Singapore TechDays was super awesome. From the keynotes to the breakouts, rooms were jam packed. Developers and IT Pros were super enthusiastic. We got good positive feedback from one and all. So all in all it was a great event. Now we have to top it up next time around.

I did a session on Windows Azure AppFabric where I talked about how we can use AppFabric as a platform for middleware services. Since I was running the Platform track, I had the honor to introduce myself . I think overall the talk went well, I had 4 code demoes to share and I covered Caching and Service Bus for the most  part. All the code in demoes was based on SDK samples that come with Windows Azure AppFabric v 1.5 and can be downloaded (along with the SDK) here: http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?displaylang=en&id=27421

Slides are available here.  https://skydrive.live.com/view.aspx?cid=29B42AB82635B61D&resid=29B42AB82635B61D%216431

You can also view them via Slide Share:

To learn more about AppFabric Service Bus please view the following sessions from Clemens Vasters.

I did some changes to the code (mostly configuration related) so that the demo does not prompt for namespace, issuer and token when connecting to the Azure AppFabric. Should you wish, you can download the code samples from here http://bit.ly/ohR1hO.

AppFabric · Azure · Cloud

If you are in Singapore and consider yourself a Developer or an IT Pro then this is the must attend event. We are covering number of topics from the Cloud Computing to the HTML5 and lots and lots in between. For a detailed agenda take a look here.

Amongst much more illustrious speakers you can find me here. If Cloud Computing is of interest to you and you want to know about some common messaging patterns for Middleware integration then I will definitely recommend you to attend my session.

How to Run Middleware in the Cloud? Story of Windows Azure AppFabric

Hammad Rajjoub, Architect Evangelist, Microsoft Singapore
IT Pro – Level 200

Don’t worry about the “IT-Pro” audience. This session is definitely aimed at Developers and Architects. Level will range between 200-300 depending on the folks we have in our conference room.

Also, i will be more than happy to discuss your integration scenarios offline as well.

AppFabric · Azure · Cloud · ServiceBus · Speaking

I have an exciting news to share with you all. I have joined Microsoft Singapore as an Architect Evangelist. Those who know me would testify on my passion for Architecture. I have written about it, I have presented on it at various conferences and more importantly in last 5-6 years I have spent a great deal of time working as System Architect, Solutions Architect and CTO at various organizations (including start-ups and fortune 500 companies).

Now, I am super excited to be working for Microsoft after being an MVP for 7+ years. I am also really glad to be working with smart people at Microsoft in general the Singapore SUB and DPE team in particular. I realize that this is an interesting time to be in this industry when the consumerization of IT is driving innovation, cloud is no longer a dream and its becoming reality, and enterprise (as well as business) architecture is (finally) gaining traction. I am very positive that this opportunity will give me a chance to work on things that I am really passionate about.

I have one more interesting news to share with you and i intend to blog about it in next couple of weeks. So stay tuned!

Wish me luck and expect much more (and hopefully exciting content and conversations) coming your way.

Architecture · Microsoft · Singapore

Last week I was invited to speak at Microsoft Singapore’s ALM briefing event. I covered some interesting areas around software development life cycle and software testing. The main focus was on highlighting development + QA + project management eco-system offered by Microsoft’s ALM offering.
Some of the interesting discussions were around ‘Non repro’ problem and the power of lab center and test center. I think audience loved the fact that now developers and testers can think collaboration rather than being at ‘war’ all the time because they are using the same tools!

Update:

To download the slide deck and demo videos click here

Microsoft; Singapore ; ALM

<DotNetBulls/>  successfully hosted PDC 2010 viewing party at Bank of America Merrill Lynch HarbourFront Center office in Singapore on 8th of November, 2010. This was a super awesome event that had a keynote delivered  by Ziriad Saibi (DPE, Director of Microsoft Singapore) that covered some of the key technologies (Mobile, Cloud, IE9, Silverlight etc.) highlighted during PDC 2010. This was followed by two break-out sessions. First one was on Windows Azure AppFabric hosted by Minfei Yan (Developer Evangelist at Microsoft Singapore. Hammad Rajjoub (Microsoft MVP and UG Lead) hosted the next session on Windows Server AppFabric. Highlights of PDC 2010, including Steve Ballmer’s key note were played after the breakouts. After this floor was opened up for questions and audience engaged with speakers and asked technical questions. Veerasivanantham Paramasivam of Bank Of America Merrill Lynch was the lucky draw winner for the ‘Xbox 360 – Guitar Hero Bundle!’. After the event dinner was served which everyone thoroughly enjoyed!

