So again, the #altnetseattle Conference easily was one of the most useful events of the year for me.  The amount of ideas, thoughts, and conversations that happen in just those two days often outweigh all the presentations I see at other conferences throughout the year.  The reason is simple, they are directed, to the point, and done with the ideal of open spaces.  This makes each session exhaustive on a particular topics.  Throw together some of the smartest people in the field and you have a bang up awesome energy and conversation.

I got to talk about cloud computer, a little bit, and REST Architecture as sessions I kicked off myself.  Those were a blast.  I also got to meet a ton of other super talented like minded developers and engineers that are out there kicking the tires of .NET (and other languages/tech stacks like Ruby on Rails).

Overall the conference rocked and I will definitely be coming back!  With that, I am headed home to Portland.

• The two main concepts of Kanban is to keep the queues minimum and to maintain visibility.
• Management/leadership needs to make sure the Kanban Queue doesn?t get starved.  This is key and also very challenging, being the queue needs to be minimal but also can?t get too small during the course of work.  This is to maintain maximum velocity.
• Phases of the Kanban need to be kept flowing too, bottlenecks need removed ASAP when brought up.
• Victory Wall ? I dig that idea.  Somewhere to look to see the success of the team.
• The POs work in Rally or other tools for some client management, but it causes issues with the lack of "visibility" ? a key fundamental ideal & part of Kanban.
• One of the big issues is fitting things into a sprint, when Kanban is used with Scrum, but longer sprints are wasteful.
• Kanban work sizes are of a set size.

At this point I got a bit side tracked by the actual conversation and missed out on note taking.  Overall, people doing Kanban and Lean Style Software Development I would say are some of the happiest coders around.  The clean focus, good velocity, sizing, and other approaches that are inferred by Kanban help developers be the rock stars and succeed.

This is definitely a topic I will be commenting on a lot more in the near future.

Below are the notes I made in the REST Architecture Session I helped kick off with Andrew.

• RSS, ATOM, and such needed for better discovery.  i.e. there still is a need for some type of discovery.
• Difficult is modeling behaviors in a RESTful way.  ??  Invoking some type of state against an object.  For instance in the case of a POST vs. a GET.  The GET is easy, comes back as is, but what about a POST, which often changes some state or something.
• Challenge is doing multiple workflows with stateful workflows.  How does batch work.  Maybe model the batch as a resource.
• Frameworks aren?t particularly part of REST, REST is REST.  But point argued that REST is modeled, or part of modeling a state machine of some sort? ?
• Nothing is 100% reliable w/ REST ? comparisons drawn with TCP/IP.  Sufficient probability is made however for the communications, but the idea of a possible failure has to be built into the usage model of REST.
• Ruby on Rails / RESTfully, and others used.  What were their issues, what do they do.  ATOM feeds, object serialized, using LINQ to XML w/ this.  No state machine libraries.
• Idempotent areas around REST and single change POST changes are inherent in the architecture.
• REST ? one of the constrained languages is for the interaction w/ the system.  Limiting what can be done on the resources.  - disagreement, there is no agreed upon REST verbs.
• Sam Ruby ? RESTful services.  Expanded the verbs within REST/HTTP pushes you off the web.  Of the existing verbs POST leaves the most up for debate.
• Robert Reem used Factory to deal with the POST to handle the new state.  The POST identifying what it just did by the return.
• Different states are put into POST, so that new prospective verbs, without creating verbs for REST/HTTP can be used to advantage without breaking universal clients.
• Biggest issue with REST services is their lack of state, yet it is also one of their biggest strengths.  What happens is that the client takes up the often onerous task of handling all state, state machines, and other extraneous resource management.  All the GETs, POSTs, DELETEs, INSERTs get all pushed into abstraction.  My 2 cents is that this in a way ends up pushing a huge proprietary burden onto the REST services often removing the point of REST to be simple and to the point.
• WADL does provide discovery and some state control (sort of?)
• Statement made, "WADL" isn't needed.  The JSON, XML, or other client side returned data handles this.

