Tuesday, January 31, 2006

The Un-War President

Tonight, in his State of the Union speech, I anticipate President George W. Bush, like he has on many occasions, will refer to himself as a war president. It's just not true. America is not in a state of war.

Abraham Lincoln was a war president. So, too, were Woodrow Wilson and FDR. But in 2006, America isn't actually in a state of war.

Section 8 in Article I of the U.S. Constitution states that "Congress shall have the power to declare War." No such declaration has occurred regarding Iraq or the war on terror.

My father fought in World War II. My grandfather fought in World War I. Those were real wars. I, personally, was successful in evading the draft that would have sent me to Viet Nam. As far as I'm concerned, though, Viet Nam, like Korea before it, weren't real wars. They were police actions. Real wars are fought to be won -- at any cost.

Today's war on terror is a sad joke. That's not to imply that Osama bin Laden and Al Qaida are not real enemies. But the war on terrorism is not a real war since the Pentagon has proven itself incapable of actually engaging Al Qaida or capturing Osama bin Laden.

Real wars are not fought by all volunteer armies. If this were a real war the government would be selling War Bonds, not cutting taxes while running the deficit up over $8 trillion. If this were a real war we would have had enough troops on the ground in Iraq to have prevented the looting that started the insurgency. If this were a real war we'd have shut down Al Jazeera in a heartbeat and found out where all those videotapes are coming from.

This is a war where, as Thomas Friedman of the N.Y. Times has frequently pointed out, American citizens are essentially paying for both sides of the conflict. With oil hovering close to $70 per barrel, Exxon just reported obscene annual profits of $36.13 billion. At those prices, can you imagine just how much Arab and Persian oil money is being funneled to those fighters killing American soldiers?

President Bush now asserts that Congress cannot impede his inherent powers as Commander in Chief granted in Section 2 of Article II of the Constitution. Bush campaigns that he has an unrestricted right to conduct warrantless domestic spying, even though the the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) forbids it. The claim that Congress authorized spying on Americans after 9/11 is preposterous. In FISA, Congress carefully balanced the liberties protected in the Bill of Rights against the need for surveillance of foreign enemies. Likewise, the administration brazenly asserts that the president possesses the authority to mistreat detainees, even after signing a law barring torture. To argue that Congress cannot place any limits on the president's ability to conduct a war on terror is absurd. I am very afraid for the state of our union when the president can ignore a statute that deals with the core liberties of American citizens.

Personally, even though I have two children of draftable age, I say if we're going to fight a real war then let's fight a real war. Let's go kick some ass, catch or kill Osama bin Laden, and destroy Al Qaida. If 9/11 was an act of war, then let's fight it like a real war. Otherwise, let's treat 9/11 as a horrific crime to be met with criminal justice. But, no more half-assed Viet Nam-like wars where U.S. soldiers die so that America's military industrial complex can get rich.

Application and/or Practice of Architectural Principles

The third grouping of topics included within the Architecture 'Resources' Repository concentrates its focus on the application and/or practice of architectural principles. Represented by the four blue books located on the left-hand side of the bottom shelf, these sub-categories include:
  • Industry Standards

  • Implementations

  • Products

  • Consulting Firms


Perhaps the most important Industry Standard related to IT Architecture is IEEE 1471, a specification that addresses the activities related to the creation, analysis, and sustainment of architectures, and the recording of such architectures in terms of architectural descriptions.

Under the category labeled Implementations, my hope and dream is that real-world IT architects will open up their treasure chests of knowledge and experience and share with others their documented description of real solutions, referencing the tools and methodologies they used to be successful. Obviously, accomplishing this goal depends on the voluntary involvement and contribution by practitioners such as members of IASA (International Association of Software Architects).

The third and fourth sub-categories listed under Application and/or Practice specify Products and Consulting Firms. I will try to provide objective descriptions void of hype and marketing fluff. It's imperative, however, that people submit the names of tools and consultancies. If visitors to the Architecture 'Resources' Repository express an interest, I could possibly include an evaluation grading feature similar to the functionality offered in ITscout.

Monday, January 30, 2006

Architectural Concepts

One of the primary goals of the Architecture 'Resources' Repository is to locate, qualify, sort, coordinate, and explain available information regarding general concepts relevant to IT architects. These are represented by the five red books located on the right-hand side of the top shelf.

