Rhapsody TechBlog

BLOG about IBM Rhapsody. Contains technical information as well as more private travel stories.

Tag: Munich

Automotive Day 2025 in Munich – And Yes, I Have VIP Tickets to Give Away!

October 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments

So here we are again. November 4-5, 2025. Munich. The IBM Watson Center. And yes, before you ask: it’s that impressive glass building on Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße, not some random hotel conference room. Think less “generic conference center” and more “wow, they actually built this.” With a stunning view on the Alps included.

The Automotive Day is back, and this time with something I’m genuinely excited about: AI that might actually be useful instead of just being AI for the sake of having AI buzzwords on a slide deck.

Why Am I Writing About This?

Fair question. Look, I’ve been to enough conferences to know the difference between “we organized some presentations and called it a day” and events where people actually want to be there. The Automotive Day falls firmly in the second category.

This year’s lineup? Professor Sören Auer doing a keynote on “Generative AI with Knowledge Graphs.” Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Oh great, another AI keynote.” But hear me out—this is about making AI work with actual engineering knowledge, not just spitting out random code that looks plausible but breaks everything.

The Good Stuff: Real Projects, Real People

Here’s what I’m looking forward to: experience reports from people actually doing the work. Volkswagen, Thomas Magnete, Marquardt, and MotorAI are all presenting. These aren’t theoretical talks—these are “here’s what we tried, here’s what broke, here’s what actually worked” sessions.

And we managed to get Baan Slavens, VP Product Management at IBM, to talk about the ELM Tools roadmap. If you’re working with IBM Engineering Lifecycle Management tools (and if you’re reading this blog, chances are you do), this is your chance to hear what’s coming and—more importantly—ask questions directly.

OSLC: Finally, Someone Explains It Properly

There’s a whole session on OSLC (Open Services for Lifecycle Collaboration). I know, I know, it sounds like one of those standards that IT departments get excited about while the rest of us just want our tools to talk to each other without breaking.

But this session actually covers the practical stuff: integration, authentication, reporting, and how to manage OSLC at scale. They’re even building a simple “link loader” during the session to show how it actually works. Actual demonstrations > PowerPoint slides every single time.

The Breakout Sessions

Here’s what makes the Automotive Day different from just sitting in a room listening to presentations: the Breakout Sessions. These are where you actually get to talk, share your experiences, and—this is important—complain about things that don’t work.

Every year, participants tell me the real value isn’t just the scheduled presentations. It’s the conversations during coffee breaks, the “oh, you’re dealing with that too?” moments, and finding out you’re not the only one struggling with that one particular ISO 26262 requirement that makes no sense.

Two new topics this year that I’m particularly curious about (but won’t spoil here—you’ll have to come see for yourself).

The Practical Details

Dates: November 4-5, 2025
Location: IBM Watson Center Munich, Mies-van-der-Rohe-Straße 6, 80807 München
Hotel Recommendation: Motel One München-Parkstadt Schwabing (walking distance, basically)

Pricing:

  • Early Bird (until August 18): €199 + VAT
  • Regular Price (from August 19): €269 + VAT

German language conference, by the way. If your German is rusty, don’t worry—half the technical terms are in English anyway, and everyone switches to English when needed.

And Here’s the Part You Actually Scrolled Down For: VIP Tickets

I have some VIP tickets to give away. How do you get one? Simple: send me an email. First come, first serve. That’s it. No complicated application process, no essay about why you deserve it, just… send an email.

The tickets are limited (obviously), so if you’re interested, don’t wait until the last minute thinking “oh, I’ll do that tomorrow.” Tomorrow never comes. Trust me, I know this from personal experience with my own to-do lists.

Should You Come?

If you’re working in automotive systems or software engineering, dealing with ASPICE, AUTOSAR, ISO 26262, or any of those other acronyms that make our lives interesting, then yes.

If you want to hear from people who are actually implementing this stuff instead of consultants who only know it in theory, then yes.

