Common Europe Congress 2023 in Prague

IBM Champions Jack Woehr, Niels Liisberg, and Alan Seiden mug for the camera

The Common Europe Congress 2023 in Prague hosted around 400 international attendees steeped in IBM Power Systems from 11 June to 14 June.

This was my first visit to a Common Europe event, and I was greatly impressed. The organization was tight, the venue world-class, and the level of enthusiasm among the participants high. The sessions were interesting and useful.

When I asked various persons what they most got out of the Congress, at the top of everyone’s list was the interpersonal networking.

IBM Champions at Common European Congress 2023 in Prague

My 2 favorite sessions were:

• Microservices on IBM i by Niels Liisberg of System & Metode A/S
• Understand Your IBM i Performance Signature by Dawn May of Dawn May Consulting LLC

Both of these sessions contributed to my growing conviction that the 3 most important principles for IBM i shops who wish to stay on the platform and modernize are as follows:

1. We must understand the platform’s value proposition. IBM i is a hardware-software combination that offers top-drawer reliability, security, and process outcome accountability. We must focus on capacity, as revealed by performance tooling (thank you, Dawn May!), in order to utilize IBM i in a fashion which will always justify the cost of staying with IBM i. It’s natural for technical cadres to assert that IBM i is better, “Because I like it!” It’s quite another thing to assess the many tradeoffs that make the platform ideal for the enterprise. Dawn May’s presentation helped drive home for me the fact that a major part of the value proposition is IBM i performance tooling, which is superior to that typically available on competing platforms.
2. There is only one path to custom application modernization for any IBM i operation of substantial size, and that is to webify via REST APIs compliant with OpenAPI (thank you, Niels Liisberg!). Two-tier webification of this sort allows web developers who are new to the platform to become immediately productive. It’s easier to teach RPG developers to create REST APIs using modern tooling and leave the outer layers of the web application to persons already skilled in that art than to expect RPG developers to become experts in CSS, Javascript, web languages, etc. There exist various ways to tackle this transformation yourself, as well as vendor offerings which trade coding convenience for some level of personal control of the design.
3. Scott Klement, who was inducted into the Common Europe Hall of Fame at the Congress, actually enunciated the 3rd principle at the Northeast Users Group Conference (NEUGC) back in April. When asked how we were to draw young programmers into IBM i, Scott answered, “Hire them!” Laconic words for the ages! Enterprises have always had to hire and train. The talent is out there. If we are to recruit, the onus is on us.

The Congress attendees were graciously welcomed at Obecní dům, the Municipal House, a Czech cultural center where both Czechoslovakia and the modern Czech Republic were first proclaimed

A view of Prague’s Staroměstské náměstí, the Old Town Square

I hope to attend Common Europe events in the future. It is a fulfilling experience to be able to discuss international business as conducted on the platforms offered by the International Business Machines corporation in an international medley of languages and cultures and in the atmosphere of respect and inclusion fostered by Common Europe and its members and organizers!