Lean book review: Lean Architecture and Lean from the Trenches

Quick review of one of two technical/project management books I read lately.

First is "Lean Architecture" by James Coplien.

Lean Architecture: for Agile Software Development

Coplien is someone I have great respect for, I have listened to a few lectures by him and read several articles. He definitely seems very knowledgeable on the subject and good in panel debates against other self entitled agilistas. Some people may recognise him for his forword in the Clean Code book by Uncle Bob. So I was looking forward to read this book.

However this book was not great. It is very wordy and repetitive. The book keeps going of on a tangent about the history of agile and lean, which while nice is not why I bought the book. Only in the last few chapters does it actually get to the point of the book, the DCI architecture style.

If you want to learn about DCI (Data, Context & Interaction) then it may be the book for you, especially if you want to pick up history of The Toyota Way, Lean and Agile. Otherwise don't bother.

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Another book I read is "Lean from the Trenches" by Henrik Kniberg.

Lean from the Trenches: Managing Large-Scale Projects with Kanban

Having previously read two of his other books I was expecting a helpful book. ("Kanban and Scrum - making the most of both" & "Scrum and XP from the Trenches"). Kniberg is very much a Kanban man so I was interested in his Lean views.

And this book I thought was very good. He adopts a reflection of a large scale project for the Police in Sweden, and the aspects they learned by adopting lean practices as they went along. And then in later chapters more detailed reflections and background on subject matters. (I suspect the authoring style leads readers to think it was all accidentally knowledge gained by the team along the way, but knowing his previous experience I am sure he nudged most in the right direction).

His writing style and diagrams are very easy to follow and I finished the book in a few days read on the commute, and was very inspired. Highly recommended.

Review of Groovy for Domain-Specific Languages

I recently read the Groovy for Domain-Specific-Languages book by Fergal Dearle. The book essentially covers what Groovy is, what DSL is and how to apply Groovy to incorporate a DSL for your applications.

After reading the book I have to agree that if you intend to create a DSL, which we basically do unintentionally all the time, then Groovy can fulfil these requirements with ease and simplicity.

The book is a easy to read book with clear text, syntax and examples without being too thick and not seem a like a javadoc of information overload. It is rather quick to read through due to the nice flow. The layout do make it a nice reference for myself in the future as it is laid out clearly and contains a large variety of working examples.

The book starts of with first explaining the concepts of what DSL is, what it means in terms of computer science history and how we already use them.

It then goes on to explain in clear but complete detail what Groovy is and does. Actually these chapters are a good introduction to Groovy book in themselves.

Dearle then procedes to explain the main technologies built on top or as part of Groovy such as the web framework: Grails, the Groovy Ant builder scripting tool: Gant, Groovy & Grails ORM database mapper: Gorm, BDD frameworks and similar technologies. This it does in enough detail so that you have a good idea what they do and can experiment with yourself afterwards.

The last half of the book Dearle then brings Groovy and the related technologies back into the DSL fold and explains why and how Groovy is excellent for DSL writing. E.g: Groovy’s dynamic nature, closures, or the multitude of “Builders” which basically are DSLs outright.

These chapters of the book has a large set of basically Cook Book examples of Groovy DSL writing, builders and finishes with how to integrate Groovy with Spring, XML, Ant and existing Java applications.

I was already aware of Groovy’s suitability as a DSL language, but I am now even more convinced of its power, ease and fit as a or rather the DSL. If you would like to have a peak at the book there is a free chapter, or why not buy the book? ( amazon.co.uk, amazon.com, Packt)

(Note: this book was also reviewed on slashdot this summer)

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 1 month review

I have had my Sony Ericsson Xperia X10i for about a month now, and thought I could have a more reflected review than perhaps the one I nearly wrote just after I received it.

My previous phone was an Apple iPhone 3GS, so I can compare the X10 to maybe its more glamorous competitor. I will also compare it to my previous phones, such as the Nokia N95 8GB and other Android based phones I know.


In brief, what is the Xperia X10?
It is Sony Ericsson's first Android based mobile phone.

Key features:

• 4" touch screen with no keyboard


• 8.1 mp camera with LED light and face recognition


• 1GB memory, includes an 8GB SD card


• Sony Ericsson's own Rachael GUI on top of Android 1.6


• Includes Sony Ericsson's TimeScape app for social network and communication overview


• Includes Sony Ericsson's MediaScape, PlayNow and TrackID apps

Its Good points (Pros)

It is Android based. So you are much more in control of your own phone compared to e.g. the iPhone. Background apps are no problem etc.