If you want to network with people who understand why you care about the difference between a component and a module, and who won’t look at you funny when you start complaining about tool integration issues, then definitely yes.

What Participants Said Before

Just so you know I’m not making up how useful this event is, here’s what people said about previous Automotive Days:

“It was a very interesting event, can gladly be longer!”

“Very helpful and informative!!!”

“Top event, great atmosphere, excellent talks and presentations”

“It was fantastic. Great location, very good presentations and high-caliber conversations”

“Informative presentations, good networking opportunities. Looking beyond the horizon into the domains of mechanics and electronics”

Final Thoughts

Look, I get it. November. Another conference. More travel. But if you’re going to spend two days at an automotive engineering event, this is the one worth attending.

Want to see what it was like last year? Check out the 2024 program booklet or watch the video retrospective.

And seriously, if you want a VIP ticket: email me now. Don’t bookmark this page thinking you’ll remember later. You won’t. None of us do.

See you in Munich!

Register here: https://www.sodiuswillert.com/de/events/automotive-day

P.S. The IBM Watson Center has great views from the upper floors. Just saying. Worth showing up early to check it out.

P.P.S. If you’re flying in, Munich airport is well-connected. The city center is about 40 minutes by train. Much better than… well, Las Vegas. (See my other posts if you want to know how I feel about Vegas…)

10 Jahre MESCONF

April 24, 2025 / / 0 Comments

MESCONF – Modeling Embedded Systems

Worum geht es bei der MESCONF?

Embedded Systeme sind allgegenwärtig; ein Alltag ohne diese intelligenten kleinen Helfer kaum noch vorstellbar. Wie man Embedded Systeme so baut, dass sie zuverlässig das tun, was erwartet wird, das steht bei der MESCONF im Mittelpunkt. Dabei betrachten wir insbesondere, wie Modelle helfen können, Architekturen, Systeme und Software zu entwickeln und zu verfeinern.

Warum solltest Du teilnehmen?

Der oft beschworene “Blick über den Tellerrand” kann
überraschende und wertvolle Anregungen bringen, wie
die eigene Projektarbeit verbessert werden kann.
Deshalb steht der Austausch von praktischen
Erfahrungen in konkreten Anwendungsbeispielen bei der
MESCONF im Vordergrund. Anwender berichten aus
ihren Projekten, und es gibt viel Raum, sich über das
Gehörte, eigene Ideen, Erfahrungen und Erwartungen im
persönlichen Gespräch auszutauschen.

Format der MESCONF

  • Fachvorträge
  • Diskussionsrunden
  • Workshops der Toolhersteller
  • Fishbowl

Warum gibt es die MESCONF?

Ganz einfach: weil Embedded Systeme heute derart komplexe Aufgaben
lösen, oft auch im Verbund, dass die Entwicklung extrem aufwendig
werden kann. Fehler werden spät entdeckt; deren Beseitigung ist
kompliziert und kann zu unerwünschten Seiteneffekten führen, und am
Ende laufen Kosten aus dem Ruder, und Liefertermine werden verpasst.

Visuelle Hilfsmittel wie Bilder sind hilfreich; noch besser sind Modelle!
Weil die Symbole eindeutig sind und nicht falsch interpretiert werden
können. Modelle können in Entwicklungstools bearbeitet werden, was
viele Entwicklungsaufgaben erleichtert.

Inhalte können überprüft werden, Source-Code, Dokumente und andere
Artefakte generiert werden, mit Hilfe von Simulationen können
Unstimmigkeiten frühzeitig aufgedeckt oder ausgeschlossen werden.
Missverständnisse werden minimiert, viele mögliche Fehlerquellen sind a
priori ausgeschaltet.

