Having seen the v0.2 ALF POC Demo Flash I have a few suggestions, mostly
cosmetic. First though, I want to say that the demo flows very nicely and
to my mind shows the technology challenge and the ALF solution well.
Now to the individual points.
On slide "A Better Approach"
May I suggest we refrain from using the term 'hub-and-spoke' as this is
older terminology. Today we speak of choreography and orchestration, which
is said later on. I would call it 'a service orchestration layer that
promotes seamless tool interoperability'. Unfortunately all the more
current terms are really buzzwords and also inaccurate at the moment (such
as Service Bus, Process Flow and so on)
Might I recommend changing the title of slide "ALF POC Use Case" to "A
Common Use Case" or something similar. While this plays down ALF on this
one slide it speaks to the point made in the talk which is that this is a
very common scenario that we are demonstrating, implying one that the
viewer likely has or will soon encounter. Also, on the same slide whenever
it appears, prefix the words "In REAL TIME" to the text on left - again
these words are spoken, we don't want to lose the impact in my opinion.
On the slide "ALF POC Physical Configuration" I would suggest highlighting
each component pair as it is described. Perhaps surround the bubble with a
color then fade that color when you wish to no longer focus on it.
As there is quite a bit of text on the slide, perhaps removing the port
numbers would help visually.
We could highlight in a similar manner on the slide "AFL POC Sequence"
perhaps. Not as critical there, although once one has established that
presentation metaphor, viewers will expect to see it consistently applied.
The wait before showing the completions is too long - feels like too
pregnant a pause. Recommend cutting the transition time if at all
possible. Could be edited for flow.
Is it necessary to show the slide "POC Assumptions"? I guess there are
those who would be interested, but looking at the demo and presentation
from an observer's viewpoint, that slide at that point takes my excitement
down a notch. We are really on a high just before that slide. We don't
want to lose it, in my opinion.
Again, just one person's opinion. I tried to forget everything I knew
about ALF and watch it as an unbiased viewer taking notes as I would were
I doing a product evaluation. Hope this is useful. I encourage others to
chime in here, either in accord or disagreement if everyone thinks I'm off
base.
John Streiff