And here;s the one from Ziriad..

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Just a quick note that I will be presenting Windows Server AppFabric at a Microsoft PDC Local Launch Event (https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032464044&Culture=en-SG).  In fact I will be co-hosting this talk with Ming Fei (@mingfeiy) of Microsoft Singapore’s DPE team.

If you are interested in attending this pls feel free to give me a shout @hammadrajjoub on twitter.

I will post the slide deck some times next week.

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Here is the slide deck from my yesterday’s presentationat TechEd.

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I just quickly wanted to write down a brief introduction to my ‘Combating Software Entropy‘ at Tech-Ed Middle East 2010

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So here’s the second part of the Tech-Ed Middle East Series. I have some really exciting updates for all of you.

Great Speakers:-
In my last post i shared an exciting speaker lineup with you. Guess what, the best just got better. Now we have added Eric Rudder, Somasegar and Scott Hanselman’s to make this a stellar lineup for first ever Tech Ed Middle East event.

Eric, Soma and Scott all are big names and I expect their sessions to be jam packed. If you are coming to the event (and why shouldn’t you) then you should be looking at the agenda and organizing your sessions as soon as possible.
You can also take a look at running order of the event here.

Great Content:-
There are 96 sessions distributed under 18 tracks. Mix this with partner sessions and instructor led labs and you have a wealth of great technical content to choose from.Look out for some great keynotes and break out sessions.

Great Fun:-
Geeks want to have fun!

Here are couple of pointers that I would like to share with you all:-

Day 1: 1st March 2010
A day full of technical sessions will lead towards fun filled evening. In the evening, welcome reception will make way for some local cultural entertainment. This I am sure will dazzle visiting delegates.

To learn more visit these links:-
http://www.dubaiculture.ae/en/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Kn3k0_tWjw

Day 2: 2nd March 2010
On the eve of Day 2, all the delegates will be invited to attend a party on the beach. Party will be divided in to two different areas:
- Chill out Zone
- Arabic Zone

There will be some fun filled entertainment to go along and i am not going to spoil the surprise right now. However i will be tweeting some factoids on official Tech Ed Twitter account.

That’s its for now, look out for couple of more exciting posts on Tech-Ed. Feel free to ask if you have any specific questions I would love to answer them.

Edit 1: Fixed the event dates.

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Last week I was invited by @RolfEleveld to participate in an Agile development discussion for his user group (TechiesUG) event. It was fun sitting with a bunch of geeks and having an open discussion on what is Agile development and how to convince stake holders (including customers/senior managers) to adapt to it. During the discussion following questions were raised (specially by ZubairDotNet)…

- Which one is the best Agile APPROACH?
- How often should we do Code Reviews, Does it slow you down?
- How does Agile work for Consultancy scenarios?
- What if the client is not part of the team, who acts as a proxy in Agile team?
- Whats the role of an Architect in an Agile team?
- How does estimation work in an Agile practice?

Before I move on to answering these questions, to set the context right, i would like to bring your attention to “The Agile Manifesto“, it says:

• Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

  Working software over comprehensive documentation

  Customer collaboration over contract negotiation

  Responding to change over following a plan

Now let me try and answer these questions, one by one:-

1- Which one is the best Agile APPROACH?
There are a bunch of available methodologies:-
Scrum
Extreme Programming (XP)
Agile Unified Process (AUP)
DSDM
Essential Unified Process (EssUP)
Feature Driven Development (FDD)
Open Unified Process (OpenUP)
Lean software development
etc.

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