Was kann Modellierung konkret leisten und was ist dabei zu
berücksichtigen? Das „Modeling Manifest“ (http://mdse-manifest.org)
einer Gruppe von Experten ist ein guter Einstieg. Jedoch: was sich darin
einfach liest und logisch anhört, ist in der Praxis nicht in jedem Projekt
exakt so umsetzbar, und es stellen sich immer wieder neue Fragen.

Und genau deshalb gibt es die MESCONF, fokussiert auf diese Thematik.
Am 22. und 23. Mai 2025 treffen sich Experten und Anwender, um „Best
Practices“ auszutauschen, Ideen und Fragen zu besprechen und neue
Erkenntnisse zu gewinnen.


Rückblick auf die MESCONF 2024


Fachvorträge MESCONF 2024 (Auswahl)

  • Funktionsorientierte Entwicklung mit MBSE und Potentiale für den Einsatz von AI
    Jochen Epple, Mercedes-Benz, Anuschka Gummel, BHC
  • Game Changer SysML v2 und AI
    Tim Weilkiens, oose
  • Guided System Modeling und Übergang in die SW und E/E Domäne
    Johannes Trageser, SodiusWillert
  • SysML v2 in der praktischen Erprobung
    Samir Sarkic, Bosch


Workshops MESCONF 2024

  • Infineon: Model-Based Design (MBD) and Automated Code Generation
  • Mathworks: System Architecture Modeling of an Electric Vehicle with MathWorks Toolchain
  • Incquery: Model Governance für das Digital Engineering der Zukunft: IncQuery Validator Product Launch
  • IBM: Einstieg in die Modellbasierte Entwicklung – Welchen Einfluß hat die neue SysML v2 auf etablierte MBSE Methoden?


Auszug aus den Diskussionsrunden MESCONF 2024

  • AI-Assisted MBSE
  • Model-based requirements engineering
  • Text vs. Grafik aus Anwendersicht
  • Reviewing models — review management, results management, results documentation
  • Requirements in the loop — Verifikation von Anforderungen durch Formalisierung
  • Product-line engineering — ab wann sinnvoll, wo anfangen?
  • Impact analysis in models — how to make it work
  • Das Problem mit den UML-Komponenten in IBM Rhapsody


Hier gehts zur Agenda 2024

Ich hoffe viele von euch zu sehen auf der MESCONF!

Walter van der Heiden (walter@sodiuswillert.com)

10 Years of MESCONF 

April 16, 2025 / / 0 Comments

10 Years of MESCONF – Let’s Talk Models, Not B.S.

April 16, 2025 / rhapsody207 / 1 Comment / Edit

🎉 We’re celebrating 10 years of modeling, collaboration, and fresh ideas!

📅 May 22–23, 2025 | 📍 Infineon Campeon, Munich

Let’s cut to the chase: 2025 marks 10 years of MESCONF.

What started as a small prototype has grown into the go-to event for model-based systems engineering (MBSE) pros, tool nerds, process thinkers—and let’s be honest, all of us who just really like making complex stuff actually work.

Whether you’re a Systems Engineer, Architect, Tool Wizard, or just MBSE-curious, MESCONF is where the real conversations happen—with folks who know what they’re talking about, no PowerPoint fluff required.

💬 What’s on the agenda?

Classic expert talks? Yep.

Open discussion formats? You bet.

PowerPoint prison? Nope.

Pre-scripted speakers? Forget it.

The real star? Open Space.

Here’s how it works:

👉 Got a topic? Bring it.

👉 Others care? Talk about it.

👉 No hierarchy, no moderator—just smart people exchanging real-world ideas.

From SysMLv2 to traceability, simulation, tool integration, and yes—AI in modeling—Open Space is where the sparks fly.

🤖 My 2 cents this year:

I’m pitching an Open Space session on AI in modeling.

(And yes, I do say “AI” not “KI”. “KI” sounds like a technique for getting cows pregnant—no offense to the cows. 🐄💉)

On a serious note:

  • Where does AI actually help in MBSE?
  • Where is it just shiny nonsense?
  • How can we integrate smart assistance into our workflows without handing over the model to some black box?

