Architecture - Design

Tutorials

MI Building Cross Platform and Mobile Apps with XAML NEW

Mike Benkovich, Imagine Technologies, Inc.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 1:00pm

To make it possible for designers and developers to collaborate and build compelling user interfaces using the same assets, Microsoft created the extended application markup language XAML and introduced it in the release of the Windows Presentation Foundation. Based in XML and using language features that enable data binding, templating, styling, and adaptive layouts, it creates the interfaces declaratively and efficiently. XAML has appeared in Silverlight, Windows Phone, and Metro and has now gone cross platform to Android and iOS with Xamarin. Mike Benkovich begins with the basics of XAML—controls and containers, options for layout including canvases, stack panels and grids, and responsive layouts that take advantage of the available screen real estate. Next Mike dives into XAML advanced data binding and converters. Finally, he takes a brief look at Xamarin to show how you can deliver great applications across platforms on almost any device.

MM Innovation Thinking: Evolve and Expand Your Capabilities

Jennifer Bonine, tap|QA, Inc.

Mon, 11/09/2015 - 1:00pm

Innovation is a word frequently tossed around in organizations today. The standard cliché is “Do more with less.” People and teams want to be innovative but often struggle with how to define, prioritize, implement, and track their innovation efforts. Jennifer Bonine shares the Innovation Types model to give you new tools to evolve and expand your innovation capabilities. Find out if your innovation ideas and efforts match your team and company goals. Learn how to classify your innovation and improvement efforts as core (to the business) or context (essential but non-revenue generating). With this data, you can better decide how much of your effort should be spent on core versus context activities. Take away new tools for classifying innovation and mapping your activities and your team’s priorities to their importance and value. With Jennifer’s guidance you’ll evolve and expand your innovation capabilities on the spot.

TK Mobile App Usability and UX for Developers and Testers

Philip Lew, XBOSoft

Tue, 11/10/2015 - 1:00pm

Many enterprises today are migrating to mobile while new organizations are adopting a mobile-first or mobile-only strategy. Because of the special characteristics of the mobile platform and its user base, usability and the user experience (UX) take on an increased emphasis, although there are currently no formal models describing UX. With SaaS-based business models, where users can pay by the month and switch applications in a heartbeat, UX becomes paramount. Phil Lew explains the definitions of usability and user experience, describes the connections between them, and explores evaluation methods you can use as the first step toward improving UX on the mobile platform. To build a deeper understanding of how to improve your own app’s UX, Phil gives examples to illustrate the good, the bad, and the ugly of mobile UX. Discover key principles for design and evaluation of usability. Develop a methodology for continuous improvement of your users’ experience.

Concurrent Sessions

AW2 Data-Driven Software Engineering for Agile Teams

Viktor Veis, Microsoft

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 11:30am

Remember the old days when software engineering teams used to tune software until it passed quality gates, gave golden bits to marketing, and finally threw a big release party? The world was simple, and writing code that worked according to a specification was enough to be a star developer. Viktor Veis says that world has changed. Software now often dials back home to record information about its usage and health. This telemetry flows back to engineering teams who are accountable for making sense out of this data. This is a fundamental shift in the software engineer role. Teams who can leverage data-driven engineering will delight customers by learning more about customers than they know about themselves. Teams who ignore data-driven engineering will continue based on assumptions and eventually lose competitive nerve. Join Viktor to learn how to start data-driven engineering today. Discover a practical approach that sometimes deviates from classical data science but is easy to learn and apply.

AW15 Architecture vs. Design vs. Agile: What’s the Answer?

Anthony Crain, Blue Agility

Wed, 11/11/2015 - 4:15pm

Is architecture the same as preliminary design in agile? It shouldn't be. Do we do architecture up front, then do iterative development after the architecture is done? That is edging back toward waterfall. Can you explain the purpose of the architecture in just two or three statements? Anthony Crain says that when he asks that question, he gets either verbose answers or blank stares. So Anthony shares an elegantly simple two bullet explanation of what an architecture does. Explore the models architects and designers should produce and learn why the models are so important to keep separate. Understand why it is vital to separate functional from nonfunctional requirements and how this affects architecture, design, and even code and test. Explore what a conceptual architectural model should look like vs. a physical one, and for the conceptual design model vs. a physical one—and the timing of all four models. Finally, explore the impact of iterative development on architecture.