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Published: (2005-06-29 13:20:17.0)

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Published: (2005-06-29 11:39:51.0)

There's plenty of resources for JavaOne photos this year - and that's a good thing. Martin has listed a few places to check out, and I have a few more for your clicking pleasure:

• Dave@Work - Dave has taken some fantastic photos. This one that caught my eye - what in the world are they reacting to?
• The Clingan Zone - John's photos are grainy and blurry (think edgy!), but they capture the atmosphere well. And I'm not saying that because I happened to be in one. Nope. Not at all.
• Scott Schram's Blog over at java.net - only a few pics but the quality is great.
• Photos of t-shirt hurling device #2 - via Gosling's blog.
• kukooBlog - a few photos of good quality. I really like the photo of Gosling and Gage under the Java logo.
• Technorati - check out the latest coming through Technorati

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Published: (2005-06-28 14:59:22.0)

JavaOne 2005 begins in earnest. The doors open and Moscone sputters then crackles with life. People make contact, and the conversations begin. Hands reach out, pats on the back, hugs, hello's and heart-felt smiles. Words are spoken for real, real organic questions are asked instead of the standard plastic ones, and there's a pause for answers as we shift into another gear. A thoughtful gear. Thousands of people concentrated in these halls for a common reason, so it's not a time to be shy. Words are spoken with a passion, and people listen in earnest. Contact! Action, reaction ... synergy.

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Published: (2005-06-28 00:12:05.0)

Here is this year's Duke for the JavaOne 2005 Conference. Thrasher Duke sporting a killer board with the sweet 10 year anniversary logo for Java Technology. Righteous!

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Published: (2005-06-27 08:41:26.0)

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Published: (2005-06-27 05:00:00.0)

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Published: (2005-06-24 16:29:45.0)

100 systems for your hacking pleasure await you at JavaOne's Hands-On Lab.

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Published: (2005-06-24 11:14:13.0)

Kevin, Vernon and I emerge from the bowels of BART into a cold, grey San Francisco morning. Destination: Moscone. We enter the North Side, and immediately check on the network. Conversations with the conference folks. I look around and notice the new Sun brand colors are everywhere. Off to the Ops room to check in with Steve, and see what needs to be done. The usual gang is there, and hellos and how ya doings are exchanged. I'm off to Room 130 to help with the hands on lab. 102 machines await. Kevin the intern has already started, so Rich and I start grabbing monitor cases to unload. The cases are freaking massive (excuse my poetry) and before I know it, I'm huffing and puffing. We learned a lesson from last year - so we're sure to keep the monitors from their respective cases next to each other. We get to the end and are puzzle by the table configuration. Rich finally figures out that when we had moved tables to get the cases in position, the electricians had laid cables to wherever they found the tables. Laugh. We move the tables back into position and finish the monitor layout. Empty cases need to go back to the Ops room for storage. The trip back is interesting and a challenge. Once the cases get going, it not so bad. The steering sucks - and you really only offer them suggestions on where they should go. I manage to get mine back without crushing anyone or colliding with a speeding forklift. Those dudes haul. Time has flown and its lunch time. Off to Chevy's. We talk about our kids, and Peter the lone single guy at our table end probably wished he was at the other end. Back to work. Registration is next. More lifting and running around. I assume the gopher role and get cokes and longer ethernet cables and ask Dale where to store the cases. I almost take down the temporary walls trying to get the cases throught the door. By the looks I got, the two fellows balancing precariously while they tried to get the signage up really appreciated my tender touch. Or maybe it was my colorful and inventive exclamations. Storage of cases completed, and registration declared complete by Kevin, and I'm off to see what Steve has next. There's some downtime, so I'm off to snap pictures. After a bit a guard stops me and informs me that I need a permit. I'm tired and don't feel like arguing, so I put the camera away and head up to the South Lobby to help with the systems there. We're limited on what we can do - there's no network and no holes drilled in the tables to drop the power. For fun we try to see if we can cram a case into the elevator, but no dice. We contemplate the escalator, but finally agree that would probably be a bad idea. The day is over. I tell my friends goodbye - they're moved in for the week and will spend the majority of their time living in the depths of Moscone until next Friday. Sleep will be scarce. Me - I'm off to BART and a long ride home.

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Published: (2005-06-24 05:00:00.0)

Well, tomorrow I will return to the depths of an empty and barren Mosone Convention Center, and help transform it into the 2005 JavaOne Conference. This will be JavaOne #8 for me, and I'm bringing my camera.

Last year I did a photoblog, trying to capture the spirit of the conference through photos and imagery. I'll be doing the same thing this year, except I'll be posting here.

Anticipation ... well, yeah, what exactly have they concocted for this year's t-shirt hurling contest? I really need to figure out how to be there to witness the chaos, er I mean, the innovations in action first hand.

