Speaker Series
An Open Space Meeting – "Increasing Agility"
Facilitated by Dave Limbaugh, XPWM board member and Technical Project Manager at Priority Health
When: June 26, 2007
For our last meeting before the summer break, we’ll have an Open Space session on the general theme of “Increasing Agility." Whether you’re completely process-bound or agile beyond belief, you’ll enjoy this session. You, the participants, will create the specific discussions and “vote with your feet” for what you are interested in. We’ll have special food at this meeting, and beer will be included!
See the Wikipedia entry on Open Space and Open-space meetings.
"You’re Kidding. It Does WHAT in Production ! ? !"
Who: Elisabeth Hendrickson, Quality Tree Software
When: May 22, 2007
Pairing, TDD, automated acceptance tests, and continuous integration all prevent defects and provide fast feedback on code quality. And yet, no XP team I’ve ever met produces perfect software. Good software? Yes. But there are still bugs. Sometimes the “bugs” are really new stories the customer didn’t think to add. And sometimes they’re actual bugs: software behavior that surprises even the people who wrote it. In this talk, Elisabeth Hendrickson explores some of the most common types of bugs we tend to miss, even on XP teams doing full-on, dials-to-11 XP. She’ll also discuss ways to improve the automated tests, and how Exploratory Testing can augment automated unit and acceptance tests to uncover such surprises before they sneak into production software.
Speaker Bio
Elisabeth Hendrickson founded her company as Quality Tree Consulting in 1997 to provide training and consulting in software quality and testing. She incorporated the company as Quality Tree Software, Inc. in 1998.
Elisabeth began working in the software industry in 1984. She has held positions as a Tester, Programmer, Test Automation Manager, Quality Engineering Director, and Technical Writer working for companies ranging from a 20-person startup to a large multi-national software vendor.
Elisabeth is an experienced facilitator and trainer. A student of Jerry Weinberg’s, Elisabeth is a graduate of the Weinberg & Weinberg PSL, ChangeShop, and SEM programs. She also studied Experiential Training Design with Jerry and his wife Dani.
Elisabeth is frequently invited to speak at conferences around the world. She has given keynote addresses at conferences in the US, Sweden, Portugal, and Australia.
In 2003, Elisabeth became involved with the Agile community. In 2005 she became a Certified Scrum Master and in 2006 she joined the board of directors for the Agile Alliance.
These days Elisabeth splits her time between teaching, speaking, writing, and working on Extreme Programming teams with test-infected programmers who value her obsession with testing.
Notes on John J. Cunningham's talk
The slides from John Cunningham's talk are available on BandXI International's site.
"Agile in Large, Inelastic Organizations"
Who: John J. Cunningham, Band XI International
When: April 24, 2007
Doing agile development in a relatively inelastic environment, where policies and procedures are virtually unchangeable, creates an impedance mismatch between the agile team and its host organization. Our experience on a variety of embedded Java projects has shed some light on the costs of complying (or failing to comply), where we trialed everything from “refusal to comply” to “full compliance”. Regardless of approach, there was always an associated cost, whether in redrafting documents, reducing functionality, spending time in meetings, losing focus on deliverables, or deteriorating morale. In keeping with the Agile philosophy, when our efforts were failing, we refactored our approach to managing the project in an effort to minimize the costs of compliance without adopting more risk to ensure success. In the end we were faced with the questions “How did we fare in the end? Which costs were worth bearing? Was it all worth it?”
Speaker Bio
Mr. Cunningham has two decades of experience engineering software solutions in a broad range of industries. Having begun his career in New York City as a consultant at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) and Computer Sciences Corporation, he moved on to a line management position at Citigroup (formerly Travelers Insurance). In the mid 1990’s, he joined Object Technology International, a small expert software development firm that was acquired by IBM. For over a decade, Mr. Cunningham served in both technical and business project leadership roles within IBM. In 2005, his desire to construct an agile environment for bright, passionate problem solvers led him to start Band XI International.
Mr. Cunningham earned his BS from Columbia University, MS from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and MBA from the University of Connecticut.
"Perils and Pitfalls of Agile Adoption"
Carl Erickson, Atomic Object
When: March 27th, 2007, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Where: Work Play Space, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
The underlying premise of this talk is that agile practices, genuinely and correctly applied, will improve your development process. From a broad range of experience, Atomic Object’s agile teams have identified approximately 100 common ways that teams and organizations trying to adopt agile practices can run into trouble. The perils and pitfalls are organized into 14 sections. Each pitfall is described, and strategies for overcoming or avoiding are given.
The 14 categories cover a broad range:
Customers, Pairing, Testing, Professional Responsibility, Advanced, Leadership, Project Management, Design, Business Model, Culture, Tools, Magic Totems, Misconceptions, People
This talk appeals to all job roles (developers, project managers, testers, analysts). People new to agile practices learn something about those practices by hearing a discussion on adoption failure points. People who have been trying to move their organization to agile practices get ideas and suggestions for tackling their particular issues. Experienced agile developers have an opportunity to share their experience.
