Teaching old dogs new tricks: Successful steps in rolling out Rational Developer for POWER for IBM i and AIX 

Kenny SmithPrincipal Consultant, Strongback Consultingkenny.smith@strongback.usPWR 1214

© 2013 IBM Corporation

About Us: Strongback Consulting

IBM Advanced Business Partner

– Rational, WebSphere, Lotus, Information Management SVP certified

– Strongly focused on Enterprise Modernization and application lifecycle management

– Key Industries Served: Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Government

– Rational Design Partner for HATS and other Rational enterprise modernization technologies

Discover us at:http://www.strongback.us

Subscribe to our blog athttp://blog.strongbackconsulting.com

Socialize with us on Facebook & LinkedIn http://www.facebook.com/StrongbackConsulting

http://www.linkedin.com/company/290754

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Agenda

Planning to plan

Rollout guidelines

Executive sponsorship

Installation & licensing

Customized workspace

Training

Mentoring

Rollout anti-patterns

Question & Answer

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Avoiding “Shelfware”

Damages your budgetHurts the sellers credibilityConfuses the developerFrustrates the executives who bought it

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Planning out your implementation

Establish and document the value proposition you want– What are we licensed for?

– Who will use what product?

Gather input from all your stakeholders– Technical team (devs), IT managers, IT Sysadmins

– Executive management (CFO, COO, CEO, VP of IT, etc)

– Your IBM Business Partner & IBM Software Rep

Create your implementation plan with checklists & milestones

– How does this hook into our desktop policies (if you have one)?

– What is our compilation, promotion, and deployment plan?

– How will this hook into our SCM / ALM?

Create a collaboration plan

– Internal Quickr site, wiki, sharepoint, etc. for FAQs, whitepapers, Redbooks, and a GLOSSARY of terms

– Define escalation communication process internally, with your BP, and with IBM

Define ROI metrics

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The need for executive sponsorship

These are the guys whose budgets are paying for the licenses

To get the ROI they desire, they need to be involved

They also can clear hurdles to your implementation

Only these guys can really mandate the product usage

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Integration with Source Code Management

Are you using version control?

– if not… are you planning to? (please say that you are for your own sake!)

Is there an Eclipse plugin available?

Does the plugin work with the version you intend to deploy?

Do you need promotion and deployment support (not just SCM, compile, & build)?

– Have you heard of Rational Team Concert by chance?

IBM Power Systems

Integrate Applications

Optimize Infrastructure

EmpowerPeople

UnifyTeams

Understand your licensing

Frequent rebranding & renaming over the years

– Get your vocabulary straight before you implement

Two general models:

– Authorized User: requires a license file to be applied to the developer desktop

– Floating User: requires a Rational License Key Server

– Fixed Term Licenses

Can be sold as standalone products

– Rational Developer for AIX and Linux

– Rational Developer for i

Can be sold as Packages

– RDi Java Edition (formerly POWER Tools for i)

– Rational Developer for i for SOA Construction

– etc.

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RDiSOA

POWER Tools for iRDp RDi

Rational Development Studio for POWER

RD

i EG

L E

ditio

n

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Getting the software

1. Get the software from IBM Passport Advantage

– Know what parts to download

download what you need, skip what you don’t

– Get with your IBM BP or Software Rep to manage access

– *Also available from your hardware vendor through AAS

2. Get the licenses from the Rational License Key Center

– Separate site, separate downloads, separate credentials

– See #1 above

Passport Advantage http://www-01.ibm.com/software/howtobuy/passportadvantage/pao_customers.htm

Rational License Key Center http://www-01.ibm.com/software/rational/support/licensing/toIntraware.html

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Installation

Once you know what you’ve got and what your usage is, then you can install

Single products for small teams

–Manual installation is easy

Packaged products for teams >10 people

–Manual installation becomes a major obstacle

–You must install it the same for everyone to have consistent results

–Use scripting, the Package Utility, Tivoli Endpoint Manager, or MS tools to roll out

Don’t forget the Rational License Key Server!

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Manually installing with Installation Manager (v 9.0)

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Customized packaging with Package Utility

Part of “Rational Enterprise Deployment”

Can combine multiple products into one installation image

Example: RDiSOA version 8.5

– Rational Developer for i

– Rational Business Developer

– HATS

– IBM Data Studio (which is FREEEEE!!!)

– RTC Plugin

After building a package, use Installation Manager to record response files

Run a silent (scripted) install using these response files

Plug the installation script into your desktop automation tooling

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Deploying a customized workspace

A workspace is a directory of configuration meta data, project data, and project folders

Creates a consistent experience across your development team

Why should everyone recreate the same data?