I then applied the law of 2 feet rule for myself and headed to finish up these notes, post to the Wiki, and figure out what I was going to do next.  For the original Wiki entry check it out here.

Time to rock the ALT.NET scene and head up to the conference this weekend.  I must say, out of all the conferences I have been to the ALT.NET Conference is by far one of the best.  Great minds, great attitudes, awesome chances to learn, awesome changes to expand on one's ideas with others that hit on the same hurdles!  All in all, last year was great and I am expecting it to be a great conference this year also.

For more information check out the ALT.NET site:

• http://2010conf.altnetseattle.org/

To get more involved in the monthly ALT.NET events in Seattle:

• http://groups.google.com/group/altnetseattle
• http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111345965570
• http://www.altnetseattle.org/

If you are in the Seattle area this weekend, be sure to hit up the conference.

The Microsoft Azure Cloud is looking pretty solid compared to just a few months ago.  The storage mechanisms in the cloud now are blobs, drives, tables, and queues.  Also, not to forget, is SQL Azure.  I won't dive too much into that, as most will know what SQL Server is, and SQL Azure is pretty much just a hosted SQL Server instance.

The blobs are generally geared toward holding binary type data, images and those types of things.  The tables are huge key value type stores.  The drives are VHD, which are virtual hard drives.  The queues are just queues used for workflow and also to store messages back and forth in a queue.

These methods are accessible via REST, which makes application development against the storage services extremely easy.  This is a big plus point as REST services are a preferred way to connect and interact with data storage.  It also sets up Silverlight as a prime framework to utilize services.

Day 4 I pretty much dedicated to reviewing these cloud services and finishing up work related development.  With that, I'm wrapping up my MIX 2010 blog coverage.  Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I rolled over to the Mandalay for breakfast.  There I met a couple guys that were really excited about the new Windows 7 Phone.  They, as I, are also hopeful that the phone really gets a big push and some penetration into the market.  Not because we don?t like any other of the phones, but because this phone is so much better in many ways.  From a developer's perspective creating applications in Windows 7 Mobile will be vastly superior in ease, capabilities, and other aspects.  The architectural, existing code base, examples, and provisions to create things on the 7 Mobile Device are already existing as of RIGHT NOW.  There is no reason, except for fickle market conditions, for this phone to not just explode onto the market.  But alas, I won't hold my breath.

Day three keynote had a whole new slew of things provided.  It also seemed that things got a lot more technical on this second keynote.  The oData was one of the very technical bits, yet it included almost no code.  Starting with a Netflix example and all the way to the Codename "Dallas" effort the oData Services provide some expansive possibilities.

A mash up going 4 ways was then shown for finding a movie, finding local places to have a viewing, and information about the movie and were to prospectively find and buy additional movie bits.  The display was of course, in a Windows 7 Mobile device with literally a click to view each set of data.  The backend and the front end of this was beautifully smooth.

The Dallas Project has a lot of potential for analytics in dashboard and scorecard creation also.  If there is a need or reason to provide data to a vast and wide range of clients, Dallas is a prime example of how to do that.

Azure Clouds

After the main keynote I checked out (while developing a working WPF & Silverlight Application for work) the session on deploying ASP.NET Applications, services, etc, into the cloud.  The session was pretty good, but I'll admit I got a little unfocused from it a few times.  It is after all hard to do two things at one time.

I did take note that the cloud still is a multiple step process for deploying to.  This is a good thing and a bad thing.  There needs to be more checks and verifications when deploying something into the cloud just for technical reasons.  However, I feel that there should be some streamlining to the process.  Going back and forth between web and Visual Studio as the interface also seems kind of clunky.  Deployment should be able to be completed from within Visual Studio in my perspective.  Overall, the cloud is getting more and more impressive in function as well as theory.

I went to the session on Microsoft Silverlight Analytics Framework (MSAF) today while here at MIX 2010.  It was a great walk through the features, ideas, and what the end goal is.  Michael Scherotter did a great job of lining up the ideas, intentions, and the functional ideas behind the framework.