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Published: (2005-06-22 21:55:17.0)

Scott Berkun was at our Newark campus today giving a talk "Schedules and other lies: the myths of making good software on time." So I'm at Menlo Park, which is across the bay. And my truck is in the shop. No sweat. Hop on the free campus shuttle and head over to Newark for a free talk. To top it off Scott is handing out free copies of his book "The Art of Project Management." Schaweet .

So Scott worked at Microsoft for ten years - which made me raise my eyebrow. Why does a person that worked at Microsoft come to Sun to pitch a book? *shrug* What was more important is that he was a program manager for ten years working on Internet Explorer - a major piece of software. So that meant he had experience, and probably something meaningful to say about the art of project management.

Well, he did. It was a good talk. He was energetic and made some good points. One that struck me in particular was this: look at the diagram, y axis being effort, x axis being time. As the project progresses along in time (x), then effort should decrease accordingly. So there's diagonal line indicating this relationship. But in reality the line (in red) will actually deviate outwards as the level of effort continues to grow. So we spend our time chopping out features to get that line to come back down. So his point was that if we have the ability to do that, then we have the ability to actually keep the project below that line (in blue), and cut features when we approach the boundary, instead of exceeding it and spending effort trying to get the project back in line. We constantly try to do too much.

There's a number of resources at Scott's website: forums, essays and a PM clinic. The forums are just starting out, so there's not much traffic there. The PM clinic looks promising. If you scroll down the signup page, you'll see an archive of previous discussion topics.

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Published: (2005-05-10 20:03:44.0)

Well, so, there it is. Sun.com's new look. A project that's consumed my life for that last few months. Martin gives a pretty good overview of the changes, complete with some nice screenshots. It was an amazing effort, with numerous people involved. The launch process was also fascinating (much like air traffic patterns) - swirling seemingly countless random pieces suddenly synchronizing and lining up on the runway. There was a calm voice ticking off the launch sequence, and equally calm confirmations from various parties. "Light that candle!", and then there was the moment when a voice said "we are live" followed by a moment where everyone was hitting shift-reload. An excited "there it is!" followed by more confirmations as all those random pieces took off again and headed off to the ether. It's really more complicated that that - but you get the idea. The launch process went very well.

Someone asked me if I was nervous. No, not really. I'm surrounded by very smart people who know what they are doing. Another person remarked "you have this launch process down to a science." I'll point again to those very smart people.

Well, so, there it is. I hope you like it.

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Published: (2005-05-04 17:04:32.0)

And so here we are, in the last days of a major project. It's hectic, to say the least. Many wandering paths of the Pert chart have converged, and we all ride the critical path now. "Everyone is talking to everyone else about everything." The emails are relentless, and there are meetings between meetings after other meetings. Emails, phone calls, and AIM messages cram into all the times between like spackling. Hectic. But this is what we live for - isn't it? The project is hungy now, hungry for the tired, hungry for the weak, hungry for those who would blame. It will cross the finish line now due to momentum, regardless if we fail and pass out along the way.

And when we cross that line, after someone has pushed the button, there will be no multitudes of cheering folks, no waiting throng to take us on their shoulders. We will simply exhale, and maybe close our eyes for a moment or two. There isn't time for much else, for another major project awaits.

Hectic.

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Published: (2005-04-26 14:38:45.0)

And that means I'm up early. I have a weekly call with folks from the U.K., Europe and now Canada - and so I need to start early to catch everyone at a decent hour. I've found the World Clock Meeting Planner a great tool for these sorts of things. It's an interesting call, and I'm fascinated by all the accents. I'm especially partial to the U.K. folks - I'm thinking of having Tim guest narrate my future concalls.

It's a cool thing about working here at Sun, a chance to daily interact with folks from all over the globe. And I'm constantly reminded that I think too much like an American - self centered on my existence in California. "Well that should work! Er wait no, what about Germany? And then there's Japan. And oh yes Australia. Ok that's not going to work ..."

Another cool thing - your team mates or boss can be anywhere in the world. And so now I have to visit sites to help me with my English Slang, and by English I mean British. Right. Because when I talk to my boss in the U.K., I need to be mindful that some of our words don't translate too well, or that they translate to something that will bring the call to a screeching halt. And I've discoverd that all those Monty Python's movies haven't been that helpful.

So it's a global thing, and that is a good thing

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Published: (2005-03-17 14:50:11.0)

Not to say there's only one :), but a really cool thing about working at Sun is that I'm surrounded by smart people. I mean they are really freakin' smart. And not only are they smart, but they explain things so that even I can understand. Which is rather invaluable. I don't have a problem asking stupid questions, and they don't have a problem answering them. The discussions we have are widely varied and always interesting, and sometimes they are even related to our work ;p

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Published: (2005-01-11 16:17:24.0)