I received this notification recently from my friend Gord Everest.  It’s a bit late in posting (the first class was last week), but it’s good to know that advanced courses are making their way online.

 

 

Finally, the premier course in database design at the University of Minnesota is available online to the IT/IS professional community.

If you are a practicing (or aspiring) data architect/modeling professional, you owe it to yourself to check into this educational opportunity.  Both new students and experienced working professionals have found this course to be very worthwhile.  It can be a real boost to your career.  Students report back that they soon became a recognized expert to whom other data modelers would come for help.  They are able to recognize poorly designed databases, and to develop good conceptual data models (a stage before ER/Relational modeling).  The course also covers how to conduct database design project meetings, and present data models to business users so they can understand them.

The course consists of 15 weekly lectures of 2 credit hours each, along with practical design exercises/assignments and quizzes.  It is actually recorded in conjunction with a face-to-face class.  Unlike more traditional online courses or webinars, here the online delivery results in a more effective and engaging learning experience.  Being able to view the lectures anywhere online at work or at home gives you considerable flexibility in arranging your schedule each week.

Taught by Dr. Gordon Everest, this course has been well received by students and data management professionals alike.  Student ratings are consistently high. The concepts and techniques are difficult to learn by reading a book alone.  The class first solidifies your understanding of the traditional ER/Relational database design approach.  Then you learn a much better way to do data modeling using Object Role Modeling (ORM).

The course begins 2010 January 21 and runs for 15 weeks in lock step with the live course. For further information go to: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~geverest/DModCourse.html

There you will find details of costs, how to register; course conduct, content, and schedule; the instructor bio; readings list; and information about the approach to online delivery.  For any questions, send an email to:  geverest@umn.edu .

FOR DAMA:

If you are planning to be at the DAMA Enterprise Data World conference March 14-18, you will have an opportunity to hear Dr. Everest conduct a workshop entitled “Normalization: the Achilles heel of Data Modeling.”

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-- Gordon Everest - Visit my new website:
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~geverest
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Gordon C. Everest, Professor Emeritus and Adjunct
Database- Design, Administration, and Management
University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management

I work really hard when I present to business users to avoid the normal IT bafflegab / dujamakicey lingo, but I know that we struggle with this.

When I present at groups like DAMA (dama.org) , I sometimes get feedback that I’ve used a term, such as ERD or LDM that might not be clearly understood by everyone in the crowd.  This is a tough call, as I want to make some assumptions about the audience at DAMA meetings so as to balance time allotted against the desire to deliver content that is useful for data architects.  It’s very painful to have a presenter speak at a DAMA or IRMAC meeting and have him spend half the time explaining what a database is and what a data model is.

So while I do encourage attendees to ask if I use a term or concept that is unfamiliar to them, most won’t ask.

Remember to watch your turbo encabulators when collaborating with others.  We are all guilty of this.

Thanks to @ldbjorh for the link to this video.

Another video clip from Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House.

I’ve worked with people who spend time with business users and can only hear “Red, Green Blue, Yellow, White. Check” after business rules have been explained many times.  It’s no wonder business people think that we don’t listen.

Models are such a great resource for the business because we can show them that we heard what they said.  Or that we didn’t.  At least that issue comes up much earlier.

As I posted previously, I think that Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House is the perfect classic film for enterprise, data, and process architects.  In this scene, Myrna Loy and Cary Grant work with an architect in reviewing his models for a new home in the country.

Of course, they don’t have a lot of money to spend on their new digs, but they sure have lots of requirements. It appears that most of the film is available for viewing on YouTube, but I still highly recommend you add a copy to your personal library.  It’s that good.

Over on Simple-Talk, Richard Morris interviews Joe Celko, famed author and speaker on database design issues.  In this Geek of the Week interview, Mr. Celko goes all out snarky (and I use that word as a compliment, by the way) on topics of careers, Microsoft, data modeling and Zen practices.

Some interesting responses:

I might have tried to weather the slump in the Porno industry until it went digital. In the mid 1990's, I should have set up a dot-com scam and retired early. I

I am proud of my series of SQL books and that is on top of the list. It is nice to get fan mail for decades from people you don't know thanking you because you gave them a solution to a problem. And considering how bad my retirement plan is, the Royalties are also very nice.

But looking back over all the decades, the two projects I am most happy about are the State Crime Lab database (pre-SQL, under budget, ahead of schedule) and the State Prison System data analysis.  I have commercial clients where I made a difference, but those two projects showed immediate results and saved human life.”

and

“I would say they are:

1. Data modelling skills since a bad model cannot be saved by the front end or clever DDL and DML code.
2. Knowledge of Appropriate Standards. Inventing your own data encodings and procedures is like inventing your own spoken language. You will never communicate with anyone else.
3. Flexibility and constant education, not being wed to one solution or company. IT is a trade where everything you know is wrong in a few years. And every few years you have a new problem that does not match the old tools. “

I’ll leave it to you to go find what questions led to those responses.