Curious? Opinionated? Just want to argue a bit over coffee? Come join the conversation—I’d love your input.

🛠️ Why bother showing up?

Because modeling is how we wrangle complexity.

Because MBSE doesn’t have to live in an ivory tower.

And because MESCONF is one of the very few places where you’ll find open, honest, practical exchange without corporate smoke and mirrors.

🎟️ Spots are limited – sign up now:

👉 https://mesconf.de

🚀 10 years of MESCONF – let’s write the next chapter together.

See you in Munich!

Keep modeling – with Rhapsody or whatever gets the job done.

Walter van der Heiden

walter@sodiuswillert.com

Happy Modeling ( preferably with Rhapsody)!!

Walter van der Heiden email://walter@sodiuswillert.com

2019 is half over already….

July 9, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Introduction

Or as we say in the Netherlands: the year is cut in two. Time flies when you’re having fun!
What have we seen? A new Rhapsody (8.4)! Lots and lots of new customers, a merger with Sodius… learning French…

What are we going to see in the next half year?
A new Rhapsody! (8.4.1?, 8.5?… 9.0??? who knows!) RXF ‘C’ 7.0, AUTOSAR Adaptive support, C++14 support (Will take a while… sorry….)

MESCONF 2019

Something to really look forward to is the Mesconf, the Modeling for embedded systems conference that we organize every year in Munich. (Oh and last year in Shanghai!)
Since this is a German Congress, the flyer and other information is in German. So sorry for “english-only” readers….

Die deutsche Konferenz über modellbasiertes Engineering für Embedded Systeme gewinnt immer mehr an Bedeutung 

Im 5. Jahr seit der initialen Veranstaltung in 2015 ist die Verwendung von verifizierbaren Modellen als System Spezifikation eines der Schlüsselthemen

Jochen Epple von Daimler berichtet in seiner spannenden Keynote über die Motivation für modellgetriebenes Systems Engineering in seinem Unternehmen, wie es die klassische textuelle Anforderungsanalyse ablösen wird und wie weit man inzwischen gekommen ist.

In diesem Kontext wird es auch eine Arbeitsgruppe geben, die sich mit Konzepten beschäftigt, wie zukünftig bei Auftragsvergaben modellbasierte Spezifikationen im Kontext von Lasten- und Pflichtenheften genutzt werden können, welche Vorteile und Herausforderungen sich daraus ergeben werden.

In bewährter Manier werden Erfahrungen zu vielen anderen spannende Themen in Arbeitsgruppen ausgetauscht und Lösungskonzepte erarbeitet: Modellierung von Varianten und/oder Plattformen, Test Driven MDSE und die Simulation von Modellverhalten, um nur einige Beispiele zu nennen.

Raum für Experten und Toolhersteller, die Ihre Konzepte und Lösungen vorstellen ist inzwischen fester Bestandteil der Veranstaltung geworden.

Und wie immer erwartet die Besucher auch dieses mal ein innovatives aber bereits sehr bewährtes alternatives Format, was die Konferenz zu einem echten Anwendertreffen macht, die deren Fragen und Belange in den Vordergrund stellt. Dazu hier exemplarisch zwei Kommentare aus den letzten Jahren:

‘Ich war positiv überrascht von dem Open Space Ansatz. Zu allen Themen, die mich interessierten, habe ich wertvolle Anregungen oder Bestätigungen bekommen. Ich bin beim nächsten Mal wieder dabei.’ (Michael Sommer)

‘Es hat sich einmal mehr gezeigt, der direkte Austausch zwischen Anwendern lässt sich durch nichts ersetzen‘ (Martin Reiß)

Weitere Informationen: WWW.MESCONF.DE 

Treffen Sie Top-Experten,  Anwender und Toolhersteller. Lassen Sie sich inspirieren, bringen sie Ihre ganz konkreten Fragestellungen ein und diskutieren Sie Lösungen mit gleichgesinnten Praktikern und Experten. Machen Sie sich schlau über aktuelle Trends, Methoden, Tools und Lösungen. Zwei Tage rund um das Thema Modellierung von Embedded Systemen im Systems und Software Engineering sind ein gut angelegtes Investment in Zeiten des rapiden Wandels und der Komplexitätsfalle.

