Yesterday we sent out a press release via Chris Spagnuolo’s GeoScrum blog. Thus, I think it’s now ok to say that my entire team and I are now with Data Transfer Solutions.
The team is super excited about the new opportunities this change brings (the blazing workstations, “green” servers and build out, IKEA workstations, great chairs, and a strong interest in adopting agile methods doesn’t hurt either!).
On the technology front, we are still sticking with .NET and ESRI for the most part. We expect to be doing much more web work than in the past, and with the release of Visual Studio 2008 and .NET 3.5 this will be very cool. I expect we’ll be working with ArcGIS Server / tile caches on the back end, as well as Virtual Earth and Open Layers for the client UI. Mix in some unit testing, and it should be lots of fun.
We’re also going to be adding some new capabilities – specifically Agile Consulting and Coaching. This is still in the early stages so I’ll be posting more about it as things develop, but I’m very excited about some things we have planned, and the opportunity to share our experiences, methodologies and practices with others.
I’ll wrap this up by saying that I’m also very excited to work with the existing DTS development team. Although I’ve only met a few of them, and only very briefly, but their depth and breadth of skills are pretty amazing – I heard that someone wrote some ArcGIS Desktop tools using Boo (scratching your head – here’s a hint: Boo is a Python-like scripting language for the ECMA CLR implementations such as .NET and Mono.) I think they will be keeping us on our toes!
I’ll be posting more about starting up an office, and getting things rolling over the next few weeks. Some tasks on our current backlog - order & setup some servers, get a firewall (advice welcomed!), move out of Chris’s living room into our “temp” space, finalize the build out plans for our “real” space… fun!
