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The Java Community Process (JCP) program applauds the community's Star Spec Leads.
These leaders earned this honor through their efficient, prompt, and transparent
communication with their Expert Group, the Program Management Office (PMO), and the
Executive Committee (EC). They used community web pages, observer aliases, and other
tools to communicate with their expert group, the JCP program community, and the public.
They kept their Java Specification Requests (JSRs) on schedule by making sure their team
stayed focused and felt appreciated. The JCP program congratulates and honors these Star
Spec Leads. |
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As a Senior Technology Manager of Nokia's Technology Platforms division, Kimmo Loytana is responsible for
coordinating JSR standardization activities as they relate to Nokia's terminal products. Armed with a
master's in Software Engineering, Kimmo has participated in various research and development projects
that have to do with software platforms in embedded consumer electronics devices, primarily mobile phones
of late.
Kimmo first began working with Java technology in 1996.
At that time he was working on digital TV software
platforms, and Java technology appeared to be a good
candidate for enabling applications to interoperate
in the set-top boxes of different manufacturers. He
became heavily involved in creating the DVB Multimedia
Home Platform (MHP) based on Java technologies and
the JavaTV API. In the beginning, Java technology in
its original form (that is, before the Java 2 Platform)
was considered too much of a resource-hog for mobile
phones. However, as time went on and the application
of Java technology started looking more feasible in
mobile phones, Kimmo moved away from the digital TV
related Java technology issues to embrace the issue
of integrating Java technology into mobile phones.
In his personal quest "to make Java technology in embedded devices a rich and robust platform for
applications," Kimmo has been heavily involved in the standardization of Java technology and Java
technology-based software platforms. At the same time, he serves as a consultant when it comes to creating
Java technology implementations for Nokia's products. He has been an expert participating in standardization
and implementation projects, a project manager and now a technology manager responsible for coordinating the
standardization activities related to Java technology.
Kimmo had gotten involved in Java API specification
activities in cooperation with Sun even before the
JCP program existed (JavaTV API, partly also following
JavaPhone API). Nokia formally joined the JCP program
as a member from the very beginning in 1999, and since
then Kimmo has participated in more than 15 J2ME-related
JSRs (36, 46, 62, 68, 118, 120, 129, 205, 216, 217, 218, 219, 230, 248, 249, 258, 271)
as an Expert Group member. Moreover, several Spec
Leads of Nokia-led JSRs are in Kimmo's group reporting
directly to him.
Kimmo also served as a Spec Lead of JSR
179 Location API for Java 2 Platform Micro
Edition (J2ME). In that capacity, he communicated with his group by e-mail, telephone conferences,
and face-to-face meetings. JSR 179 is already in the slow maintenance phase, but during the specification
development period, the communication channels were quite active. Kimmo is pleased to report that the Expert
Group members actively participated in developing the API, and several features of the API were based on their
suggestions. The JCP program Expert Group's internal pages were used, although at the time when the JSR was most
active, the JCP program tools were not as developed as they are now, so the group had their own internal pages
hosted on a server in Nokia's network.
The Expert Group organized both face-to-face meetings and telephone conferences to agree on the issues and to
come up with the specification. All important decisions were made in face-to-face meetings or telephone
conferences and were done in consensus, usually even unanimously, after having discussed the issues. All
comments were shared with the whole Expert Group, which decided how to take them into account.
Kimmo says, "Communication within the Expert Group has always been active and as Spec Lead, I have taken into account and responded to feedback from the Expert Group very actively. Communication with the PMO has been good, and we communicated mostly by email, whenever it was needed for purposes related to the JCP program process of reviews and releases or for maintenance of the Expert Group member email list."
"As Spec Leads, we are of course ultimately responsible for making the work progress and for producing the deliverables on the planned time schedule. Naturally, I wanted the Expert Group to work actively and make decisions in a timely manner. Fortunately, there were several other experts who were very active, so we did not have problems making good progress," says Kimmo. JSR 179 was carried out according to the planned schedule and with very good cooperation between the Expert Group members.
Even before the emphasis on transparency under the new JCP program 2.6 version, Kimmo's group included in their review drafts of the specification some notes on open issues in order to solicit feedback from the community during the reviews. The anticipated schedule was also shared publicly.
Kimmo's best advice to new Spec Leads is to make sure that the whole Expert Group gets involved and the specification is really done as a joint project of the Expert Group.
To relax in Finland, Kimmo enjoys reading, listening to music, and making music on the piano and keyboards.
Go to the Star
Spec Lead Program page for more information.
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Kimmo Loytana