Dimensional Modeling in Business intelligence Environment, an IBM RedBook.
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/Redbooks.nsf/RedbookAbstracts/sg247138.html?Open)
I came across this book some 3 months back, IBM RedBook series never cease to amaze me for the quality and clarity of their publications. In fact, back in 1999-2000, REALSOFT (where i am a co-founder), was awarded our first Data warehouse solution for the ministry of national economy in Oman social and economics indicators database. Guess what, IBM RedBook came to our rescue with their excellent data modeling techniques for data warehouse (http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg242238.html?Open) , it was THEE book that laid down the ground for our understanding of data warehousing concepts and design.
Ammar Sajdi
Oracle consultant , CEO
REALSOFT / PALCO
Amman Jordan, 2006
Friday, October 13, 2006
Lean Software development, can it be applied in Jordan - by Ammar Sajdi
Amman, 13, Oct 2006
By Ammar Sajdi
One particular book that I discuss with the employees at REALSOFT (Amman office) is called "Lean Software Development" by Mary Poppendieck and Tom Poppendieck (ISBN 0-321-15078-3).
The origin of Lean thinking stems back to the 1940's when taiichi Ohno of Toyota wanted to know how Toyota (a small car producer at the time) could compete with American mass-produced cars. The father of the Toyota Production System is the mastermind behind the fundamental lean principle, namely, eliminating waste.
The book and others book in Agile realm try to transform the Lean thinking used in development and production of products into lean thinking as it applies to Software development.
Effectively, lean thinking advocates the adoption of an iterative software development approach over the traditional waterfall approach. However, even though several other studies in software development life cycles (SDLC) favor an iterative approach, the agile lean approach has its unique steps.
Lean thinking has seven principles
- Eliminate Waste
- Amplify learning
- Decide as late as possible
- Deliver as fast as possible
- Empower the team
- Build integrity in
- See the whole.
The are other approaches that are also known in the agile arena such as
Extreme Programming (XP)
Scrum
I think that this approach can be applied in Jordan very well, and many of us, most probably apply it without having identified their method as being Lean or Agile. The Lean approach applies best in an environment where it is not possible to capture the business requirements of a certain business precisely and comprehensively at the start of the project. The agile approach, then suggests, that the team starts to do early rough releases and present the results to the client as soon as possible, then start enhancing and evolving both the requirement and the software application itself by introducing another iteration that includes the additional features resulting from the first release. (This complies with the Decide as late as possible and Deliver as fast as possible principles)
Ammar Sajdi
www.realsoft-me.com
www.e-ammar.net
I ve been recently reading a lot about software development strategies and methodologies revolving around a fairly recent way of thinking. These methodologies also belong to what is now know as Agile Software Development. an interesting overview about Agile software development can be found at wikipedia.
One particular book that i discuss with the employees at REALSOFT (Amman office) is called "Lean Software Development" by Mary Poppendieck and Tom poppendieck (ISBN 0-321-15078-3).
The origin of Lean thinking stems back to the 1940's when taiichi Ohno of Toyota who wanted to know how Toyota (a small car producer at the time) could compete with American mass-produced cars. The father of the Toyota Production System is the mastermind behind the fundamental lean principle, namely, eliminate waste.
The book and others book in Agile realm try to transform the Lean thinking used in development and production of products into lean thinking as it applies to Software development.
Effectively, lean thinking advocates the adoption of iterative software development approach over the traditional water fall approach. However, even though several other studies in software development life cycles (SDLC) favor iterative approach, the agile lean approach has its unique steps.
Lean thinking has seven principlesEliminate Waste
Amplify learning
Decide as late as possible
Deliver as fast as possible
Empower the team
Build integrity in
See the whole.
The are other approaches that also know in the agile arena such as
Extreme Programming (XP)
Scrum
I think that this approach can be applied in Jordan very well, and many of us, most probably apply it without having identified their method as being Lean or Agile. The Lean approach applies best in environment when it is not possible to capture the business requirement of a certain business precisely and comprehensively at the start of the project. The agile approach, then suggests, that the team starts to do early rough releases and present the results to the client as soon as possible, then start enhancing and evolving both the requirement and the software application itself by introducing another iteration that includes the additional features resulting from the first release. (This complies with the Decide as late as possible and Deliver as fast as possible principles)
One particular book that i discuss with the employees at REALSOFT (Amman office) is called "Lean Software Development" by Mary Poppendieck and Tom poppendieck (ISBN 0-321-15078-3).
The origin of Lean thinking stems back to the 1940's when taiichi Ohno of Toyota who wanted to know how Toyota (a small car producer at the time) could compete with American mass-produced cars. The father of the Toyota Production System is the mastermind behind the fundamental lean principle, namely, eliminate waste.
The book and others book in Agile realm try to transform the Lean thinking used in development and production of products into lean thinking as it applies to Software development.
Effectively, lean thinking advocates the adoption of iterative software development approach over the traditional water fall approach. However, even though several other studies in software development life cycles (SDLC) favor iterative approach, the agile lean approach has its unique steps.
Lean thinking has seven principlesEliminate Waste
Amplify learning
Decide as late as possible
Deliver as fast as possible
Empower the team
Build integrity in
See the whole.
