Open Source Research Group

Besuchen Sie die DATEV eG auf der CeBIT 2012!

Dirk Riehle — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:09:36 +0000

Die DATEV eG ist einer der besten Arbeitgeber in Nürnberg und Umgebung. Sie haben vielleicht das Engagement der DATEV in unserer Lehre wahrgenommen (User Experience Design: Ulf Schubert, Software-Architektur: Victor Sauermann). Die DATEV lädt Sie ein, sie auf der CeBIT 2012 näher kennenzulernen. . . . → Read More: Besuchen Sie die DATEV eG auf der CeBIT 2012!

Best of OSR Group 2011 and Before

Dirk Riehle — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:30:58 +0000

Teaching

The AMOS Project (AMOS)

The AMOS project is our annual lab course used to teach agile methods and open source. It is also our incubator for new software startups, see the AMOS project concept (in German).

Product Management (PROD)

Product management is a key business function of software vendors, yet it is rarely taught in school. We are taking a fresh new start with Harvard Business School-type cases (in German).

Engineering Tools Research

End-user Programming with Sweble

We take a wiki-style approach to end-user programming, trying to help those people who earn their living by programming, yet have no or little formal programming education. See the Sweble project.

Software Forge

Anyone engaged with open source needs a software forge. Whether in-house as part of Inner Source or facing the public, to enrich one’s ecosystem, we are trying to help you do it better.

Engineering Process Research

Inner Source

Large software organizations can improve code reuse and knowledge sharing by adding bottom-up open source practices to top-down project management. We have done it. And keep doing it.

Governance / Compliance

We identified risks of using open source in closed source products and are developing a handbook of best practices for open source governance. We work with Bearing Point and others on this.

Business Model Research

Single-Vendor Open Source

How did MySQL get to a $1B valuation? We are analysing best practices of dual-licensing and open core models and are capturing them as part of a handbook for future use.

Open Source Distributors

How are SUSE and Red Hat doing it? We analyse the production process of distributors on many dimensions, for example, how to manage open source investments.

Developer Foundations

Apache and Eclipse are two examples of successful open source developer foundations. But there are many more in industry verticals, for example. Just how to get it right? (In German.)

User Foundations

IT User Foundations are consortia of IT user firms who join forces to sponsor the development of non-competitively differentiating software components. This is the hot topic of 2012. Stay tuned!

Policy Implications

Developer Careers

We have long talked about how the world changes for open source software developers. A country like Germany would benefit from having more committers to key open source software projects.

Promotion of Thorsten Edelhäußer

Dirk Riehle — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:09:07 +0000

Today, Thorsten Edelhäußer passed his Ph.D. exam and thesis defense. Congratulations, Dr. Edelhäußer! Below, please find some photo impressions from the proceedings and the ensuing celebrations!

Impressions from Victor Sauermann’s Talk on “Die Rolle des Softwarearchitekten” in ARCH

Dirk Riehle — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:44:43 +0000

Today, Victor Sauermann of DATEV eG lectured on the role and responsibilities of a software architect. Herr Sauermann is a lead architect at DATEV eG, the largest German provider of tax and accounting software. The class, our architecture seminar, was well attended and we listened and discussed intently. Below, please find some photo impressions. Thank you, Victor, for teaching us!

Impressions from @ulfschubert’s Talk on User Experience Design

Dirk Riehle — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 14:02:38 +0000

Today, Ulf Schubert, leader of DATEV’s User Experience Design group, lectured about, well, User Experience Design (UXD). Below, please find some photo impressions. Thank you, Ulf, for teaching us! And we are hoping for more UXD teaching!

Why We Teach The Way We Do

Dirk Riehle — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:48:12 +0000

Today, a colleague confided in me:

“Dirk, if I were a student, I wouldn’t attend your classes. I never liked to speak up and would rather cram for an exam at the end of the semester rather than open my mouth in class.”

Well, that was quite the bummer. However:

We teach to make the most of your time: To achieve the highest possible learning in the shortest amount of time. Your (student) time is precious, and so is ours. For that, we encourage active class participation. To make this clear, parts of your grades depend on that participation.

Look at the following increasing steps of class engagement:

Showing up
Above + listening to the lecturer
Above + thinking about what you are hearing
Above + verbalizing your thoughts (speaking up)
Above + answering to someone else’s thoughts
Above + collaborating to solve a problem

Make a guess, where you are learning the most, and where your learning time is spent most effectively?