Zum 5. Jubiläum der MESCONF vergeben wir 10 Freikarten. Sie haben Interesse? Dann senden sie sofort eine Mail an uns, weil die schnellsten und am besten informierten, wie so oft, gewinnen!

OK that’s it. Have fun modeling (With any tool!)

Walter van der Heiden ( wvdheiden@willert.de )

Back in München

October 4, 2018 / / 0 Comments

So. Sorry for the long break, it has been busy. Traveling soups up energy, the BLOG is the first to suffer.
I was in Munich during Oktoberfest, again like last year. I am not a big fan of large parties with hundreds of thousands of people. I like beer but I enjoy it more when it is quiet.
But I was invited by IBM and there were enough people I know so I went there. First speak with IBM about their products and then Friday night on the way to the “Schützenzelt” to drink some beers.
For the people who are not familiar with the Oktoberfest, it is an ancient tradition in Munich where people celebrate the harvest of the hop, which is used to make beer….
It is not in October, at least not completely, it starts in September.

It has become world famous and now there are many visitors from around the world.

So. At IBM discussing their products… Yes but the selling of their products… not the technical details, will do that at another congress, later this year.
This was held in the beautiful IoT Tower, on the 21st floor with a stunning view over Munich.

Back to Rhapsody

The Willert Support Department had some interesting cases last weeks, unfortunately not much to write about, there was a very hard to trace installation bug that did apparently influence only 1% of the people, difficult to track but IBM has found it and it is solved.
There is an iFix3 for the latest Rhapsody 8.3.1, see the download portal for the Release Notes.

The RXF

The RXF V7 is also becoming more and more updates. The actual version is V7.03, it now includes CMSIS1&2, OO-RTX, FreeRTOS, embOS, Windows, Linux, COO-RTX. In planning are QNX and Cygwin.
Examples are available for the Keil LPC1700 Board but also for the Infineon XMC4500relaxKit
The RXF-Cert is under construction for C++, so there is a lot going on in the Willert Lab!

So. Short but powerful!

Have fun modeling with Rhapsody!

Walter van der Heiden (wvdheiden@willert.de)

MESCONF 2018

June 8, 2018 / / 1 Comment

Introduction

As every year we have organized our MESCONF (Modeling of Embedded Systems CONFerence) We changed the format a little bit, this year we have extended it to 2 days, the first day is just like last year with the difference that we have an evening session, the second day is “Tool Vendor Day” to allow Tool vendors to do a more marketing focussed presentation of their tools

Again at the fantastic Infineon location in Munich we had 80 people there listening to various presentations of experts and later some Open Space sessions.

The evening session with Nicolas Dierks the Philosopher was really interesting and shines a new light on our lives as developers.

panorama2.png

As usual we used “Open Space” to organize a big part of the MESCONF. Proven concept, since years we receive very good critics about it.

We spoke about lots of things that occupy modelers these days. One thing that returned in many meetings was the topic of “How to handle people who are refusing to model.”
A very interesting topic. Why are people refusing to model?

  • Some people just don’t get familiarized with modeling. Modeling is not easy, you need a lot of initial knowledge to apply it in the correct way. The only thing that helps there is train, train, train, coach..
  • Modeling is different from programming. Sometimes people who are real programming guru’s refuse to switch to modeling while they lose their “guru” status. It is difficult to discuss with them since they do not refuse consciously most of the time. they will use other arguments to refuse modeling and keep on doing what they do.
  • “Known hurts are better than unknown happiness”. A common attitude of most people is to stick to what they know until the hurt is really, really big. As long as people manage somehow to deliver their products using old methods they will stick to them.
  • “We don’t have time to repair the fence, we are busy catching chickens”. Most people are under stress and continue doing what they do because the stress does not allow them to step back and take the time to evaluate the used methods.