Speaker Bio
Carl Erickson is the president of Atomic Object. Combining their agile software development process with clients’ domain expertise, Atomic Object helps companies build new globally competitive products in markets as diverse as aerospace, automotive testing, color measurement, health care and materials handling. Carl also teaches a summer class on software craftsmanship at Uppsala University in Uppsala, Sweden. Carl has authored papers in the areas of software testing, process improvement, and computer science education.
Atomic Object has been using agile development practices, mostly of an XP flavor, since 2000. The material in this talk is based on problems, mistakes, and learning we’ve done in growing a small, contract, agile shop from 2 to 20 developers, insights gained from consulting on software process improvement with much larger companies, and from six years of attending local, regional, and national conferences and learning from smart people like Ron Jeffries, Bob Martin, Elisabeth Hendrickson, Brian Marick, Bret Pettichord, Michael Bolton, Chad Fowler, and Scott Ambler.
"Introduction to Scrum"
Doug Shimp, 3Back
When: February 27th, 2007, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Where: Work Play Space, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
Whether you’ve only heard about Scrum, have read the Schwaber books, or are currently using Scrum, there is something here for you. You will take battle-proven values and powerful techniques back with you to apply to your real-world development challenges.
What this talk will cover:
- Key Principles to Understanding Scrum
- The Basic Scrum Engine
- Scrum Roles and Responsibilities
- Running Sprints
- Planning and Sizing – from Vision to Stories
- Product Backlogs, Sprint Backlogs, and Tasks
- Retrospectives – the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
- Measuring Progress
- Scaling Scrum & Multi-Team Development
- Agile Pitfalls
- The Promises of Scrum
Speaker Bio
Douglas E. Shimp is a CST (Certified ScrumMaster Trainer) Use Case expert and Agile Process expert. He has 16 years experience in the technology field. One of his distinctions is his focus on the interaction of technology and corporate cultural issues. He is currently writing a book on “The Product Owner.” He is certified by both Cockburn and Associates to teach “Writing Effective Use Cases” and Scrum Alliance as a ScrumMaster Trainer.
"Agile Development in the US Army Research Arm"
Mark Salamango, US Army
When: January 23rd, 2007, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Where: Atomic Object, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
When you have an organization of over one million people, it should come as no surprise that it embodies both extremes of the process spectrum, from heavy process to light agility. At one end of the spectrum, the US Army’s large programs are like the government that funds them: a great, non-agile bureaucracy. At the smaller unit level, fire teams and squads, soldiers handle their missions with tremendous agility in an environment of complete chaos. Yet, as a unified organization, the two modes of operation integrate, perhaps not optimally, but systemically. Within the research arm of the US Army, we are more likely to encounter the less agile processes, even though we may work directly with personnel who are experts in agility in the field. A further challenge to us, as civilian employees or contractors, is that we have no formal authority in the US Army; we cannot command anyone to adopt agile. Therefore, in developing systems for the Army, we listen, learn, demonstrate, educate, and deliver in order to learn from those who are agile so that we may introduce agility to others.
Our success with agile techniques derives from working with the smaller units, delivering to them and creating positive experiences that are then communicated up the chain of command. We earn trust by placing duty and honor at the center of our practices. Each project participant commits to doing the right thing for the team, to providing candid and transparent communications, and to treating other members of the team with the respect that they themselves desire. The resulting trust creates the opportunity for us to employ agile practices and escape the more common demands for encyclopedic documentation and elaborate, fragile plans. Serial success has evolved into de facto technical leadership, as others have begun choosing to follow what they see work. The path to successful agile introduction into a large organization demands duty, honor, and delivery.
"Don’t Follow the Lemmings"
Chad Fowler
When: November 28th, 2006, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm Where: Atomic Object, 941 Wealthy Street SE, Grand Rapids, MI 49506
According to the U.S. government, IT unemployment has doubled since 2000. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that between 2000 and 2004, the number of programmers in the American IT industry dropped by 17%. In just the first three months of 2005, U.S. techology companies cut 60,000 jobs – twice the number cut in the same period of the previous year. U.S. software jobs are being shipped overseas by the truckload.
Why? Because most software developers suck. If a company is going to create a rut and pay humans to fall into it, it makes sense to pay as little as possible.
The average software developer is a lemming, marching with his or her eyes to the ground toward an unknown goal.
The good news is that opportunities abound for those who are willing to stand up and look around. This talk will explore techniques, tips, and lessons learned in building a career that strays as far from the average as possible. We’ll draw from examples both inside and outside of the computer industry: When is Starbucks better than your locally owned favorite? What can we learn from Wal-Mart? Why was Apple stupid enough to get into a commodity market like MP3 players? When are bad musicians better than “good” ones?
Speaker Bio
Chad Fowler has been a software developer and manager for some of the world’s largest corporations. He recently lived and worked in India, setting up and leading an offshore software development center. He is cofounder of Ruby Central, Inc., a non-profit corporation responsible for the annual International Ruby Conference, and is a leading contributor in the Ruby community. Chad is a contributor and editor for numerous books and is author of the recently released, My Job Went to India (and all I got was this lousy book): 52 Ways to Save Your Job and the newly published Rails Recipes.
Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference
When: October 25-26, 2006 The first annual Great Lakes Software Excellence Conference will be held at the Prince Conference Center.
See the GLSEC website for more information.