General concepts of IT Architecture include:
  • Frameworks

  • Patterns

  • Methodologies

  • Governance


Frameworks are tools which can be used for developing a broad range of different architectures. Frameworks describe a method for designing an information system in terms of a set of building blocks, and for showing how the building blocks fit together. It contains a set of tools and provides a common vocabulary. It also includes a list of recommended standards and compliant products that can be used to implement the building blocks. Patterns are solutions to common problems. The goal of architectural patterns is to create a body of literature to help architects resolve recurring problems. An architecture methodology refers to the set of processes a company uses to generate and deliver architectures. Architecture governance is the process used to manage architecture variance over time. Effective IT governance provides a structure for ensuring that IT supports business goals, maximizes IT investments, and appropriately manages IT related risks and opportunities.

Other concepts include such additional topics as:
  • Architectural Styles

  • Architectural Viewpoints

  • Personas/Roles


Sunday, January 29, 2006

The Lying Society

From presidents lying to lobbyists bribing to everyday people cheating on taxes, dishonesty has become the norm in today's society. Within our culture, dishonesty is promoted everywhere -- in interpersonal relations, in our work, in our everyday affairs, in our politics. Consider the new Medicare prescription drug benefit that's pitched as "keeping our promise to seniors," or the doublespeak of allowing greater industrial pollution through the "Clear Skies" initiative.

It seems that the only time anyone, especially public officials, will admit to a mistake is when it's expedient to do so because there's no other recourse. This tendency to espouse honesty but practice dishonesty permeates life in America. Becoming inured to dishonesty, accepting it as normal, we increasingly accept the notion that the only reason not to do something is the possibility of getting caught.

As we become more and more set against each other, our trust and mutual reliance increasingly erodes. We feel we cannot count on anyone else but ourselves, and this creates profound feelings of alienation and insecurity. How can we stop lying? By somehow replacing our society's compulsive obsession with acquiring money and possessions -- the pursuit of material success -- with a newfound commitment to community and connectedness.

Saturday, January 28, 2006

Architecture Types

IT Architecture is comprised of three different types of architecture:

  1. Enterprise Architecture: global

  2. Cross-Domain Architectures: cross-functional or cross-organizational

  3. Software Architecture: project-centric

These are represented by the three yellow books horizontally placed on the left side of the top shelf.
  • Enterprise Architecture (global) -- consists of:
    • Business Architecture
      • processes
      • workflows
    • Data Architecture
      • entities or "things"
      • relationships
      • metadata
    • Application Architecture
      • partitioning
      • integration
    • Technology Architecture
      • infrastructure -- foundation
      • applications -- layered on top of infrastructure
        • built -- developed
        • bought -- purchased
      • business intelligence -- layered on top of applications

  • Cross-Domain Architectures
    • cross-functional or cross-organizational
    • domain specific -- e.g.,
      • security architecture
      • network architecture
      • "customer" architecture

  • Software Architecture
    • project-centric
    • application specific -- e.g.,
      • accounts payable
      • order entry
      • sales management

Friday, January 27, 2006

Angels and Demons -- Science versus Religion

Dan Brown, author of the unputdownable novel The Da Vinci Code, is an exhilaratingly brilliant writer. That book's prequel, Angels and Demons, included a riveting monologue that I found absolutely fascinating. I'd like to share an edited excerpt with you.

In this fictional story, the Vatican's carmerlengo, the head of the Sacred College of Cardinals, supposedly presented the following to a worldwide television audience:
Medicine, electronic communications, space travel, genetic manipulation...these are the miracles about which we now tell our children. These are the miracles we herald as proof that science will bring us the answers. The ancient stories of immaculate conceptions, burning bushes, and parting seas are no longer relevant. God has become obsolete. Science how won the battle.

Science may have alleviated the miseries of disease and drudgery and provided an array of gadgetry for our entertainment and convenience, but it has left us in a world without wonder. Our sunsets have been reduced to wavelengths and frequencies. The complexities of the universe have been shredded into mathematical equations. Even our self-worth as human beings has been destroyed. Science proclaims that Planet Earth and its inhabitants are a meaningless speck in the grand scheme. A cosmic accident. Even the technology that promises to unite us, divides us. Each of us is now electronically connected to the globe, and yet we feel utterly alone. We are bombarded with violence, division, fracture, and betrayal. Skepticism has become a virtue. Cynicism and demand for proof has become enlightened thought. Is it any wonder that humans now feel more depressed and defeated than they have at any point in human history? Does science hold anything sacred? Science looks for answers by probing our unborn fetuses. Science even presumes to rearrange our own DNA. It shatters God's world into smaller and smaller pieces in quest of meaning...and all it finds is more questions.

