What’s the matter with all these people feeding someone’s back here? I mean, guys, it’s just a back. How to hell can you feed it? But maybe it’s some kind of new trend… I’ll try to join it then :) As I’m not a great writer, the feedback will be provided in Q & A form rather than that of an essay.

What is the added value (if any) of attending this course for you, as a future software systems architect (please maintain this longer-term perspective)?

It’s all about getting a wider look on things. There was a good example – Adomas told us about the project that he knew was going to fail, or at least not going to be finished, but was started to implement, anyway – just to get knowledge and experience that would be useful in the future projects. I think that this kind of thinking, among other things, is what an architect needs. Another useful experience was working on our project. It was fun to participate in all the steps of production, from generating ideas to discussing implementation details.

What is the immediate benefit for you (if any) in your current professional situation?

I don’t think there are any benefits right now. The course is one of the reasons behind my current thoughts about changing job, though.

How do you see SOA being helpful in your professional environment? Please elaborate what would you suggest if you would become the chief systems architect of your company for a day.

I’m working with an Intranet system of one company, and there are oh-so-many things that could be changed with SOA. Sometimes a bunch of systems needs to cooperate to achieve certain functionality and their interactions are quite complex. If only the systems could be changed so that their functions were provided as services…

How do you see SOA in 5 years from now? Please take both the “local” (LT) perspective and global one.

Well, SOA will not change the world. It will still be a tool like any others – if used wisely and in place, it can help. I think more and more business organizations, both in Lithuania and the rest of the world, will use SOA approach to manage their business processes.

What are the pros and cons of “totally online” computing? Think of the Yahoo Pipes – you basically depend totally on the connections.

The most fresh data, saved PC resources, ability to select from a variety of services are amongst the advantages. Security and availability risks are what you have to handle with when you do online computations.

How would you use Web 2.0 in a commercial projects? Web 2.0 is, in short: social computing + data mash-ups + rich interfaces.

I think this question is too general. It depends on the project, actually.

How would have you organized this course if given a chance? Please think both from the contents and the form perspective.

I would split this course into two parts: lectures and seminars. In my opinion, course was organized as if everyone attending it already had some background in SOA and Web services, when it was not true, in fact. I think that at least basic concepts should have been explained for the audience, and that would be the lectures part. The seminars would have similar form to those that we actually have attended: open discussions, business perspective, guest speakers, etc. They could even take place on Saturdays, but they should not be so long :)

What the lecturers were good at?

The relations that lecturers created between themselves and the students is what impressed me most. Just a small example – I don’t remember any other course having it’s blog, where any student can share his thoughts and findings about the topic. Inviting people from the industry to talk about SOA in practice was another splendid idea. I’m still sorry I couldn’t be there when A. Šermokas shared his experience.

What the lecturers did wrong?

The scope of the lectures was not defined, or defined too widely, if you wish. That caused lecturers (and us) wandering all around. It wasn’t always very bad, but I would have liked more concreteness. The idea about projects was really great, but it came out quite late. It was not a big problem for our roaring team, but knowing in advance is always better.