VSTS Rangers Projects – Virtualising VSTS, 101 Guidance, … collaborating with the field. Introducing SAArchitect!

Winning Team Of Blue Figures Holding Hands And Standing In A Circle Around Their Golden Championship Trophy Clipart Illustration Image The VSTS Rangers Projects as referenced in my summary of projects here, involves collaboration with Microsoft engineers, Microsoft Most Valued Professionals (MVP) and VSTS Community leaders in an attempt to ensure that the value proposition and value-add of the next release will be “invaluable” to the field. In this post I would like to introduce the SA Architect community and three active community leads in South-Africa delivering invaluable collaboration to the initiatives.

What is SA Architect?

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Their vision is to be a thriving community of South African Information Technology Solution Architects that provides tangible benefit to its members and the local IT industry.

Their mission menu is substantial (text above and below in italic has been copied “as is” from SA Architect site):

  • To empower South African Architects by advancing their professions through networking, sharing of technical expertise and engaging key industry role players
  • To share knowledge from or related to South African issues in order to improve software solutions in South Africa
  • To promote the passion and 'real-world' experience of South African architects
  • To promote South African architects in order to raise their profiles
    To promote the software industry in South Africa
  • To encourage Architects to network with each other in order to continually strengthen and grow the community, for example through the sharing of experiences in architecture.
  • To explore and define the role of the architect in the South African community
    To encourage mentoring and better software designs.
  • To collaborate with and support architects pursuing specialised architecture certifications, such as the MCA program.
  • To evaluate and effectively leverage various appropriate channels and forums that are in line with this Vision and Mission

To have discussions around this community, make sure you visit TechEd 2009 in Durban and stroll over to the community lounge area.

The active community leads

Currently we have Robert, Zayd and Willie actively collaborating and ensuring that we are able to deliver value to the communities in Africa and on the other side of the planet from our perspective.

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Zayd, on the left at TechEd 2008, Willie, in the middle at TechEd 2008 and Robert, on the right after catching too much sun in Dullstroom.

Visit the blogs of these exceptional leads to get more details about what makes them “tick”:

Watch the space for more collaborators …