The ancient war between science and religion is over. Science has won. But it didn't win fairly. It has not won by providing answers. It has won by so radically reorienting our society that the truths we once saw as signposts now seem inapplicable. Religion cannot keep up. Scientific growth is exponential. It feeds on itself like a virus. Every new breakthrough opens doors for new breakthroughs. Mankind took thousands of years to progress from the wheel to the car. Yet only decades from the car into space. Now we measure scientific progress in weeks. We are spinning out of control. The rift between us grows deeper and deeper, and as religion is left behind, people find themselves in a spiritual void. We cry out for meaning. And believe me, we do cry out. We see UFO's, engage in channeling, spirit contact, out-of-body experiences, mindquests -- all these eccentric ideas have a scientific veneer, but they are unashamedly irrational. They are the desperate cry of the modern soul, lonely and tormented, crippled by its own enlightenment and its inability to accept meaning in anything removed from technology.

Science, you say, will save us. Science, I say, has destroyed us. Since the days of Galileo, the church has tried to slow the relentless march of science, sometimes with misguided means, but always with benevolent intention. Even so, the temptations are too great for man to resist. I warn you, look around yourselves. The promises of science have not been kept. Promises of efficiency and simplicity have bred nothing but pollution and chaos. We are a fractured and frantic species...moving down a path of destruction.

Who is this God science? Who is the God who offers his people power but no moral framework to tell you how to use that power? What kind of God gives a child fire but does not warn the child of its dangers? The language of science comes with no signposts about good and bad. Science textbooks tell us how to create a nuclear reaction, and yet they contain no chapter asking us if it is a good or bad idea.

To science, I say this. The church is tired. We are exhausted from trying to be your signposts. Our resources are drying up from our campaign to be the voice of balance as you plow blindly on in your quest for smaller chips and larger profits. We ask not why you will not govern yourselves, but how can you? Your world moves so fast that if you stop even for an instant to consider the implications of your actions, someone more efficient will whip past you in a blur. So you move on. You proliferate weapons of mass destruction, but it is the Pope who travels the world beseeching leaders to use restraint. You clone living creatures, but it is the church reminding us to consider the moral implications of our actions. You encourage people to interact on phones, video screens, and computers, but it is the church who opens its doors and reminds us to commune in person as we were meant to do. You even murder unborn babies in the name of research that saves lives. Again, it is the church who points out the fallacy of this reasoning.

And all the while, you proclaim the church is ignorant. But who is more ignorant? The man who cannot define lightning, or the man who does not respect its awesome power? This church is reaching out to you. Reaching out to everyone. And yet the more we reach, the more you push us away. Show me proof there is a God, you say. I say use your telescopes to look to the heavens, and tell me how there could not be a God! You ask what does God look like. I say, where did that question come from? The answers are one and the same. Do you not see God in your science? How can you miss Him! You proclaim that even the slightest change in the force of gravity or the weight of an atom would have rendered our universe a lifeless mist rather that our magnificent sea of heavenly bodies, and yet you fail to see God's hand in this? Is it really so much easier to believe that we simply chose the right card from a deck of billions? Have we become so spiritually bankrupt that we would rather believe in mathematical impossibility than in a power greater than us?

Whether or not you believe in God, you must believe this. When we as a species abandon our trust in the power greater than us, we abandon our sense of accountability. Faith...all faiths...are admonitions that there is something we cannot understand, something to which we are accountable... With faith we are accountable to each other, to ourselves, and to a higher truth. If the outside world could see this church as I do...looking beyond the ritual of these walls...they would see a modern miracle...a brotherhood of imperfect, simple souls wanting only to be a voice of compassion in a world spinning out of control.

Are we obsolete? Are these men dinosaurs? Am I? Does the world really need a voice for the poor, the weak, the oppressed, the unborn child? Do we really need souls like these who, though imperfect, spend their lives imploring each of us to read the signposts of morality and not lose our way?