There is no “silver bullet” solution to that. The common feeling is that the world is leaning more and more towards modeling, partly because younger developers have less objections against it (Mostly they had it in school) and because the complexity is increasing faster. We also notice an increase in Rhapsody business. And that’s good!

OK, that’s it. Happy modeling with Rhapsody

Walter van der Heiden (wvdheiden@willert.de)

München in winter – Rhapsody 8.3!

February 13, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Muenchen

This week I was in München again. We have lots of customers there so traveling to Munich once and a while is unavoidable.

This time I went there by plane. There are more possible ways to go to Munich, plane, train and car. I let it depend on the starting point (from Home, which is 150km further then from the Office) The weather forecast (not very good, snow and ice) and my own personal feeling at the time (don’t wanted to drive far) So… KLM, do your job…

This time they did, no snow or wind to cancel the flights. And then flying is pretty easy for me. Just hop on the train in the city I live, check in (Yes… the Netherlands have a “public Transport Chipcard”. Just hold it against the check-in pole and it beeps. Check out again 1,5 hours later at Schiphol and you’re done. Eat your heart out, Germany…..

Flying went fast and comfortable. I like flying with KLM. In Munich I took the S-Bahn to the hotel. Always a challenge to find out where to go and which train you need. Giving the right directions in the right dose is an art, Munich does not have that.
But OK, München is OK. I don’t like their football team (at least not “that one”) but the city is cool. So I arrived at the hotel and checked in. # days of AUTOSAR modeling before me, later more about that!

Rhapsody 8.3

Almost in Nikolaus day (December 6) IBM released Rhapsody 8.3. As I already mentioned before: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it….
If you really want to update: please wait until we have tested the release and determined the parts that require special attention.
In a complex world, development environments are becoming more and more complex. Even small changes can have large consequences. Here I will give you a heads-up on the changes and some caveats we (and a helpful customer!) have already established.

File Format and extensions

To allow a better integration in the Jazz platform, IBM needed to change the format that Rhapsody uses to store its models. until now that format was proprietary (but working quite well) IBM changed that to an XML format. To indicate the change they changed the file extension (Like Microsoft did in Word and Excel, they went from .doc and .xls to .docx and .xlsx) Rhapsody files now also have an x behind it (.rpyx, .sbsx, etc)
This seems like a minor issue but is deadly when you want to keep your historical information in your config management files.
Some CM systems allow you to change the name of files but you have to do that by hand. Not a small job if you have large models….

Not new

In fact, the new database format was already there, it was just optional in version 8.2.1. It was there in the release notes but it was not really noticed. To be clear: I like this change. But it is a complex one, it takes time to solve all the pieces of the puzzle.

DiffMerge

OK, a new file format. Does that work with DiffMerge? The good new: Yes it does. The bad news: it only saves as .<file>x. converting old into new.

Save As?

The question that comes up immediately is: Can I still save in the old format. Yes you can! Like all (since 7.4) Rhapsody versions you can do “File”, “Save As” and then go back 2 Database versions. I don’t have an official statement from IBM yet but to me this looks like this option will be gone after 2 more releases.

When to update?

So this does not bother you? And you want to update to 8.3 anyway. Well… don’t do that yet. Certainly not if you use Eclipse (Plugin and Workflow), there have been some issues there.
There has been an iFix already but that did not solve all problems. IBM is working on this with high priority but it takes some time. I’ll keep you posted.
If you also use the RXF you also have to be a little patient, we have to test it first. Check our download portal, we keep you informed.