The framework is built around the Silverlight Behaviors.  If you aren't sure what behaviors are, check out these entries from Nikhilk.net Silverlight Behaviors, Silverlight 3 Drag Behavior, An Introduction to Behaviors, Triggers, and Actions, and of course the MSDN Documentation on the matter.

Some of the key features of the framework is to support out-of-browser scenarios, which works perfectly with out Webtrends DX Web Services.  Offline scenarios, which again, we have worked toward supporting at Webtrends DC Web Services via caching and other criteria as needed.  Another feature that I was really stoked about is the Microsoft Expression Blend integration that removes the need for coding, thus simplifying the addition of analytics components based on events or other actions within a Silverlight Application.  This framework also easily supports A/B Testing (again, something we do quit a bit of at Webtrends with Webtrends Optimize.

The last thing I really wanted to point out was the control support that this framework has support in already from Telerik RadControls, Smooth Streaming Media Element, and Microsoft Silverlight Media Framework Player 1.0.  These are implemented with behaviors and handlers exposed via MEF (Managed Extensibility Framework).

All in all, great second day, great analytics framework for Silverlight, and great presentation.  Until tomorrow, adieu.

Left the Circus Circus and headed to the geek circus at Mandalay Bay.  Got in, got some breakfast, met a few more people and headed to the keynote.

Upon arriving the crew I was hanging with at the event; Erik Mork, Beth Murray, and Brian Henderson and I were entertained with several other thousand geeks by the wicked yo-yoing.

The first video demo of something was of Bing Maps and various aspects of Microsoft Research integrated together.  Namely the pictures, put in place, on real 3d element maps of various environments.

Silverlight

Scott Guthrie, as one would guess, kicked off the keynote.  His first point was that user experience has become a priority at Microsoft.  This can be seen by any observant soul with the release and push of Expression, Silverlight, and the other tools.  This is even more apparent when one takes note of Microsoft bringing in people that can actually do good design and putting them at the forefront.

The next thing Scott brought up was a few key points about Silverlight.  Currently Silverlight is a little over 2 years old and has achieved a pretty solid 60% penetration.  Silverlight has all sorts of capabilities that have been developed and are now provided as open source including;  ad injection, smoothing, playback editing, and more.  Another thing he showed, which really struck me as awesome being in the analytics space, was the Olympics and a quick glimpse of the ad statistics, viewer experience, video playback performance, audience trends, and overall viewer participation.  All of it rendered in Silverlight in beautiful detail.

The key piece of Scott's various points were all punctuated with the fact that all of this code is available as open source.  Not only is Microsoft really delving into this design element of things, they're getting involved in the right ways.

One of the last points I'll bring up about Silverlight 4 is the ability to have HD video on a monitor, and an entirely different activity being done on the other monitor, effectively making Silverlight the only RIA framework that supports multi-monitor support.  Overall, Silverlight is continuing to impress ? providing superior capabilities tit-for-tat with the competition.

Windows 7 Phone

The Windows 7 Phone has 3 primary buttons (yes, more than the iPhone, don't let your mind explode!!).  Start, Search, and Back control all of the needed functionality of the phone.  At the same time, of course, there is the multi-touch, touch, and other interactive abilities of the interface.  The intent, once start is pressed is to have all the information that a phone owner wants displayed immediately.  Avoiding the scrolling through pages of apps or rolling a ball to get through multitudes of other non-interactive phone interfaces.  The Windows 7 Phone simply has the data right in front of you, basically a phone dashboard.  From there it is easy to dive into the interactive areas of the phone.

Each area of the interface of the phone is broken into hubs.  These hubs include applications, data, and other things based on a relative basis.  This basis being determined by the user.  These applications interact on many other levels, and form a kind of relationship between each other adding more and more meta-data to the phone user, their interactions between the applications, and of course the social element of their interactions on the phone.  This makes this phone a practical must have for a marketer involved in social media.  The level of wired together interaction is massive, and of course, if you've seen Office Outlook 2010 you know that the power that is pulled into the phone by being tied to Outlook is massive.

