Firefli Consulting Inc.

What in the world is that?  It’s the new and improved title to the book.  I decided to buck the trend of many IT related books and go for a catchy title as well as a professionally designed cover.  This is in no means a slant towards other IT professionals who have published books.  Many have done this themselves, and others have also hired professionals.

I’m just saying that I am one that decided that my skills are **NOT** in figuring this stuff out, nor did my time allow me to get that done.  What it does mean is that there is a considerable delay, and release date is looking an awful more like June that it did for April 28th three months ago.

The book site will be up shortly, with some sneak previews.  Here’s a tease - Zoom Factor is also the title of a chapter and the inspiration for writing the book in the first place.  I won’t give anything more away for now, just let anyone know that it’s going to take a little longer to have a much better product.

If you are looking for something more interesting to read, check out my latest architecture post or visit the Architecture Portal.

Happy Architecting!

Architect Boot Camp Portal

Just a quick update to let you know what’s new at Firefli Consulting.  Our Architecture Portal site is up and welcoming charter members.  For more information, visit our portal by clicking the image link above.

Sharon’s book “Architecting Your Career” is due out at the end of April and will be going for copy edit mid March.  We’d love to ensure we’ve got you covered in this book on the IT Architect Career Roadmap, so if you have issues you’d like covered, we WELCOME your comments to this blog.  Watch for upcoming news about this book (book site upcoming May 2009)

Architect Boot Camp classes are not currently publicly available.  Visit us at http://www.architectbootcamp.com and follow the training links to get more information on custom in-house education that can be brought to your organization.

Watch for our next blog edition

Happy Architecting

It’s been far too long since the last post — my only excuse is that I’ve been busy.  This one will be short, but lots of news. My forthcoming book “Architecting Your Career:  Building a Roadmap to Excellence in IT Architecture” has become a reality and is scheduled to be published April 28th, 2009.

I want to include lots of bonuses and references for extra resources so will need your help.  In return, you could win three free months at our Architect Membershp Portal - which could mean free education.

Architect Ask Contest

All you need to do is click on this link and answer one question.  It might be as short as 3 -5 words.  Simple.  At the end of the week - February 28th, 2009, my assistant and I will draw the name of one of those who have submitted a response.

Your submission will help make this book the best it can be, and I’d like to thank you in advance.

Happy Architecting!

It’s the last day of 2008 and the start of something new.  We’re quietly launching our membership site that will boast the web’s best source of information for enabling the IT Architect to achieve greatness!  It’s our passion here at Firefli, and what better way to celebrate a new year that this.

There will be some more “heavy lifting” while we load up the boodles of content and education information that is planned for the site.  In the meantime, charter members will help us shape the future for it.

Grab a glass of champagne or favorite fizzy drink and toast to something new, and exciting times in 2009!  All the best to you and yours!

Sharon Evans
CEO & Founder
Firefli Consulting Inc.

Our IT Architect Boot Camp & Solution Architect Boot Camp’s are set to go tomorrow and registration is closed.  There is still one spot available for the Oct 23rd Solution Architect Boot Camp, but the IT Architect Boot Camp is sold out!

We appreciate your interest and since this class combination was very popular, we’ll be sure to re-run this in other cities in 2009!  If you are interested in these classes, drop us a comment here, or go to our education site and show us your interest by telling us which city you want us to visit!  We’re getting good interest out of Toronto, and also from the Western Provinces, so let us know where the first stop should be!

Happy Architecting!

We got into the swing of fall training and our Architect Boot Camp IAB & SAB Boot Camps have been filling up.  There are still 3 spots available for the IAB (three days), and 4 spots available for the SAB (now two days) - both being held in Winnipeg during the week of October 20th.  If you are a member of ICTAM, you will see that the savings to be had by registering for these classes is incredible!  They are truly supportive of these training initiatives, and boosting the level of Technical skill in Manitoba.

It’s time to learn about IT Architecture and what it takes to become an IT Architect.  We’re going to go through the roles and responsibilities and learn about the various types of architects and their relationship to each other.  We’ll learn the architect’s skills, including those on the softer side, so that we are ready to take the perspective we need to do a great job.

We’ll learn about the methods and process, so that we know what the steps to take an architectural approach to the projects that we’ve been assigned to.  As well, we’ll get into the various domain architectures and learn about being an architect within these perspectives.

We’ll tie all of this together with some labs and exercises from some real life experiences, those that the attendee will be able to take and use as templates in similar work they may be faced with.

We’re very excited to be offering this workshop, and are looking forward to meeting the great mix of attendees who have already registered.  If you have the time or the interest, join us for one great week!

Happy Architecting!

It’s definitely turning into fall, if that wasn’t the case for the past couple of weeks.  A few sunny days are still to be treasured…

We’re getting into the swing of fall and “back to school” and our Architect Boot Camp classes are starting to fill.  If you haven’t already visited our training site, visit today and download our course catalog.   There is a full section on “how to decide” what type of architecture training is best for you in this catalog.

Deadlines for earlybird registration are fast approaching:

• Enterprise Architecture Boot Camp (EAB) - September 14, 2008 - Extended - September 19, 2008
• Business Architect Boot Camp (BAB) - September 23, 2008
• IT Architect Boot Camp (IAB) - September 22, 2008
• Solution Architect Boot Camp (SAB) - September 24, 2008

After these dates, registration fees return to normal, and classes that haven’t achieved their minimum registration will be rescheduled or cancelled.  If you are interested, but are just waiting approval let us know — each session we get calls for some of the workshops after the deadline dates indicating interest, and by then we’ve already made decisions to postpone or reschedule or even cancel classes.

If you aren’t sure - just give us a call at 204-488-2819 or leave us a comment here.

Happy Architecting!

Just a quick announcement - interest and registrations have started rolling in for our fall IT Architect Boot Camp workshops.  See our full catalog if you haven’t received the information yet.

We’re finding out that there are some folks very interested in the class we do not have scheduled for this fall - the IT Architect Boot Camp.  This workshop teaches one pure architect skills, and how one can act as the architect practioner in IT.  Our other workshops focus on the various types of architecture practices - such as Enterprise Architecture, Business Architecture, Solution Architecture and Technical Architecture.

Other classes such as the Intro to IT Architecture are purely to familiarize one with the terminology and surface knowledge of the various methodologies and approaches to IT Architecture. It helps one decide if Architecture is for them, or what their team members are doing as part of their projects.

Finally - we have an Executive Architecture Boot Camp workshop - which is a crash course is managing architects, figuring out where Enterprise Architecture and the IT Architecture practice fits within the IT portfolio.  It helps the Manager, CIO or executive to support and get the best from their staff.

If you or someone you know really want the IT Architect Boot Camp scheduled for this fall, rather than early in 2009, get onto our interest page and let us know!

We truly want to help your teams to be the best Architects they can be!

This week our 2008-09 fall schedule of Architect Boot Camp workshops was released. To download your copy, visit our training page. Here you will get full descriptions of the courses, as well as logistical information and details regarding registration and our policies.

To date, we have planned dates for training in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada as well as Phoenix, Arizona, USA.  We have created a request area on the same training page for visitors to request any of the courses to other areas.  We will start planning our schedule for early 2009 within the next few weeks.

As always, we have both customized workshops, tailored for a specific customer needs available, as well as Company site hosted courses.  If you have more than five people interested in attending a workshop, it may make economic sense to have the course brought to you at your workplace.

If you have specific needs, or wish to have a course customized for your specific industry vertical and/or project and program needs, we have experience doing this for customers in the past, and this option might make sense for you.  Contact Us