SATURN 2013 Agile I Session (notes)

Notes by Ian De Silva

Introducing Agile in Large-Scale Projects
Vladimir Koncar, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Drago Holub, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Zoran Kokolj, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Emina Filipovic-Juric, Ericsson Nikola Tesla
Josko Bilic, Ericsson Nikola Tesla

In this talk, Koncar described his team’s experiences using agile on a large-scale telecom project at Ericsson. This hardware-dependent project was estimated to be about 10 million lines of code, requiring the work of 100 developers for two years. Because of hardware-plan instability, uncertain requirements, and sensitive time to market, agile was the development methodology of choice. In particular, they used Scrum with long-term, cross-functional teams.

SATURN 2013 Method Tailoring and Extensibility Session (notes)

Notes by Brendan Foote

Design and Analysis of Cyber-Physical Systems: AADL and Avionics Systems
Julien Delange and Peter Feiler, SEI

Architectural decisions affect nonfunctional requirements, which are critical to the safety of systems. Rework costs increase the later a defect is detected in the software development life cycle. In Delange’s experience, a $10,000 architecture-phase correction can save $3 million! These errors can be caused by mismatched assumptions in embedded software. One anecdote is a train on which the doors wouldn’t close, so the conductor stepped outside to push them closed. But the system assumes the conductor is inside, so the train automatically took off. Dual core laptops also violated many assumptions that developers had made up to that time. To put it glibly, if we can’t get iTunes right on dual core machines, how are we supposed to make safe airplanes with even more complicated hardware?

SATURN 2013 Modeling and Documentation Session (notes)

Notes by Brendan Foote

How to Build, Implement, and Use an Architecture Metamodel
Chris Armstrong, Armstrong Process Group, Inc.

Armstrong discussed the architecture-description standard UML model, showing how an architecture description expresses an architecture, fulfills the concerns of stakeholders, and more. He uses the difference between raw accounting data and the common views the way, say, a CFO would need to because of the way that an architecture is standardized by the RFC 42010 (that is, what subset of the entire UML model is particularly useful?). This leads to his refined viewpoint metamodel. His process group has added the “architecture scenario” to the metamodel, which he points out is not in conflict with the standard. This scenario is defined by a stakeholder, and it contextualizes an architectural concern. He goes on to show how stakeholders and concerns are also connected by architecture viewpoints, of which there are several types. Those types are defined differently depending on whether you talk to TOGAF, DoDAF, etc., but a modeling system should allow you to render your viewpoints in different ways for different consumers (e.g., a grid, diagram, catalog, or dashboard).

SATURN 2013 Cloud Computing Session (notes)

Notes by Frank M. Rischner

BestBuy.com’s Cloud Architecture
Joel Crabb, Best Buy, Inc.

Crabb works for BestBuy, the world largest multi-channel consumer.

In 2010, BestBuy built a team to experiment with cloud components. Smaller web properties have been stored in the cloud. Also, the test environments have been put in the cloud.

SATURN 2013 Keynote: WordPress.com and the Future of Work, Scott Berkun

Notes by Frank M. Rischner, Ian De Silva, and Brendan Foote

Keynote Address: WordPress.com and the Future of Work
Scott Berkun, ScottBerkun.com

Berkun is the author of the forthcoming A Year Without Pants, a reflection on his time working as a team lead for WordPress.com, and four other books. Before that, he was a Microsoft employee and worked on Internet Explorer and Windows. He saw a lot of differences between those two working environments, which his book aims to articulate. At WordPress.com, people are distributed globally (hence, no one has to go to work or “wear pants”). They also get to meet up in cool places like Athens.

SATURN 2013 Sustainability and Security Session (notes)

Notes by Frank M. Rischner

Architecting Long-Lived Systems
Harald Wesenberg and Einar Landre, Statoil
Arne Wiklund, Kongsberg

Statoil uses environmental-monitoring software for monitoring the impacts of their oil business on the environment. Statoil struggled to build a system that would live for a long time. Making sure there is no impact on the environment, how do we build a system that lives for 70 years and adapts to changes?

• Don’t monitor the major events like oils spills; monitor the little things and their impacts on the environment.
• Use agile projects, since there are a huge number of unknowns in the unknowns.
• Use stacking capabilities and business capabilities. Those business capabilities are driven by value, are measurable, and provide actions. Each capability is a small enterprise-architecture element.

SATURN 2013 Keynote Address: 15 Years of SOA at Credit Suisse: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges, Stephan Murer

Notes by Frank M. Rischner, Ian De Silva, and Brendan Foote

SATURN 2013 Keynote Address: 15 Years of SOA at Credit Suisse: Lessons Learned and Remaining Challenges

Stephan Murer, Credit Suisse

Murer works for Credit Suisse, which finds competitive advantage in creating their own systems, rather than outsourcing that work to software vendors. The company handles a large-scale user base, with almost 67,750 users in 550 locations. The data is managed and stored in four main data centers. Currently, Credit Suisse manages about 6,400 applications as well as about 70,000 email accounts. The volume of the applications developed in-house is about 200 million lines of code. The number of managed applications at Credit Suisse is of course lower than in any app store, but the focus is more on the integration of the applications. The largest scalability concern Murer sees coming is storage, for example, if regulators require them to start recording video conferences for compliance reasons.

SATURN 2013 Open Space: Participate!

SATURN 2013 covers many topics in a variety of areas relevant to software architecture and delivering quality systems; but there might be one topic that you are passionate about that is missing. Or SATURN coverage of a topic may not be as deep as you would like, and you may want to share and learn more. This year, SATURN will provide the opportunity for you to explore topics of your choice at the Open Space on Wednesday May 2, 4:15-5:15 PM.

SATURN 2013 Lightning Talks: Participate!

Got something to say about software architecture? Here is your chance! The program for SATURN 2013 includes a “Lightning Talks” session on Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 4:15 pm. The session will be a rapid-fire series of five-minute talks on any topic related to software architecture. Do you have a story about a project success (or maybe a not-so-successful project)? A method or technique that you use? A tool that you have developed? An opinion about one of the hot technologies? A reaction to one of the earlier presentations or keynotes? This is your chance to brag, share, or just get something off your chest.

Record Attendance at SATURN 2013; Tutorials Available; Special Events Planned

The international software architecture community has responded to this year’s SATURN technical program by setting a new attendance record for the SEI Architecture Technology User Group (SATURN) Conference. SATURN, now in its 9th year, will be held at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from April 29 to May 3, 2013, and registration is still open. Currently 181 people are registered to attend, breaking the previous SATURN attendance record of 166 attendees in 2011.