We are perched on a precipice. None of us can afford to be apathetic. Whether you see this evil as Satan, corruption, or immorality...the dark force is alive and growing every day. Do not ignore it. The force, though mighty, is not invincible. Goodness can prevail. Listen to your hearts. Listen to God. Together we can step back from this abyss.

Thank you, Dan Brown, for your thought-provoking writings.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Refactoring the Architecture 'Resources' Repository

Back in April 2005, IASA, the International Association of Software Architects, formed a working group focused on software architectural "Foundations and Taxonomy" with the specific goal of charting the "largely uncharted" profession of IT architecture.

The IASA F&T Workgroup began its work by identifying valuable architectural resources that already exist from other organizations. Then, after locating, qualifying, sorting, coordinating, and explaining available information relevant to IT architects, the Workgroup's mission was to fill-in missing "holes" in the existing resources with new complementary contributions. The ultimate deliverable will provide the necessary foundation to achieve IASA's vision and meet the needs of the IASA membership.

As an IASA Fellow and member of the IASA F&T Workgroup team, I volunteered to build the Architecture 'Resources' Repository. In tackling this project, I adopted a strategy similar to the approach I took when I developed ITscout, a free web site that organizes and describes IT products. While products certainly play an important role in the field of architecture, there are many other vital and essential topics besides tools that need to be understood such as frameworks and patterns.

Please note that this implementation of the Architecture 'Resources' Repository IS NOT THE IASA TAXONOMY. The IASA Taxonomy being created by the F&T Workgroup is still a work-in-progress, a beta version of which will be introduced in London this coming April, 2006.

The Architecture 'Resources' Repository that I created can be accessed using the following login information:
URL:http://www.ITscout.org/ITguide
Username:architecture
Password:itguide
The visual "Flashmap" model used for organizing architecture information is a simple 2-shelf "bookcase" containing several sets of different colored books. After several months of experience with the original prototype, I decided to make some minor changes to the Flashmap graphic by refactoring the classification hierarchy. The new category tree is presented below. Feedback would be greatly appreciated.
Enterprise Architecture
Cross-Domain Architectures
Software Architecture

Frameworks
Patterns
Methodologies
Governance
Other Concepts

Industry Standards
Implementations
Products
Consulting Firms

Blogs
Web Sites
Articles
Books
Magazines
Events
Other Resources


The Victory of Hamas

Hamas has won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Legislative Council, the legislative branch of the Palestinian Authority. The mere fact that a truly fair election took place within the Arab World is itself a victory for democracy. On the other hand, the Nazis too came to power in Germany in 1932 via the ballot box. The real question now is how is the world going to respond to an Islamic extremist and terrorist body that seeks Israel's destruction and the establishment of a radical Islamist state for the Palestinians.
"We do not recognize the Israeli enemy, nor his right to be our neighbor, nor to stay (on the land), nor his ownership of any inch of land. . . . We are interested in restoring our full rights to return all the people of Palestine to the land of Palestine. Our principles are clear: Palestine is a land of Waqf (Islamic trust), which can not be given up."

Mahmoud Zahar, Hamas leader
January 17, 2006, Newsday
The world should make clear to the Palestinian people that a fanatic regime waging jihad and extending theocracy is unacceptable. Frankly, however, I seriously doubt we'll see such a response from the European, Russian, or U.N. members of the Middle East Road Map peace process.

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Lord Acton's Famous Quote

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

British historian Lord Acton (1834-1902) issued epic warnings that political power is the most serious threat to liberty. His most famous observation describes how morality lessens as power increases.

Republicans today control the House of Representatives, the Senate and the White House. They have absolute power, and it has corrupted their Party and led to a culture of corruption (think Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, David Safavian, Scooter Libby) and contempt for the law (think Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act). Not only has President George W. Bush authorized the National Security Agency to monitor international telephone calls and Internet communications of Americans without obtaining warrants, but now Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales claims the president doesn't even need Congress to extend the USA Patriot Act in order to keep using the law's investigative powers against terror suspects.

No one is arguing in favor of terrorists. But President Bush is not King George. The Executive Branch must obey the laws that Congress writes.

SOA and ANSI/SPARC 3-Schema
Applying Lessons from the Past

Some 30 years ago, back in 1975, the Database Management community experienced a great epiphany. It was called the ANSI/SPARC three-schema architecture referring to the Standards Planning and Requirements Committee (SPARC) of the American National Standards Institute Information Processing Systems (ANSI/X3) Committee.

