July 2009 - Posts
www.office2010themovie.com - LoL!! 
Clippy? Is clippy going to make a return? I would seem so.
I love this idea. I was (apparently) one of the few people that liked the Office Assistants (although Clippy wasn't the best). I thought they did an excellent job of 'humanising' what is a fairly bland set of software products (sorry Office Dev team - it does look nice, but only as cool as a productivity suite can be).
It got me thinking though about the whole concept, and while I don't know what the team is planning, and I can see a nightmare for system admins, Clippy as a portal to social networking for Office users would be a killer. Clippy delivering Twitter and Facebook messages? Clippy playing music files? Either way, I'm thinking that we are moving into a new phase of UI development where things start getting sexy and fun again. Windows 7 is certainly an advance on that front already.
I'll blog more as soon as I can lay my hands on a beta of Office 2010.
I'm going to be brave over the next couple of months and present a few times at the series of BA World conferences in Australia. I'm presenting the following at Business Analysts World in Sydney 6-8th July and then in Melbourne 13-15th July on Business Analysts v Architects. You did know there was a war, right? 
Here's the adbstract:
There is much tension in all IT shops and all projects about the role of Business Analysts and Architects. The point where the roles meet is subject to much contention, and even anguish in some cases. This issue has been further exasperated by the advent of agile approaches and new design tools that further blur the line between Architects, Developer and Business Analysts. In his presentation, Kevin Francis, who is an experienced Architect and senior manager of Architects, Developers and Business Analysts will examine this issue. He’ll provide best practices in integration between Business Analysts and the rest of the development team in a pragmatic manner that can align with agile. He’ll also discuss the use of tools in enabling this interface.
Learning Objectives:
-
Understand the points of interface between Business Analysts and Architects from an Architect’s perspective
-
Learn the best practices available in the space and the division of labour across the roles
-
Review tools available to support the analysis, design and architecture of solutions
I'll post the presentation to my SlideShare page after the conference.
I'm also presenting at BA World in Canberra on September 21st-22nd on Requirements for Sustainable IT Systems. More details on that to follow later.
Just a quick note to let you know that Early Bird registration is open for the Australian Architecture Forum until July 15. We are assembling a fantastic line-up of international speakers and Open Space participants from across the breadth of the IT landscape. The conference is looking like better and better value all the time, and it is even better value if you register early.
Hope you can come and join us!