Our best teaching takes place in lab courses. We alternate between Nailing your Thesis, a research lab course, and The AMOS Project, a software development lab course. Beyond that, we teach in seminars, where we have guided discussions around student presentations. Only after that, we do plain lectures.

Look at how your time is spent. In a lab course, you actively engage in a defined weekly rhythm. At the end of the semester, you are done. No cramming for exams, of which there are many in parallel. No short-term learning, to be forgotten once the exam is over. We (intend to) create long-term practical knowledge and know-how.

So, that’s it. There is much more to be said, but I’ll leave it like this. If you are afraid of speaking up in class, ask your friends of how bad it really is. We don’t bite, we make it easy. And we don’t look kindly at people who talk to much. One good comment in class is wholly sufficient for the whole session. Once you got the hang of it, it is not only easy, but gratifying to do.

Impressions from @acbullinger and Uta Renken’s Social Research Collaboration Talk in Nailing your Thesis

Dirk Riehle — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:27:16 +0000

Today, Angelika C. Bullinger and Uta Renken lectured in Nailing your Thesis (NYT), our research lab course. They presented a recent research paper of theirs; topically fitting, it was on social research networks and collaboration between scientists. The initial presentation was followed by an in-depth discussion of research method and results as well as the research and paper writing process. Please find some photo impressions below. Thank you, Frau Bullinger and Renken, for teaching us!

Impressions from @WolfgangKeller’s Talk on Enterprise Architecture Management

Dirk Riehle — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:55:34 +0000

Today, Wolfgang Keller of Object Architects lectured in ARCH on Enterprise Architecture Management. Below, please find some photo impressions as well as some tweets. Thank you, Wolfgang, for teaching us!

EAM deals with the portfolio of business solution architectures from @wolfgangkeller
Small applications (revenue) don’t need IT support from @wolfgangkeller
Costs in IT: 60-70% in technical arch/infra, only 30-40% in apps from @wolfgangkeller
EAM = business arch + apps arch + tech. architecture, data centers from @wolfgangkeller
Don’t assume you can functionally derive architecture from strategy from @wolfgangkeller
All layers from infra up to strategy evolve by themselves, interact from @wolfgangkeller
EAM = system of systems, ultra-large scale systems, metaphor of a metropolis from @wolfgangkeller
Job of the EAM architect: compliance, security, risk mgmt, architecture in the large from @wolfgangkeller
EAM architects need global compliance awareness, in particular to US laws e.g. SOX from @wolfgangkeller

SS 2012 Courses Online in StudOn

Dirk Riehle — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 08:30:00 +0000

Our two main courses for SS 2012 are:

The AMOS Project (AMOS), StudOn, impressions from prior instances
Product Management (PROD), StudOn, impressions from prior instances

You can now register . . . → Read More: SS 2012 Courses Online in StudOn

Upcoming Industry Talk: Die Rolle des Software-Architekten by Victor Sauermann of DATEV eG

Dirk Riehle — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:27:08 +0000

We will host an industry talk (free and open to the public)

by: Victor Sauermann, DATEV eG
about: Die Rolle des Software-Architekten (*)
on: Jan 30, 2012, 10:00 Uhr
at: Rm 04.150, Martensstr. 3 (“blaues Hochhaus”)
as part of: ARCH

Abstract: ”The bravest are surely those who have the clearest vision of what is before them, glory and danger alike, and yet notwithstanding, go out to meet it.” (Thucydides) Dies beschreibt die Aufgabe eines Architekten am besten. Denn geht es bei größeren Software Projekten um Qualität spricht man von Software-Architekturen. Und diese werden von Architekten entworfen, gepflegt, kommuniziert, gegebenenfalls auch verteidigt und natürlich verantwortet. In diesem Vortrag soll die Signifikanz der Software-Architektur im Allgemeinen und die damit verbundenen Aufgaben des Architekten im Speziellen klargestellt werden.

Speaker: Victor Sauermann ist Senior Software Architect bei der DATEV eG in Nürnberg. Zu seinen Aufgabengebieten gehören u.a. der Entwurf und die Bewertung von Architekturen. Aber vor allem die Etablierung und das Vorantreiben einer Referenzarchitektur innerhalb der Entwicklung bei der DATEV eG. Bevor er bei der DATEV eG begann, arbeitete er mehrere Jahre bei der Siemens AG in Erlangen und entwickelte sich vom reinen Software Entwickler und Netzwerk Administrator bis hin zum Software Architekten und Projektleiter.

(*) … oder der Software-Architektin