Chris Boos on Automation

Dear friends,

some of you probably were out wondering where I had disappeared to. Well I can tell you that I was completely under water and finally surfaced again. And I have been writing articles all along that I will share with you in the coming days. Glad so many of you did write to me – thank you very much

So, now I am back and I will give you some interesting perspectives of things happening in technology, crisis times and of course whatever happened during last summer…. Hope you stay tuned and write just as much feedback as you did.

Talk to you soon
Chris

Sunday I had a great chance to view virtualization at its best. I attended an Airbus A340 simulator training at Lufthansa Flight Training via ProFlight. As my eyesight will always prohibit me from entering a real cockpit flying in a simulator is about the closest I will ever get to flying an airplane. And I have to say the simulator is like the real thing and I love it!

The session started out with a short briefing on basic aerodynamics, the controls of the Airbus A340 and an overview of basic flying procedures. The instructor was a retired jet pilot who is now working as a pilot trainer. He was very experienced and calm and professional and got us up to speed very quickly. So we could enter the A340 simulator after an hour of pre flight briefing.

It is really hard to tell the difference between the simulator and the real thing. Sitting in the cockpit you can feel the movement, hear the noise and let yourself be drawn into the world of flying. We started out flying in New York and took a look at Coney Island at night. After NY I choose San Francisco International Airport as the next spot for flight training. Taking an A340 at a totally illegal altitude above the Golden Gate is really stunning.

I had the chance to practice four approaches to SFO and got it right the first time (just look at the analysis and be humble!). The only real problem I had was not to hit any other aircraft while taxiing to the terminal. Obviously I feel much better with my head up above the clouds. And I will definitely be back again.

This spring I took part in a course of horsemanship where Uwe Jourdain did his very best to teach riders who spend most of their time riding underneath the sky and our horses the art of circus riding. I really enjoyed the course and learned a lot from Uwe.

So I was glad to get involved when Mr. Jourdain asked me, if I would be willing to support a group of young girls who practice a very interesting form of riding. Just with a rope around the horse´s neck they perform all the “tricks” most of us struggle hard to get done with saddle and bridle. The “Brave Summer Riders” as these girls call themselves are coached by Uwe Jourdain and are supported by their parents. I really enjoy seeing such close partnership between riders and their horses and this is why I gladly support these brave riders (not just in summer). Tonight I received the first pictures from the team´s captain Christin Turck and wanted to share them with you right away.

I started out this weekend with a fierce discussion on graph theory on Saturday. Surely I gave more ground than I normally would have, as I spent Friday night at an Irish birthday party. Well, this discussion is about how far it went for work this weekend.

The rest of the weekend I had great fun with my family. We spent our weekend in Feuchtwangen (Franken – that special part of Bavaria) and Augsburg. Besides tasting the great local food (and beer) we had the pleasure of taking a very broad cultural trip.

Saturday evening we saw Shakespeare´s “As you like it” in Feuchtwangen. As we attend the theatre festival (Kreuzgangspiele) in this beautiful city almost every year, our expectations were high and they were met to the fullest. The cast, directing and the translation were really great. The people organizing and playing this performance really brought honor to that famous quote from “As you like it”:

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages.

On Sunday we jumped from the ironic but highly decorated world of Shakespeare back to the childhood days. We visited the “Augsburger Puppenkiste” (probably Europe´s most famous puppet playing company) and saw one of the classical fairytales “der gestiefelte Kater”. The play was done absolutely beautiful and gives truth to the saying that you have lost your childhood when you start seeing the puppet strings while watching the play.

So you can see. Besides the great feeling of meeting up with the family we did work on our education and on staying young and educated.

Good music surely is a matter of taste. BUT some things are just such classics that I do not hesitate to declare them “simply good”. I consider myself a lucky guy. Last week I had the pleasure of seeing Mark Knopfler in Cologne, Bon Jovi in Frankfurt and Alanis Morissette in Frankfurt as well. All three concerts were a real experience and even though there were quite some problems with sound quality I would definitely go again to all the events.

The Mark Knopfler concert was really very cozy; drinks served at your seat and ALL of the old Dire Straits classics. My favorite “the telegraph lane” was played in an XXL version and I really loved it.

Bon Jovi was the concert with the worst sound – Frankfurt stadium with the roof closed seems to be a really bummer for music – but with the best atmosphere. 40.000 people really had a good time. Next to me – right in the middle of the crowd – was a 70-year-old who knew all the lyrics and on the other side a teenager (in love with John). It was a really amazing party there.