Joe Belfiore also showed several UI & specifically UX elements of the phone interface that allows paging to be instinctual by simple clipped items, flipping page to page, and other excellent user experience advances for phone devices.  Belfiore's also showed how his people hub had a massive list of people, with pictures, all from various different social networks and other associated relations.  The rendering, speed, and viewing of these people's, their pictures, their social network information, and other characteristics was smooth and in some situations unbelievably rendered.  This demo showed some of the great power of the beta phone, which isn't even as powerful as the planned end device.

Joe finished up by jumping into the music, videos, and other media with the Zune Component of the Windows 7 Mobile Phone.  This was all good stuff, but I'll get to what really sold me on the media element in a moment.

When Joe was done, Scott Guthrie stepped back up to walk through building a Windows 7 Mobile Phone.  This is were I have to give serious props.  He built this application, in Visual Studio 2010, in front of 2000+ people.  That was cool, but what really was amazing that he build the application in about 2 minutes.  The IDE, side by side design that is standard in Visual Studio is light years ahead of x-Code or any of the iPhone IDEs.  The Windows 7 Mobile System, if it can get market penetration, poses a technologically superior development and phone platform over anything on the market right now.  The biggest problem with the phone, is it just isn't available yet.  I personally can't wait for a chance to build some apps for the new Windows Phone.

Netflix, I May Start Up an Account Again!

When I get my Windows 7 Phone device, I am absolutely getting a Netflix account again.  The Vertigo crew, as I wrote on Twitter "#MIX10 Props @seesharp on @netflix demo", displayed an application on the phone for Netflix that actually ran HD Video of Rescue Me (with Dennis Leary).  The video played back smooth as it would on a dedicated computer, I was instantly sold.  So this didn't actually sell me on the phone, because I'm already sold, but it did sell me whole heartedly on the media capabilities of the pending phone.

Anyway, I try not to do this but I may double post today.  Lunch is over and I'm off to another session very near and dear to the heart of my occupation, Analytics Tracking.  Stay tuned and I should have that post up by the end of the day.

Portland Departure - Farewell Stumptown

Off I go on a plane from Portland, Oregon to Las Vegas, Nevada for the MIX 2010 Conference.  Before I even boarded the plane I met Paul Gomes a Senior Software Engineer and Andrew Saylor the Director of Business Development.  Both of these SoftSource Employees were en route to MIX themselves.  Being stoked to already be bumping into some top tier people, I bid them adieu and headed for my seat on the plane.

I boarded, and had before the boarding opted for an upgrade.  I have to advise that if you get a chance on Alaska to upgrade at the last minute, take it.  It is usually only about $50 bucks or so and the additional space makes working on the ole' laptop actually possible (even on my monstrous 17" laptop).  So take it from me, click that upgrade button and fork over that $50 bucks for anything over an hour flight, the comfort and ability to work is usually worth it!

Las Vegas Arrival - Welcome to Sin City

Got into Las Vegas and swung out of the airport.  I then, with my comrade Beth attempted to get Internet Access for the next 3 hours.  Las Vegas, is not the most friendly Internet Access town.  I will just say it, I am not sure why any Internet related company (ala Microsoft) would hold a conference here.  There are more than a dozen other cities that would be better.

But I digress, I did manage to get Internet Access after checking into the Circus Circus.  Don't ask why I ended up staying here, if you run into me in person, ask then because there is a whole story to it.

At this point I started checking out each session further on the MIX10 Site.  There are a number I deemed necessary to check out.  However, you'll have to read my pending entries to see which session I jumped into.

With this juncture in time reached, I got a ton of work to wrap up, some code to write and some sleep to get.  Until tomorrow, adieu.

The first Code Camp & Bar Camp, which is joining forces, was held tonight.  With representatives from Code Camp, Legion of Tech, and the SQL Group Organizers were all on hand to kick off the discussion.

One of the primary focus points was, should we have a two day or single day event?  It makes me wonder what would be better for a 800 person or so event.  Two days better, one day better?  Short days, longer days that run until 10pm?  What is your take on the matter?

More to come later, so keep an eye out for the Code, Bar, SQL Camp Event o' the year!