Frog Driven Development

Really honest article Frog Driven Development on the software equivalent of "Are we there yet Dad?". Boy, does this hit home - I've seen this time and time again in many organisations and projects - like how a 6 week estimate turns into an 11 month death march. Uncomfortable.

Software development is fun, free, fluid, creative but also dangerous, uncontrollable, risky, and unpredictable. And having source code access reduces ou risk for some of that. That's lesson number one.

But this case study also highlights the dangers of outsourcing software development to offshore sweatshops - even with access to source code there's no guarantee. There's more to software development than just the code - you need to specify what you want built (requirements and architecture), you need some way to determining when it meets your needs (acceptance or system tests), and you need the end-product too (the code, a way to build it, and some unit tests to give you a low-pass filter that things are working). That's lesson number two.

Of course the underlying lesson number three is "the wetware problem". Your developers are your number one asset. If you have someone who can write great code, they are worth their weight in doughnuts. Having a developer who you know and trust, has a history to delivering and not just promising, removes so much of the risk it's just not funny.

/tech/sweng | 20 Dec 2010 | #

All ready for linux.conf.au 2011

I've registered for linux.conf.au 2011, have you? I've booked airfares and I'm in the process of booking accommodation too. So I'm all set for one amazing week next January.

Vint Cerf, Mark Pesce, Eric Allman and Geoff Hudson making up a pretty impressive list of keynotes. Rocketry, Arduino, Open Programming Languages, Multicore and Parallel Processing, Freedom in the Cloud, HTML5, Advanced C Programming, Perl Programming Best Practices, Kernel, Databases, Extracting requirements from flame wars, Calendaring, Linux Powered Coffee Roasting just for a start with plenty more!

Are you going to be there? You don't want to miss out! :-)

/tech/linux-australia/lca2011 | 27 Oct 2010 | #

Finally a Dashboard

Following on from the inspiration of joxer, the The Panic Station, Stashboard and a couple of github repos, we've just put together a similar dashboard for the status of key systems for my day job.

A combination of a couple of Mac Minis (low power and heat, sitting in a cupboard), a combination of Python, HTML5 and CSS3, sucking in data through some (RESTful and non-RESTful) Web Services - and all of a sudden we've got reportable data - including of course the most important data, the number of days since someone had to buy doughnuts for the team as a result of breaking a production system :-)

/tech/code | 25 Aug 2010 | #

Freedom in the Cloud

I’ve been thinking alot about freedom in the world of online services, cloud computing and social networks lately - and it seems to be a very common topic of discussion going around.

Reading stuff like this today GPS found in Omo packet just goes to show that our privacy is very much threatened. Zuckerberg’s dream of the End of Privacy is rapidly approaching.

I agree with Eben Moglen, we Need Freedom In The Cloud.

Mark Pesce’s Plexus is an initiative that addresses part of the problem that looks very interesting, another one is Diaspora. But one thing is for sure, just as we’ve had a revolution in software freedom brought about by the GPL, we need a similar revolution in the social networking space to combat the secret spying that is possible under the cloud computing model successfully pioneered by Google, Facebook and Twitter and their ilk.

/freedom | 05 Aug 2010 | #

SOTD: ipcalc

Today's Software of the Day is ipcalc. Very useful! (Thanks Greg!)

This post is brought to you by the numbers 0 and 1.

/tech/misc | 20 Jul 2010 | #

LCA2011 Call For Papers now open

  The linux.conf.au 2011 organisers now welcome proposals of papers from
  all areas of the open source community. linux.conf.au is a fun,
  informal, seriously technical conference. In 2011 it will also cater
  to a range of end users including those new to the open source
  community.

  "We're excited to be carrying on the proud tradition of linux.conf.au
  in our home city of Brisbane." said Shaun Nykvist, director of
  lca2011. "We're mindful of the important role that this conference
  plays in the F/OSS community both here in Australia and
  internationally. We are focussed on bringing knowledgeable and
  exciting speakers, the latest and finest of Linux and F/OSS expertise,
  and also a few innovations to Brisbane lca in January 2011." said
  Nykvist.