Last but not least Alanis Morissette was performing in Frankfurt´s old opera house. What a location for rocky music. She really had a hard time to get the crowed off their seats (yes really everybody was seated) but it eventually happened and the Frankfurt Opera staff had some very new experiences. She played some new and very good songs.

Hi folks,

we survived the 4th Frankfurt International Dragon boat Race, that was held from 30.5. to 1.6. in Frankfurt Germany, where our head office is located. Beside some sunburns and aching arms and legs, the whole team and our supporters, families and friends had a lot of fun. As being an IT projectmanager, the first thing that comes to my mind on monday morning is: What are the ‘lessons learned’? Beside the fact that water sport is wet sport.

If you look at the photos you’ll see why this sport is booming all around the world: Dragon boat racing is all about teamwork. 20 people are working together and the most important point is not sheer ‘power’, but much more to stay in sync and to follow the stroke. And this is really not that easy with 6 boats starting at the same time, 18 paddlers plus drummer and steerer in each boat, counting the strokes or screaming ‘GO-GO-GO’.

OK, the distance is just 250 meter or about 120 strokes, but I promise, you learn how to manage and use your power because you are part of a team and anyone is trying to be a part of the success in the end - really great team building and also great fun for all of us. In the end nobody cared about our position 42 of 67 Teams participating the ‘Corporate Cup’. That was more than expected, because we only had one training session to prepare. Maybe there’s also a higher meaning in our final position 42, but I don’t dare to ask “Deep Thought” about that.

Next year, we hopefully will take this event more seriously and to advance from the middle to the first third of the starter field.

Roland

Well, today we finished PULSE 2008 with the last two sessions and after the party last night the sessions were so small, that we really did enjoy some interesting face to face discussions about strategic development in service management, automation and clouds.

BUT, after that, we moved out to Universal Parks Orlando and did a lot of “dragon dueling” on the roller coaster. A really great ride (you can see it in the background). The inverted coaster makes you feel like you are shooting into the landscape…. It IS worthwhile to stand in line just a little longer to ride the front row – I did on both coasters more than once…

This year the local weather was not exactly kind. Loads of rain and cold winds did a good job in keeping me inside. BUT this weekend the tides have turned, Four days in a row the weather is beautiful and I love it. I have spent four days outdoors with Eudemis and just on a blanked out in the grass… Spring is an experience and a feeling obviously only poets can write about, so I will spare you. But let me say again spring has finally arrived in good old Germany. The only problem with warmer weather and horses are all the flies coming out. But as you can see from the picture, Eudemis has found a good way to deal with this inconvenience

…and this is to become my very first blog entry ever, altough certainly not the last. So I guess at first I should properly introduce myself. Most people I know simply refer to me as “cy” but there is still a small community of people who remind me that I do have a real name as well and that it is “Jens”. So what brings me here? Well, I’ve been designing and creating software for and with Chris at arago for over 10 years now with my part mostly being thinking of pragmatic (read programmable) solutions to the sometimes rather abstract ideas we come up with and also implementing them. And as I am also a certified deep diver, Chris asked me to invite you on a plunge into the depths of our automation concepts and the magic behind it once in a while around here.
Happy diving

no, I am not a computer programming experiment attempting to contact the outside world for the first time. I am Chris (or for those of you who prefer formal German Hans-Christian) Boos and I will be “your host” in this part of cyber space. In the picture you can see me with my Camargue horse - by the name of Eudemis - in deep conversation on life, the universe and everything. Actually I decided on one of my longer riding adventures to finally get off the couch and write on the topic of IT automation. So you are not just introduced to me and this most interesting topic - btw. you can find a little more background on the idea of this blog here - but also the source of my internal piece and probably the “person” who knows me best - Eudemis. Besides riding and quite a bit of other outdoor activities I am involved in managing arago - an IT think-tank company in Germany - and while doing so I am spending a lot of time developing, analyzing, debating over and introducing modern ways to keep all the IT around us up and running with less pain - for users and IT people alike - than it is accomplished in most environments today. I feel this is one of the last real frontiers in IT research. It also is one of the topics receiving more and more attention in the press and technical community. As I believe it is not useful to reinvent the wheel over and over again me - and some very interesting colleagues and friends of mine - have decided to share our experience here. I do hope you enjoy our commentary and company.

Best regards

Chris