What If Our First Dallas Rules Group Meeting Went Great Last Night ?

It's Not About Java, So All We Had Was Java Guys

Business Rules is about taking your if/then logic out of the [java/other] programs and giving it to the business expert guys to handle, so of course we only had java guys last night. Makes sense eh ? Actually it's been that way for years here, our java users' group  is so strong that when you announce stuff there, that's where you get the stuff going.

It does actually take a java programmer to get things going most of the time, because externalizing rules for the first time really is a programmer's task. After all

• The rules were in the program to start with
• The program is what is going to "fire" the rules even afterwards
• The infrastructure usually installs on a java platform
• The kind of mind that thinks in this way is typically found on the java team

Here's our site, in case you're interested: http://dallasrulesgroup.org/

Pics Came Out Good

I've been trying this deal about taking my el-cheapo camera with me everywhere I go and posting the pics on the fly, They came out pretty good, maybe this will help us get more members if people can get a feel for the meetings before they go.

James Owen

James Owen has been mentoring a bunch of us in rules for 5 or more years here in the java user's groups, which is one reason why we are trying to do all the organizing for this group instead of making him do it. He is already doing enough.

James is arguably one of the best KEs around anywhere ( KE is Knowledge Engineer). A friend of Charles Forgy who invented RETE for rules processing 30 years ago, and a mentor on the Blaze Advisor product team, we are very fortunate to have James around to tell us about rules, implementations, and even the greater issues of AI like he did tonight.

We Got Even Luckier

If it is great luck to have James, it is even greater luck to have a couple grizzled ILOG veterans show up as well. John Armstrong and Larry Terrill showed up as well. These guys have done rules implementations before, so they make a great addition to the group. And also Rolando Hernandez, our own resident Business Rules expert from the rules side.

Shown left to right John, Rolando, Larry

It's going to be fun to see where this goes

I've committed to sponsor the group as it's organizer for a couple years, I'm really looking forward to seeing how far we can take it with a minimum of effort.

One thing I'm going to focus on is getting all three food groups represented and provided for.

1. The programmers who do the work
2. The businesses who get the work done
3. The experts within those businesses who manage the rules

So in this way, we are going to be different than any other group I've been in here locally, because we are providing a place for all three groups, not just the programmers. Who knows how well that will work out.

Our group is for locals only, which is kind of a bizarre thing given this internet world that we live in. That will be another interesting twist. But there's a ton of interest locally, so it probably won't limit us too much.

Wish me luck.