The are other approaches that also know in the agile arena such as
Extreme Programming (XP)
Scrum
I think that this approach can be applied in Jordan very well, and many of us, most probably apply it without having identified their method as being Lean or Agile. The Lean approach applies best in environment when it is not possible to capture the business requirement of a certain business precisely and comprehensively at the start of the project. The agile approach, then suggests, that the team starts to do early rough releases and present the results to the client as soon as possible, then start enhancing and evolving both the requirement and the software application itself by introducing another iteration that includes the additional features resulting from the first release. (This complies with the Decide as late as possible and Deliver as fast as possible principles)
Friday, October 06, 2006
I am a bit confused, who is the terrorist
Sailor: I watched Marines kill Iraqi civilian CNN Sept 6th
CAMP PENDLETON, California (AP) -- A Navy corpsman testified Friday that Marines in his patrol seized an Iraqi civilian from his home, threw him into a hole and put at least 10 bullets in his head after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent.
"I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos.
Bacos, a medic who had been on patrol with the squad, was charged along with seven Marines in the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad last spring in the town of Hamdaniya. But Bacos struck a deal with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy and agreed to testify Friday at his court-martial about what he saw.
"I knew what we were doing was wrong," Bacos testified. "I knew we were doing something wrong and I tried to say something."
Bacos, 21, was the first of the servicemen to be court-martialed. The seven others could get up to life in prison.
Prosecutors have said that the servicemen killed Awad out of frustration and then planted an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel by the body to make it look as if he had been caught digging a hole for a roadside bomb.
Bacos testified that the squad entered Hamdaniya on April 26 while searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times, then released. Squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins was "just mad that we kept letting him go and he was a known terrorist," Bacos said.
The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad, according to the testimony.
Bacos said the squad had intended to get someone else if they did not capture the insurgent, then stage a firefight to make it appear they had found an Iraqi planting a roadside bomb.
Awad, 52, was taken from the home with his feet and hands bound, then placed in a hole, Bacos said. Bacos said he asked the Marines to let Awad go, but Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda told him in crude terms that he was being weak and should stop protesting.
Bacos said Hutchins fired three rounds into the man's head, then Cpl. Trent Thomas fired seven to 10 more rounds into his head.
Bacos said Hutchins called in to a command center and reported the squad had seen a man digging a hole and wanted permission to fire at him.
Bacos was recently transferred from Camp Pendleton, where the Marines have been held, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for his own safety.
Military prosecutors had charged Bacos under the theory that he did nothing to stop the alleged crime. In return for his testimony, murder charges and other counts against him were dropped. He was scheduled to be sentenced later Friday.
Along with Magincalda, Hutchins and Thomas, the other Marines charged are: Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Pfc. John J. Jodka, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., and Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington.
David Brahms, Pennington's lawyer, said Bacos' account will be subjected to intense scrutiny. "This is just one guy who is going to tell the story as he sees it," Brahms said.
Former Army prosecutor Tom Umberg suggested that others might follow Bacos' lead and strike similar plea bargains.
"You don't want to be the last guy standing. The first guy gets the best deal," he said.
CAMP PENDLETON, California (AP) -- A Navy corpsman testified Friday that Marines in his patrol seized an Iraqi civilian from his home, threw him into a hole and put at least 10 bullets in his head after growing frustrated in their search for an insurgent.
"I was shocked and I felt sick to my stomach," said Petty Officer 3rd Class Melson J. Bacos.
Bacos, a medic who had been on patrol with the squad, was charged along with seven Marines in the slaying of Hashim Ibrahim Awad last spring in the town of Hamdaniya. But Bacos struck a deal with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and conspiracy and agreed to testify Friday at his court-martial about what he saw.
"I knew what we were doing was wrong," Bacos testified. "I knew we were doing something wrong and I tried to say something."
Bacos, 21, was the first of the servicemen to be court-martialed. The seven others could get up to life in prison.
Prosecutors have said that the servicemen killed Awad out of frustration and then planted an AK-47 assault rifle and a shovel by the body to make it look as if he had been caught digging a hole for a roadside bomb.
Bacos testified that the squad entered Hamdaniya on April 26 while searching for a known insurgent who had been captured three times, then released. Squad leader Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins was "just mad that we kept letting him go and he was a known terrorist," Bacos said.
The group approached a house where the insurgent was believed to be hiding, but when someone inside woke up, the Marines instead went to another home and grabbed Awad, according to the testimony.
Bacos said the squad had intended to get someone else if they did not capture the insurgent, then stage a firefight to make it appear they had found an Iraqi planting a roadside bomb.
Awad, 52, was taken from the home with his feet and hands bound, then placed in a hole, Bacos said. Bacos said he asked the Marines to let Awad go, but Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda told him in crude terms that he was being weak and should stop protesting.
Bacos said Hutchins fired three rounds into the man's head, then Cpl. Trent Thomas fired seven to 10 more rounds into his head.
Bacos said Hutchins called in to a command center and reported the squad had seen a man digging a hole and wanted permission to fire at him.
Bacos was recently transferred from Camp Pendleton, where the Marines have been held, to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar for his own safety.
Military prosecutors had charged Bacos under the theory that he did nothing to stop the alleged crime. In return for his testimony, murder charges and other counts against him were dropped. He was scheduled to be sentenced later Friday.
Along with Magincalda, Hutchins and Thomas, the other Marines charged are: Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson, Pfc. John J. Jodka, Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr., and Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington.
David Brahms, Pennington's lawyer, said Bacos' account will be subjected to intense scrutiny. "This is just one guy who is going to tell the story as he sees it," Brahms said.
Former Army prosecutor Tom Umberg suggested that others might follow Bacos' lead and strike similar plea bargains.
"You don't want to be the last guy standing. The first guy gets the best deal," he said.
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