The looks.
It is a very good looking phone. It also feels good for such a large screen. Its not bulky in your pocket. Unlike my N95! The screen is also very clear and bright.


The camera is excellent.
The iPhone camera was quite rubbish in comparison.
The X10's photos are very clear.

The N95 5MB and good lens was good, but the X10 is better.

The camera button which N95 did also have which iPhone does not have is a significant benefit. No more fidling around trying to take photos while trying to find the button on the screen with your other hand.


MediaScape is really usefull.
Android stock software has no proper media apps. But being a Sony derivative company, the X10 shines in this department. Not quite the full iPhone/iTunes interaction but Im not complaining, The PlayNow store works well. MediaScape integrates well with Picasa's online photo storage, but not flickr. Some improvements can be made, but media wise the X10 is excellent.


The GUI interface that SE has on top of Android code named Rachael works really well. It is only a thin layer on top of Android but is more slick and consistant. It integrates well with menu options and contact list etc. So well you are not really aware it is there, but makes the X10 stand out compared to a stock Android system.


The MW600 bluetooth stereo headset that comes with the phone (as well as a good pair of wired headsets) is really good. It has built in FM radio as well.

Its bad points (Cons)

TimeScape does not scale well.
It is a really good demo app. But once you start using it in real life it fails miserably. It just is not designed for people on Facebook or Twitter with more than a couple of friends (ie most people). Im no stalker, I perhaps follow 100-200 on both Twitter and Facebook which is less than most, but that already makes the TimeScape interface unusuable, just a big motion blurred scroll list. Some future updates could fix this. Such as limiting to certain Twitter lists, and facebook groups of friends for example.


The Android market, the app store on these devices is not great compared to the Apple app store.

You can't buy any apps if you live in Scandinavia which is ridicoulous. So we are limited to free ones only.

I am not sure about the quality or security of many of these, most seem like raw copies of others. There is no regional information, so the list is e.g. italian metro system info or loads of US bank apps for example, which is of no interest to me. There is few ways to find apps of interest to me, or new apps that is well liked etc.

There are some good apps though, and Ill list some in another post.


Android 1.6
The phone ships with Android 1.6 which is an outdated Android version. SE have shot themselves a little in the foot with this error and have been laughed at in the press regarding this. However I don't think it is big issue. If you are not aware of the improvements in 2.0, 2.1 etc then it is not a problem.

However they do need to roll out an upgrade. SE have announced upgrades later on this year. Which seems very slow to me. If this is how they will delay future updates as well then I slightly concerned about their policy.



No multitouch
Partly because old Android version, but apparently also because of hardware issues.
Not that big a deal for me. I don't like pinch and zoom, and tend to use my phone with one hand anyway. However I can see this is a big issue for other people.

Call quality
Call quality is fine, but some of the people say they can here themselves. Solved by lowering my volume slightly but should have been cancelled out by the microphone instead.

Battery life

The biggest minus of the X10 is the battery life.
In brief it sucks.
From a large screened touch smart phone I was not expecting miracles. But it is rubbish even compared to the iPhone.

With e.g. my N95 I charged it every 2 or 3 days.

With my iPhone I charged it every day, but even if I didn't it was still alive in the morning. Not great but acceptable.

With my Xperia X10 I have to charge it twice a day otherwise it is a dead brick in the morning.

Which is attrioucious. Initial exuberance and overuse will result in more battery drain, but now I am in a normal usage pattern and this should not be acceptable. Disabling all auto syncing, auto killing processes etc should make it last a long time, but does not.

Android does come with a nice battery analyses app. And on most large screened smartphones it is the display that kills the battery. But on the X10 the display is 3-4%, while "Phone idle" takes ~50% and "Cell standby" taks 45%!! Two processes I would not expect to kill my phone. (Maybe cell standby if I was in a bad reception area, but Im not.)


Conclusion

If the battery problem gets sorted I would recommmend it to everyone. I do love the phone, but it just frustrating that it is often dead or dying.

If you are of a technology background or gadget fan then it is better than an iPhone.

However if all you want is a swish looking touch smart phone then iPhone's consistent well polished interface and apps are better.

If you still have a Nokia or similar, upgrade now!