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Markus,
Thank you for the touching introduction and doing the spade work for me, Jason and the coming generations. You have sparked a new interest and I intend to flame it into a (raging) fire.
All,
Thanks for trusting me with the presidency - I will try my best in executing the responsibilities that come with the trust. Jason is a colleague and a friend that I have known for a few years and have quite a few intersecting interests. I look forward to working with him, especially he exhibits skills that are complementary to mine.
Markus encouraged everybody to participate in some form or the other - I would like to elaborate on that aspect. OTUG was founded by Tom Evans and Dave West out of necessity - a need to have local touchpoints to engage in dialog to further an understanding of a deep subject - Object Orientation (OO) at that time - 1991. As the languages and tooling matured, OO became mainstream. As more books, tutorials started getting available and the internet became available, OTUG became a community for people interested in preserving the craft and beauty of OO that was being lost in the flood.
OO reigned supreme for a while passing its memes through various vehicles like Smalltalk then Java , C# and the likes. Be it the front-end, middleware or persistence, OO technology played a central role.
Enter Google, Web x.0 and the power started getting distributed from a server and desktop-centric ( using OO centric world) to a more resource-centric world - more computations are happening in the client side as well as in the back-end (the cloud) . The mix of languages , the paradigms, the people are much, much more heterogenous and numerous.
The wave continues. In this new world, OO and its craftsmen have to co-exist with other alien ways of programming The environment and market conditions have changed; the landscape has changed. As OO practitioners, we have to adapt and embrace. We are at an interesting point - if we continue to isolate ourselves and sit on the ivory tower of OO, the world might brush us by. But when we look outside , the sight is turbulent and scary . I think, as a community rooted in OO, we have a problem: We are sitting right on the edge of chaos. It is time to get together again to create order.
But every problem is an opportunity. It is this bright side of things that I am excited about. Let us retain the "essence of OO" - of what we have learned, yet change OTUG's mission to embrace the needs as we see them now - everyday, every moment of our work/life. Key concepts like Abstraction, Encapsulation are powerful and relevant in the new world. Where lacking we can enhance it by emphasizing key OO principles.
The founders of the old OTUG created a thriving organization to meet the needs of the community. We are staring at a very similar situation, 17 years from then, now, in a different context - a new OTUG. OTUG NG.
Lets found a "new" OTUG that is a collective. A collaborative. A stepping stone. An experimental sandbox. An idea lab. Lets leverage the wisdom of US - you,me and the rest. Let this be the place where you try out your coolest/hottest idea - be it technology, process or people. I notice mounting anger, frustration and cynicism that is extinguishing far too many ideas - in the enterprise. Too many excellent folks in our community are running at fraction of their capacity to perform, teetering on the verge of burnout. I would like to propose that you look to our collective strengths to convert negative energy to positive, before resigning yourself. Let OTUG be your outlet, sandbox- your stage or, if it helps you, your sob-station.
Dare to think. Leverage the wisdom of the crowd you belong to. We have a 500+ email membership in OTUG ; add your own network that you can "recruit" - we have the numbers for the emergent wisdom to kick in (Suroweicki). For that wisdom to work - for the forest to emerge, it starts with the individual tree - you and me. You and I need to squeak up. Think for ourselves . Speak our own mind. Seek diversity. Embrace change.
Change is happening within the OTUG community: There are at least two new themes that have been explicitly proposed that I am inclined to followup on : Systems Thinking(Dion Stewart) and Functional Programming (Hamlet). No, make it three - Smalltalk-seaside-glass. I have also heard Utility/Cloud computing, ReSTful systems wafting through the air...
WE is not possible without U and I. My question to you is what would YOU like to see happen? Here is your opportunity to effect change. Grab it. Trying and failing is in. Failing to Try is out. I will try my best to lower the barrier yet raise the bar.
Cheers!
arun.
Thank you for the touching introduction and doing the spade work for me, Jason and the coming generations. You have sparked a new interest and I intend to flame it into a (raging) fire.
All,
Thanks for trusting me with the presidency - I will try my best in executing the responsibilities that come with the trust. Jason is a colleague and a friend that I have known for a few years and have quite a few intersecting interests. I look forward to working with him, especially he exhibits skills that are complementary to mine.
Markus encouraged everybody to participate in some form or the other - I would like to elaborate on that aspect. OTUG was founded by Tom Evans and Dave West out of necessity - a need to have local touchpoints to engage in dialog to further an understanding of a deep subject - Object Orientation (OO) at that time - 1991. As the languages and tooling matured, OO became mainstream. As more books, tutorials started getting available and the internet became available, OTUG became a community for people interested in preserving the craft and beauty of OO that was being lost in the flood.
OO reigned supreme for a while passing its memes through various vehicles like Smalltalk then Java , C# and the likes. Be it the front-end, middleware or persistence, OO technology played a central role.
Enter Google, Web x.0 and the power started getting distributed from a server and desktop-centric ( using OO centric world) to a more resource-centric world - more computations are happening in the client side as well as in the back-end (the cloud) . The mix of languages , the paradigms, the people are much, much more heterogenous and numerous.
The wave continues. In this new world, OO and its craftsmen have to co-exist with other alien ways of programming The environment and market conditions have changed; the landscape has changed. As OO practitioners, we have to adapt and embrace. We are at an interesting point - if we continue to isolate ourselves and sit on the ivory tower of OO, the world might brush us by. But when we look outside , the sight is turbulent and scary . I think, as a community rooted in OO, we have a problem: We are sitting right on the edge of chaos. It is time to get together again to create order.
