. Communication between distributed teams is one such challenge. Coordinating multiple backlogs or managing a single backlog that feeds multiple teams is another.