Happy modelling with Rhapsody (8.2.1)

Walter van der Heiden (wvdheiden@willert.de)

Oktoberfest

September 19, 2017 / / 0 Comments

This week starts in Munich. Or actually in Münster where I stay in a hotel to prevent having to go up at 4 o’clock. My flight to Munich leaves pretty early here, the Hotel is close to the airport and has a taxi service. Without large check-in luggage the check-in time here is about 10 minutes.

But enough about Münster, I’m on my way to Munich, not my favorite town as you might remember. Luckily I don’t have to drive..

The flight was hard enough to get since this is the time of the “Wies’n” as the Munich people call the “Oktoberfest”. Yes, correct, that is not in October… People from all over the world travel to Munich to have a look at the Oktoberfest. And I am invited by IBM on their IoT (Internet of Things) conference with a visit included.

I personally couldn’t care less, the music they play there is absolute horror, the noise is terrible and the only good thing is the Beer that they serve in large glasses that contain 1 whole liter (Mass), drink a few of them and you won’t notice the rest anymore…

Unfortunately I have a busy week and I’m on a diet so no beer for me. So I have to survive it cold-turkey.

Finding the right place was not easy, we had a description but the Oktoberfest place is huge.

There are positive sides, luckily. I meet with old friends from the pioneer Rhapsody days and that is really cool.

The conference was very good, we spoke with many people from IBM about the tools. Although IBM is breathing “IoT” to the outside world, this conference showed that they are still very much aware that there is no IoT without compelling tools!

There is a lot going on with Rhapsody and all Jazz tools, I will speak more about that later when things are released.

In the meantime: Happy Modeling with Rhapsody!

Walter van der Heiden (wvdheiden@willert.de)

RUGS & DUGS

July 1, 2017 / / 0 Comments

On Tuesday June 27 we had our yearly RUGS&DUGS. That is the Doors and Rhapsody User Group Summit. Actually the correct abbreviation would be DRUGS. Is fine with me (i’m Dutch) but my German colleagues were against that name. Well OK… but acronyms ending in UGS are all problematic… well except Hugs I guess 😉 Check out RUGS/DUGS in google…

But the conference was successful despite the name, a lot of users were there. This year we were in München, not exactly my favourite city. Or to be precise: i hate Munich. Traffic is hell, public transportation sucks, hotel cost a fortune unless there is a fair then hotels cost more than a house in north Germany, the local soccer team are a bunch of tax criminals.

Enough about bad stuff, onto the good stuff. On our User Group Meetings (and also the MESConf we held the day before) we use something called “Open Space”. This is something that was invented by Harrison Owen and David Belisle. These guys organised conferences and in their evaluations they found out that most people liked the conversations they had during the breaks best. So they figured out a way to extend the conversations during breaks: cut the presentations and formalize the breaks.

There is a time/place plan that allows for multiple conversations to take place, participants determine the topics themselves, put them on a board on a specific time and place and others can, with a look on the board, determine what is interesting to go to.

Works like a charm, i’ve witnessed an Open Space conference a dozen times now and all were great. You can learn a lot in a short time.

More Info

This is one of the methods we use to spread our knowledge about MDSE/Rhapsody/Doors/etc. Other methods are:

this BLOG!

FaceBook

Twitter

IBM DeveloperWorks (Recommended!!!)

Rhapsody4You (please use Developerworks from now on!)

UMLforum (use Developerworks please!)

Andy’s Page

Training & Coaching

Download Portal

Support

You see, enough possibilities to extend your knowledge and become an MDSE Pro real fast! About the forums: In close cooperation with IBM (Thanks Johan Adelgaard!!) we decided to concentrate all Rhapsody knowledge on the IBM site. You will need an IBM ID to login but that is totally free and takes 1 minute to set up.

The next UML Trainings are:

  • 19. – 21.09.2017 in Stuttgart
  • 14. – 16.11.2017 in Bückeburg

 

 

Happy Modeling with Rhapsody!

Walter van der Heiden, wvdheiden@willert.de

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