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Ideas for content in the customized workspace

AIX / Power users

– Set the LPEX Editor to use vi, or emacs

IBM i, AS/400, iSeries users

– Set LPEX Editor to SEU mode

Preset common user preference based on your team’s culture

Include source code examples for training session

Include training materials as projects

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Ideas for content in the customized workspace

Preconfigure all connections to systems & LPAR’s that they may use

– Remote Systems Explorer, connections, filters

– DB2 Connections

– Other RDBMS Systems

Preconfigure filters

Setup known RDBMS

connections ahead of time

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In the customized workspace

Include common programming routines as snippets

Boilerplate code can also be put into templates

Templates work with code assist, and the editor’s context

Snippets allow you to place variables which you define when you drag / drop into source

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Would you operate this without training?

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Your IDE has MORE instrumentation than most aircraft

Don’t skimp on training!!!

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Creating a Training Plan

Customized training is always best

–Modules should fit your team’s usage scenario

Training should start and end with SCM in mind

On site vs. remote

–On site interaction is best if possible

–Remote for geographically dispersed workers

–Consider vendors who can support remote classroom environments

Schedule your team members in advance

–plan around vacations, etc.

Have a post –training plan

–How do I on-board new members of my team?

–What happens if we have questions after training is over?

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Onsite mentoring: after the training

Helps to cement the knowledge gained after training

Creates social incentive to learn to the tool

Mentor / Consultant can help you troubleshoot real scenarios

Use to cultivate your internal champions and power users

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Team Collaboration

Setup a team site for everyone to post questions, comments, and suggestions

– IBM Quickr, Connections, Wiki, Blog, TeamRoom, Sharepoint Site, etc

– Email alone will NOT cut it!

Things to include

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Team Collaboration – What to include in your site

Training material (presentations & lab exercises)

Redbooks

Bookmarks (links to helpful websites)

Escalation matrix

Programming guidelines, standards, etc

FAQs

Discussion forums

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Metrics

Define your success criteria

Make sure its measurable before and after

Snapshot those current metrics

Collect on a regular interval

Analyze and improve the process

Rinse & Repeat

How often are floating licenses checked out?How many people are contributing to the team room?How many people have been to training?Who is using System I Access to access SEU/PDM?

Examples

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Next step: UNINSTALL your terminal emulator

As legend has it, after his men got ashore, Cortés burned the ships that brought them. He wanted his men to understand fully that their only option was to win or die – there would be no retreat. Knowing their options were limited now, the Spanish army would fight harder and with more determination.

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Anti-patterns

Definition: Anti-patterns

A pattern, or series of methods, used in social or business operations or software engineering that may be commonly used but is ineffective and/or counterproductive in practice

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Rollout Anti-patterns: Purchase the software and do nothing else

This is …

A. The likelihood your users will adopt it..

B. Your return on investment..

C. Chance it won’t become shelfware..

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Rollout Anti-patterns: Installing on ancient PC’s

You cannot compare the IDE to the performance of a terminal emulator

Insufficient disk space – multi-gigabyte download of software eats up disk

4GB RAM minimum (because we run apps other than the IDE at the same time)

Quad core is ideal (see above)

FACT: the cost of a faster PC is cheaper than paying someone to sit and wait on a slower one to respond

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Rollout Anti-patterns: Letting users install it themselves

Can you say goat rodeo??• Different install directories• Forgotten license files• Different release levels• Different patch levels• Installed into the wrong

package group• Insufficient access• Insufficient disk space

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Rollout Anti-patterns: Letting Bob the Elder teach

Programming

skills

Product Knowledge

Adult Education Experience

• Teaching requires skills beyond just product knowledge or system knowledge – it requires presentation skills, public speaking, humor, etc.

• Do not assume that your best RPG guy can pick it up, learn it, and teach the rest of the staff

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Rollout Anti-patterns: Forgetting about SCM

SCM = Source Code Management (a.k.a. version control)

ALM = Application Lifecycle Management

Copying files between libraries is NOT version control!

Users will go back to the terminal if they have to check in/out of source

–and there they will stay…and stay…and stay…

About Us: Strongback Consulting

IBM Advanced Business Partner

– Rational, WebSphere, Lotus, Information Management SVP certified

– Strongly focused on Enterprise Modernization and application lifecycle management

– Key Industries Served: Finance, Insurance, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Government

– Rational Design Partner for HATS and other Rational enterprise modernization technologies

Discover us at:http://www.strongback.us

Subscribe to our blog athttp://blog.strongbackconsulting.com

Socialize with us on Facebook & LinkedIn http://www.facebook.com/StrongbackConsulting

http://www.linkedin.com/company/290754

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