The calm before the storm

Were in that waiting phase well known in all IT projects. The requirements are out and understood. The developers are busy developing and I'm getting the environment ready for production. On the 17th of March the hectic phase will begin. I'll have the code and we'll start the user acceptance test. Since I already have changes to the original design, I know this will not be the production candidate release. But that's a controlled situation and I think we'll probably have 3 to 4 code drops before the May 1 launch date. I just can't wait to see the finished product and trial it by selling the managing directors very expensive motor bike :).

As the end of the months draws nearer, so does the time I have to fly off to Morocco for my crazy 6 days running in the sand. I'll be making sure the guys don't sit on their hands while I'm away and they'll be testing a creating as many incidents as they can (but not too many please).

Now for something techy, so if you don't know your ip from your hostname, you're excused. I read in a news article this weekend that Carnegie Mellon University, Qatar University and Texas A&M University have collaborated with IBM to launch a cloud computing center in Qatar. I love the Amazon cloud which I'm currently using, but it would be great to have a local cloud. I've had a bit of a search, but I can't find any information on how I can sign up for a virtual server on the cloud. I guess they'll publish soon. I'm also wondering if it will be as easy to manage as the Amazon cloud. I can pretty much run everything from one firefox extension called Elasticfox and setting up backups is a lot nicer experience than I've had in the past.

Well, no more news for now. Just wait for the code and fingers crossed we made the requirements clear.

We have a launch date

During the weekend, I did a lot of running in the dunes near sealine. It was tough going, since I stuck to the soft sand, but it also gave me time to mull over the launch date for qbay. I came up with the date when the technical solution will be ready and then did my best to avoid heat stroke and crazy drivers. That's unfair actually. I've heard a lot of stories about mad drivers in the dunes, but after 4 weekends of running in Qatar, I've only had offers of water, lifts, support etc... and no near misses.

Having a technical solution is only part of the challenge, we also need to have content and some marketing to backup the launch. So, I had a word with the marketing department and the CEO and we've come up with May 1 2009. We have a lot to do before the launch. We'll be getting Qatar based stores signed up for store fronts, planning a public launch party and working on spreading the word that there's a new auction site in town.

As for technical news, I've been busy getting the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) building blocks in place for the launch and making sure that the site is properly monitored and optimised. I've still got to setup Nagios, but once that's done, I'll have an early warning as soon as there's a problem with the site.