TechEd Recap
With TechEd being split into two weeks for Developers and IT Pros, it was a long experience for me. I covered both weeks for INETA. The first week we had the whole team on board and a lot of community stuff going on. We kept the INETA kiosk area well staffed, especially during session breaks, to meet with the many folks who stopped by. INETA sponsored the Birds of a Feather sessions for the week, the BOF team did a great job keeping everything running smoothly. I enjoyed being a part of the BOF experience, see my Dynamic Languages at TechEd post. I had a chance to attend several sessions that included:
Pat Helland – Metropolis: Interchangeability of Operations
I wish I could have attended all of Pat’s sessions but this was it. Using his Metropolis analogy, his focus here is on the parallels of Manufacturing Goods to Structured Data and Operations. Standardization drove changes is manufactured goods leading to mass production and interchangeable components. The parallel is driving changes in data operations. Following the session I had the opportunity for some engaging discussion on extending the concept. I suggested looking at the quality push brought about by the Japanese auto manufacturers in the 70’s and 80’s and paralleling with the shift toward test driven development.
Mark Russinovich – The Case of the Unexplained
I attended the repeat presentation and it was packed. Great presentation style, Mark walked among the audience before start of session chatting and getting a sense of points of interest. The presentation covered tools, techniques and insight by peering beneath the surface for solving of sluggish performance, error messages, applications crashes, system hangs and blue screens.
Doug Seven - End-to-End Application Lifecycle Management with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System
Another great job of presentation delivery. Had a chance to chat with Doug afterward of both Rosario and effective presentations. Doug recommends Presentation Zen and Made to Stick.
John Lam – see separate post
Scott Hanselman – Car or Motorcycle: Choosing the ASP.NET MVC Framework
Scott’s presentations are always good, I like his way of making things understandable. In this presentation he provided a good description of the MVC framework. The MVC is about alternatives, its not for everyone or every project, rather it allow you to choose the best tool for the job. MVC provides some real benefits in terms of TDD and it plays well with others.
Ted Neward – Pragmatic Architecture: The Role of an Architect
Always good, Ted was busy doing 5 presentations. I caught just one that starts with the “… what is a software architect?” It’s Ted’s pragmatism and delivery style that made this presentation interesting and engaging.
I’m a big fan of getting the user experience right. The UX presentations by David Platt and Mark Miller provided some contrasting views on this important topic. Both made us think about the cost of lost productivity. There is a lot more to UX than these presentations could cover but I’m glad to see greater mind share around improving UX. Architects need to get their heads into this space in greater depth.
Mark Miller – The Science of a Great User Experience
Mark had a lot of good material in his presentation, backed up with good examples. He had a lot of material but kept the pace lively to get through it. In a couple of spots in his presentation his passion crossed over the line on appropriateness to the venue however.
David Platt – Why Software Sucks
Pragmatic, a little more conservative than Mark, but he made the connection with the audience.