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A distigushed lecture by Peter Schuh
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"Agility and the Database"
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Topic Summary:
The database is a vital component in nearly every business application; not only housing the data upon which code is written, but managing many of the portals by which information is driven into, through and out of mission-critical systems. While much has been written and discussed regarding Agile Development and the refinement of agile processes, the database continues to be considered by many as little more than a necessary evil. In reality, the database has the potential to be a platform that may be leveraged to support and strengthen agile processes.
The lecture will address why the application database can be a thousand-headed hydra (and why smart-thinking, and not Herculean effort, is required to tame it). It will discuss why the traditional relationship between development team and database administrator contributes to difficulties in the development process, and why a more agile DBA can help lead a team toward more successful deployments.
Finally, the lecture will introduce and detail a strategy to implement a flexible database infrastructure to complement a continuous integration-style development approach. This strategy address real-world issues, including: testing and test data maintenance, the management of multiple development environments, and applications that reside both in development and production.
Speaker:
Peter Schuh is a team lead at ThoughtWorks, Inc., a provider of custom
e-business application development and advanced system integration services to
Global 1000 companies. He has written and spoken about XP, the adoption of
agile processes, agile development's impacts upon database administration,
and the
ObjectMother pattern.
He has a BA in English literature and an MA in
international relations.
Schedule:
Hors d'oeuvres will be served from 5:30
until 7:00 p.m. Peter will lecture until 8:30, at which time dessert will be served.
He will conclude his presentation by 10:00 p.m.
The series:
This is the first of a series of Distinguished Lecture Events about agility and its perceived nemeses at the O'Shaughnessy Education Center (OEC) on the St. Paul campus of the University of St. Thomas.
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