  The theme of this years conference is "follow the flow". The warm and
  friendly river-side Brisbane will be hosting the best linux.conf.au
  ever. What does the theme "follow the flow mean"? It is about the
  growing movement of open source, whether its down at the kernel level
  or over in libre graphics.

  The call for papers will remain open until the 7th of August, 2010.

  More information for those wanting to submit a paper is available at
  the lca2011 website.

  http://lca2011.linux.org.au/

/tech/linux-australia/lca2011 | 15 Jul 2010 | #

Tech moves on (was Retweeting)

So this is the first time I've reblogged a tweet:Finally migrated a whole bunch of stuff from a physical DapperDrake box to a virtualised LucidLynx box. Yay for #ubuntu LTS releases!

But it's an important one. Yet another layer of abstraction in place with a virtualised server, instead of a physical server.

Technology moves on. And not slow. Two important things to timeline - 1) Microblogging is overtaking blogging (or is it that social communication has displaced one-way communication?), and 2) Virtualisation has become mainstream.

I need to dream more, because technology is very quickly catching up with my ability to contemplate the unimaginable. An exciting future beholds...

/meta | 30 Jun 2010 | #

xkcd and Knuth

Another thing from PyCon Au. Here is the Google interview with Randall Munroe. And here is the corresponding xkcd that is referenced at 21:30 :-)

/tech/conf/pyconau-2010 | 30 Jun 2010 | #

PyCon-AU 2010

Last weekend was pyconau 2010, the first pycon in Australia. I had a great time, and I'm hoping it'll continue on again next year. You know a conference has been a good one when in the week following you keep on thinking about things you heard about - can't help thinking about @mpesce's keynote about Plexus.

Big thanks to mithro and r1chardj0n3s for organising!

/tech/conf/pyconau-2010 | 29 Jun 2010 | #

LinuxSA March 2010 - IPv6

  Hi all,

  Time for the March meeting announcement (it's next Tuesday)...

  The usual details:

   When:   6:30pm-8:30pm on Tuesday, 16th March, 2010
   Where:  Room G05/G06 Gerard Innovation Centre
           Prince Alfred College
           Capper Street, Kent Town SA
   Cost:   FREE
   Who:    Anyone and everyone.
           No pre-registration necessary.

  Presentation:

   Mark Pulford will be presenting an overview of IPv6 - The Next
   Generation Internet Protocol. The talk will cover:

     * Advantages
     * Differences with IPv4
     * Using IPv6

   Mark is a Network Engineer at Internode and recently built their
   IPv6 Broadband Trial: http://ipv6.internode.on.net/access/adsl/

  Getting to the Venue:

   Prince Alfred College faces Dequetteville Terrace, but access to
   Room G05/G06 is only available from Capper Street; there is no
   access to these rooms from any other entrances in the College. On
   Capper Street, Room G05/G06 is closer to The Parade West than to
   Dequetteville Terrace.

   Parking is available on-street or maybe off-street (adjacent to the
   Sports Centre). Look for the two storey stone fronted building with
   the sign "Gerard Innovation Centre". Enter through the double doors,
   first room on the right hand side of corridor (ground floor). The
   external door automatically locks at night. Should it not be propped
   open please be ready to knock loudly.

   There are buses that go along Dequetteville Terrace, with a stop  
   adjacent to Capper Street. The 143, 145, and 146 buses leave from
   North Terrace, and the 141 and 142 buses leave from Currie Street
   and Grenfell street.

   If you are in the city, you could also catch the 99C bus to East
   Terrace, then take a 10-15 minute walk to the College.

  Pizza:

   After the meeting, people generally go out for pizza at San Giorgios
   (cnr. Frome Street and Rundle Street in the city).

  For more information:

   Email:        organisers@linuxsa.org.au
   Web Page:     http://www.linuxsa.org.au/
   Mailing List: linuxsa@linuxsa.org.au
   IRC:         #linuxsa on irc.freenode.net

/tech/LinuxSA | 11 Mar 2010 | #

A new toy

A new lens got added to the collection today, a Canon 24-105mm f/4 L IS. I'm just a wee bit excited :-)

/photos | 10 Mar 2010 | #

HackOff is back

Glad to see that LCA2010 is bringing back the HackOff!

/tech/linux-australia/lca2010 | 12 Jan 2010 | #