The ANSI/SPARC architecture defined three separate schemas, or views, for describing data in a database:
  • External Schema or Application View
  • Conceptual Schema or Logical View
  • Internal Schema or Physical View

The Conceptual Schema describes data definitions unambiguously, independent of any particular data structure or data representation. Its intent is to represent an enterprise model of data and to support mappings from external to internal layers.

The External Schema describes the data corresponding to part of the conceptual schema as seen by one or more users or programs, as cast in a particular data model and as represented in a given programming language. Relational Views are a classic example of external schemas.

The Internal Schema describes how data is physically represented and structured on the storage media. In terms of data independence, the physical view completely separates a logical model from its underlying implementation.

Obviously, the ANSI/SPARC 3-Schema Data Model is now old hat. On the other hand, perhaps its fundamental principles ought to be applied to today's world of SOA services. One of the chief problems with services is imposing order around their definition and classification. After all, virtually anything with an API (Application Programming Interface) can be described as a service. That's pretty broad.

Imagine an enterprise or conceptual model of services. These would represent the core set of capabilities being offered and supported. The external view would then correspond to the usage of a service by an application or another service. The internal view would map to an underlying implementation of the service. While it's true that data and services are most definitely not the same, I believe both share the same basic need for a coherent way of organizing, classifying, and categorizing. The three schema approach has worked phenomenally well for data. I personally think it's worth considering for services too. As stand-up comedian Dennis Miller used to always say on his Saturday Night Live "Weekend Update" rants, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

I'm Baaaaaaack!!!!!

After a two month hiatus, I'm back once again publishing the ITscout Blog. Please forgive my absence. I just needed a break. Writing the blog was becoming an obsession. Everyday I compulsively checked the statistics reported by Site Meter, a counter that keeps track of the number of visitors to the ITscout Blog. I was driving myself crazy whenever the number wasn't growing. Most surprisingly, at least to me, was that readership increased during my absence. All I can imagine is that the work I was doing for IASA, creating the Architecture Resources Repository, stimulated new interest in the ITscout Blog.

Didn't everyone appreciate that I was spewing forth pearls of wisdom? Why weren't people beating a path to the ITscout Blog door? After all, who could possibly disagree with my metaphorical description of architecture as three rope-like bridges where each rope was actually three intertwined strands corresponding to 1) modeling, 2) documenting, and 3) communicating?



The bridge analogy is used to explain how architecture literally connects between business and technology by helping business people better understand technology while helping technology people better understand business. The reason why there are three bridges is to differentiate among 1) enterprise architecture, 2) software architecture, and 3) cross-domain subsets like security architecture.

Modeling is an essential element of architecture. There are many products that help architects create graphical models, such as Microsoft's Visio (Microsoft acquired Visio), Telelogic's System Architect (Telelogic acquired Popkin Software), and Troux's Metis (Troux acquired Computas). Most modeling tools support UML, the Unified Modeling Language.

Documenting refers to the process of populating models with content. Whereas models provide the schema or framework for describing architecture, the devil is in the details. That's where the process of documentation comes in. It involves collecting facts and properties and then organizing that information according to underlying models. For example, component-based architecture products like LogicLibrary's Logidex and Flashline's Registry can help map and discover software development assets. Similarly, various software and hardware asset management tools available from many different vendors can be used for performing software and hardware inventories, respectively. This information is invaluable for managing software licenses as well as financial accounting depreciation schedules.

Communicating is the final member of the architectural triplet. Designing models and capturing documentation is virtually worthless unless the information can be easily and readily accessed. My company, Flashmap Systems, specializes in organizing, visualizing, and communicating information targeted to both IT and business people. Flashmap's products are designed to deliver a simplicity and elegance that contribute to a good user experience. As Apple's iPod has clearly demonstrated, success in technology has less to do with features, and more to do with ease of use. Simplicity is the key to effective communication. The last thing any communication tool should do is confuse people. More features aren't better. Indeed, feature overload is the quickest path to confusion. Simplicity means getting something done in a minimal number of simple steps. If a communication product is complex, intimidating, or confusing, its chances for success are scant. Any feature that requires learning will only be adopted by a small fraction of users because, frankly, nobody has time to learn new features. The best communication tool is one that people don't even notice. Style and elegance are ultimately what determines the user experience.