But every problem is an opportunity. It is this bright side of things that I am excited about. Let us retain the "essence of OO" - of what we have learned, yet change OTUG's mission to embrace the needs as we see them now - everyday, every moment of our work/life. Key concepts like Abstraction, Encapsulation are powerful and relevant in the new world. Where lacking we can enhance it by emphasizing key OO principles.
The founders of the old OTUG created a thriving organization to meet the needs of the community. We are staring at a very similar situation, 17 years from then, now, in a different context - a new OTUG. OTUG NG.
Lets found a "new" OTUG that is a collective. A collaborative. A stepping stone. An experimental sandbox. An idea lab. Lets leverage the wisdom of US - you,me and the rest. Let this be the place where you try out your coolest/hottest idea - be it technology, process or people. I notice mounting anger, frustration and cynicism that is extinguishing far too many ideas - in the enterprise. Too many excellent folks in our community are running at fraction of their capacity to perform, teetering on the verge of burnout. I would like to propose that you look to our collective strengths to convert negative energy to positive, before resigning yourself. Let OTUG be your outlet, sandbox- your stage or, if it helps you, your sob-station.
Dare to think. Leverage the wisdom of the crowd you belong to. We have a 500+ email membership in OTUG ; add your own network that you can "recruit" - we have the numbers for the emergent wisdom to kick in (Suroweicki). For that wisdom to work - for the forest to emerge, it starts with the individual tree - you and me. You and I need to squeak up. Think for ourselves . Speak our own mind. Seek diversity. Embrace change.
Change is happening within the OTUG community: There are at least two new themes that have been explicitly proposed that I am inclined to followup on : Systems Thinking(Dion Stewart) and Functional Programming (Hamlet). No, make it three - Smalltalk-seaside-glass. I have also heard Utility/Cloud computing, ReSTful systems wafting through the air...
WE is not possible without U and I. My question to you is what would YOU like to see happen? Here is your opportunity to effect change. Grab it. Trying and failing is in. Failing to Try is out. I will try my best to lower the barrier yet raise the bar.
Cheers!
arun.
On Tue, Aug 19, 2008 at 11:53 PM, Markus Silpala <markus@...> wrote:
A big thank-you and congratulations go to Arun Batchu, who was elected
the new OTUG President tonight.
As most of you probably know, Arun has been around the OTUG scene for
a number of years, and is perhaps unique in that I have never heard of
anyone who didn't enjoy pair programming with him. His passion and
positive energy are well known, and will provide much value in his new
role. Please send him congratulations and fresh ideas for future OTUG
events via email (president@...), Twitter (@arunbatchu), or
whatever channels you have at your disposal.
Also notable and significant: tonight we elected Jason Titus as the
new President-Elect—the first time in two years that anyone has held
that position. Jason will support Arun in making things happen this
year, and will then position himself well to be elected President next
summer. You can send him kudos at preselect@....
Those of you who haven't made it to OTUG lately: I encourage you to
come back for another round in the coming year. The crowds have been
energetic and engaged. The new practice of having a sponsored dinner
at Davanni's after the talk has turned each event into a serious
discussion and networking opportunity. Event sponsors enabled us to
keep this up without losing money.
As the outgoing President, I have some serious credit to dole out. The
four people below formed an unofficial core of volunteers, who largely
made the year a successful one for the community—doing far more than I
did*. The President provided logistical support, continuity, a voice,
and the interface for booking rooms and pizza—but each event was
conceived, organized, and coordinated by an individual who was
passionate about making it happen.
Thus my very heartfelt thanks go to:
Kyle Larson, who convinced me to run for President by promising that
he would play a big behind-the-scenes role in keeping me at it. He did
that, and acted as the organizer for three of the seven events we held
in the past year, including the largest one.
Hamlet D'Arcy, who signed up to maintain our web site and has
faithfully kept it up ever since. Hamlet also organized two events and
spearheaded a fundraising storm which enabled us to fly Ted Neward in
for a talk in May.
Tom Evans, who along with Hamlet showed up for the first and only OTUG
happy hour last September, which became the kick-off planning meeting
for the entire year. Tom also committed that day to deliver a
presentation in the spring. He did, and it was excellent. (Gee Tom, if
only everyone could see your slides on the web site, they'd know some
of what they missed. ;-)
Stephen Thompson, who as our long-standing Treasurer has provided a
thread of continuity and discipline through OTUG's many years.
Bhabani Misra, Kathleen Hauser, Tim Fremouw, and all the other
staffers at the University of St. Thomas who did legwork and paperwork
to provide us the space to hold our events, plus promotional messages
to the GPS alumni mailing list.
***And Finally***
My single regret about the last year is that I didn't use the OTUG
lists to get more people into the loop. Here's my one chance to make
up for it. Each and every one of you: if you have something you'd like
to present, someone you'd like to see present, or just an idea for an
event, contact Arun and Jason and find out how they can help you make
it happen. Post a message to the list with your idea; see if someone
else is similarly passionate and wants to help you make it happen.
Make it happen. OTUG can provide a platform; the community puts the
value into it. We are all the community.
With that, I bit you adieu. Thank you.
-Markus Silpala
* Extra points to Dion Stewart, who noticed this and asked me
repeatedly, "how come you're the President when it looks like Hamlet
does all the work?"
------------------------------------
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