Kevin Francis:: Yes, but... : About Me

Enterprise Futures Forum

Kevin Francis — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 05:07:00 GMT

I'm talking at the Enterprise Futures Forum on Tuesday 17th on strategies for adopting SOA and the Cloud. Here's some information on the conference and a 2 for 1 offer that the organisers have running at the moment:

We are addressing the latest issues:

· 1. With the flurry of recent acquisitions (eg BEA, Peoplesoft, SUN, (SeeBeyond & MySQL), Stellent, Siebel, iflex) Oracle has become a major software supplier for most local enterprises. As a local enterprise professional, it makes sense to stay up to date with their software capabilities and strategy – come along and see what Matt Wright, Bill Hicks and Cameron McPhee have to say.

· 2. National broadband will open up new possibilities. Things which were not possible or practical before suddenly become possible.
Find out when, where and how much bandwidth is planned to come on line.

· 3. Australia will attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in early December. The resulting global agreement on emission reductions will most likely require businesses to monitor and curb their carbon emissions, and we in IT will be required to provide and modify systems for this. How are we going to do it?

· 4. SOA has been through the hype curve - find out where it really applies and how to go about it.

· 5. Hear all about how Google address the challenges of user apps, how you can take advantage of Google's technology when building your own. Did I mention the Wave demo and the surprise give-away to all attendees?...

Come for the whole day or half day – decide what is of most interest to you, and customise your day accordingly (www.gener8.com.au/ejaforum09)

Keynotes topics: Broadband initiative, Green IT, SOA, Google Wave

Stream Sessions: Business & Technical streams – 5 experts in each stream to take you into the future

Panel Discussions: Business & Technical sessions – 7 experts on each panel to answer your questions

Discussion Threads: Casual interactive afternoon sessions – Startups, Real SOA, Real Green IT and more – to get up close and personal with your preferred topics

Book by midday Friday and take advantage of the 2 for 1 offer!

Click here to register now!

Tech.Ed 2009

Kevin Francis — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 07:21:00 GMT

I'm presenting in the Architecture Track at Tech.Ed Australia again, and maybe also Tech.Ed New Zealand for the first time. Here's what I was thinking of talking about:

Challenging the Role of the Architect
There are as many definitions of the role of the Architect as there are organisations, and current shifts in approaches like Agile are further pushing the boundaries. Do we even need Architects? Many would suggest not. In this talk, long-time Architect and Solutions Architect MVP Kevin Francis from Object Consulting will challenge the audience with his views on Architecture and Architects, covering areas such as:

The role of the Architect in a project context.
The relationship between Architects and other roles in a project and professional context.
The skills and knowledge required by an Architect.

In addressing the above Kevin will consider both iterative and agile types of projects, thereby addressing the role of the Architect in agile projects.

So, tell me what you think of the above. What else do you think I should talk about? Is it interesting?

Presenting at BA World

Kevin Francis — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 23:13:00 GMT

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.

Talking about sustainability

Kevin Francis — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 01:12:32 GMT

Now that the article on The Green Maturity Model for virtualisation in Issue 18 of The Architecture Journal is out there and generating interest it is time to start talking about it, The whole topic is of great interest and importance and I’ve continued to work on the IP behind it with others from Object.

I’m going to be presenting on Sustainable Architecture Design at JAOO in Sydney on May 8.

Details are here.

Hope to see you there.

I’m presenting tonight

Kevin Francis — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 20:08:54 GMT

Very late notice (it kind of snuck up on me like everything else does), but I am presenting tonight.

The presentation is on my favourite topic of career development. and is about how developers can learn to become great architects and how architects can chart a course to the next step. Something in it for everyone (as long as you are a developer or an architect!)

The presentation is for Victoria .NET and is on at Microsoft’s Melbourne office at Level 5, 4 Freshwater Place (Southbank) from 5:30. It follows what sounds to be an excellent presentation from a local success story – QSR International.

See here for more details: http://www.victoriadotnet.com.au/vic-events/vic-technical-events.aspx

Tech.Ed 2008 Slides and Outcome

Kevin Francis — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 02:54:00 GMT

So Tech.Ed is over for another year. No matter what I might be doing and where I might be heading I still have a very close affinity with technology (I'm still very much a geek at heart, and even my mug says so!) and so as much as Tech.Ed is busy and tiring for a speaker there is still some sadness when it is over.

I think Tech.Ed was a success overall and I was very happy to see that my session was well received even though (or perhaps even because) it was not a deeply technical session. I'm actually rating quite well at the moment and there has been lots of positive feedback, despite the fact that, umm, apparently I say ummm too much. Oh, and I was too serious. Right on both counts. More rehearsing needed next time. For those of you that went but haven't filled in your feedback yet please login to Commnet and do so. The feedback does help enormously.

I have attached the slides to this post. If you would like the presentation given to your organisation and you are located in Australia please register an interest in this through Object's Web Site and I'll be happy to come and present in person.

Technorati Tags: Architects,careers,Tech.Ed,presentation

Tech.Ed 2008

Kevin Francis — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 04:00:00 GMT

I'm back at Tech.Ed Australia this year, so come see me:

ARC204 Career Development for Architects

Wednesday, 3-9-2008 14:15 - 15:30, Parkside Auditorium

The top tier of the career pyramid in the development area belongs to Architects and most Developers are aiming for that target. There is, however, little concrete information available to help people chart that course. This session will provide a map of how to chart that course in meaningful, clear and achievable steps. Kevin will leaverage from his 23 years industry experience, 15 years architecture experience and experience leading large teams of Developers and Architects to outline technical, soft, and other skills needed. He will also explain the ideal Architect profile (which is different from what most Developers think) and will cover the difficult topic of how Architects should prepare themselves for the steps after being an Architect.

I'll be around for the whole conference. Object Consulting, my new employer (more about that soon) will have a stand there, so I'll be easy to find.