[AgileScotland] Agile and Lean: Crash Course - Glasgow, Wednesday 1st of July.

Good news!

1. We'll be holding our next low-cost "Agile and Lean Software Development: Crash Course", next week, on Wednesday the 1st of July in Glasgow. Better still this course is absolutely FREE, but with a limit of 3 people per company, per course.

2. It's free for everyone, this time round, since some very switched-on folk at Glasgow Caledonian University (where they've been teaching Agile to their students for a half dozen years) have very kindly sponsored the venue. This is awesome and I'm very grateful! But it does mean that I don't expect to repeat the course in Edinburgh this summer (unless I find a sponsor).

3. I'll be repeating this course twice in July, both in Glasgow, but if you are able to make the 1st course then please send me an email quickly. I'll confirm the other dates soon, but we'll be in a smaller room for those sessions and you may miss out if you wait. If you can't make the 1st then send me a note and I'll see what I can do.

4. I've gotta warn you though - we've already had an aweful lot of interest ... so get in quick.

5. Let me put that another way: it's short notice, but if you can make the 1st then please send me an email. It'll be easier for me, and you're more likely to get a spot. And, if you're based in Edinburgh ... come to the course in Glasgow

Clarke

[AgileScotland] When it just *has* to work: Agile Development in Safety-Critical Environments

Hi Everyone,

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, a very experienced Agile coach with a very long name, is in Edinburgh next Friday afternoon, the 26th. She's presenting a one-off session, running from 3-5, about Agile in Safety-Critical Environments to the agile team at Toshiba Medical Visualizaton Systems (they're one of Scotland's agile success stories). You can see details of Nancy's talk, below.

The folk at Toshiba have very kindly set aside a few spaces for the general public.  If you are interested then get back to me - clarke.ching@gmail.com and I'll let you know if you've got a spot early next week.  I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to turn some of you away.  If you are particularly interested in safety-critical code then let me know and I'll prioritize you.

Clarke

When it just *has* to work: Agile Development in Safety-Critical Environments

Traditional thinking holds that the more critical the application, the more tightly its development must be planned, staged, and controlled. The truth is that a flexible culture is stronger, safer, and more robust. FDA regulatory standards are designed to support a learning organization – fully compatible with Agile! This session gives you practical tips for moving your customers and auditors to a flexible agile approach to planning, team interactions, and risk management. When the culture shifts, the result is not just that teams achieve their goals sooner, but safety is greatly enhanced.
Process/Mechanics

Learning outcomes

   * Get ammunition for conversations with managers, to show why incremental design is safer than up-front design
   * See examples of how several medical device companies are already reaping increased ROI from using agile team discipline
   * Understand how the traditional method of hazard analysis is more dangerous than the agile approach
   * Be able to explain to your customers (internal and external) the benefit - to them - of working collaboratively with you
   * Grasp how the regulatory requirement for separate reporting chains for development and QA need not prevent Agile collaboration


Who Should Attend
Key attendees are described here as "Personas"

Patricia - a seasoned project manager. She prefers agile development to her old attempts to force teams to conform to an overly prescriptive plan. But, her stakeholders still ask for the same predictability and schedule commitments. And the regulatory documentation needs seem to force a "big design up front" approach so she ends up with a mix of agile and waterfall practices that is only marginally better than waterfall.

Don - the product Quality Assurance representative. Don is responsible for quality concerns of the overall product, only part of which is the embedded software. In particular, Don has to make sure all the requirements of the regulatory agencies (in his world, the FDA) have been fulfilled, and wants to be sure the Agile approach will result in the kind of information he needs to provide.

Glasgow's clinic & Agile lunch ...

Hi everyone,

This week's clinic is full up.  Well be holding another one in Edinburgh shortly and then we'll be back in Glasgow next month.

I'm wondering though, would anyone like to meet up for lunch before the clinic?  I'm thinking noon at Wagamamas.  Send me a note if you're keen.

Clarke

West Coast Clinic Bios.

Here're the bio's I promised.

Let's start with Rob. 

Rob Lally has successfully managed and delivered over 20 Agile projects in the last ten years.

Rob blends Agile and Lean with a pragmatic, commercial focus. He's experienced Agile from many different perspectives; having worked as a developer, architect, coach, project, programme and product manager. He's built in-house applications for a Fortune 50 company, public-facing web apps and retail products, using both distributed and co-located teams.

A technologist at heart, Rob always makes time to write code, learn new languages and stay on top of emerging technologies. Rob, formerly, worked as a Vice President at JPMorgan. He now runs his own consultancy company.

And now for Pete:

Peter Aitken has spent the last decade working as an Agile coach and developer.  During this time he has worked mostly in Java environments working on  a diverse range of applications including  DVD and Blu Ray authoring tools for Universal Studios and fund management tools for investment banks.

Peter currently works as an Agile Coach and Developer in a small team creating Ruby on Rails applications.  Peter is an expert in developer-lead acceptance testing. He created Marjoree (http://marjoree.com), a ruby gem (library) used to test-drive sybase store procedures. His current favourite toy is Cucumber (http://cukes.info/ ),  a BDD framework which teams use to describe in plain text how software should behave.

Peter is scheduled to present to AgileScotland on Cucumber over the summer.

I vouch for both of these guys.  I've learnt plenty from both of them during the years. 

And finally, me:

My name is Clarke Ching.  I teach - and do - a very simple version of Agile - one that works well for people who haven't read too many books on Agile, who really don't want to be "extreme" about anything, and who, maybe, use COBOL, or Java, or .net, or maybe don't even develop software at all.  I call it everydayAgile because it's designed to bring the benefits of agile - more projects finished, happier customers, happier developers, and so on - to everyday people who work in everyday businesses.  It's the 80/20 version of Agile where you get 80% of the benefits, with only 20% of the effort.

If you are familiar with Goldratt's Theory of Constraints (as used by manufacturers like Intel and Ford) then EverydayAgile is TOC applied to software development.  If you're not familiar with TOC then think of Lean as Toyota do it (rather than how it's described in the books) instead.

I run my own consulting business and chair the not-for-profit AgileScotland special interest group.  Between engagements and in my spare time I write.  Later this year the Pragmatic Programmers will publish my business novel Rolling Rocks Downhill which explains everydayAgile in detail.  It's just like Goldratt's The Goal, but set in corporate software development.  You can buy my first book RocksIntoGold - a business parable, like "Our Iceberg is Melting" or "The One Minute Manager", which explains why businesses should do Agile, without mentioning anything technical or even the word agile (hint: it's all about cashflow) - from amazon or you can read it at rocksintogold.com for free.

Clarke

AgileScotland clinic - Glasgow City Centre, 2pm, June 11.

Hi everyone,

I am astounded at the turnout we've had at our AgileClinics and at last weeks Lean, Agile and Kanban "Crash" course.  I regret not kicking these off years ago. 

More Courses: Thirteen people turn up last friday - 6 paying, 7 free - and the feedback was excellent. We're definitely running another course in Glasgow sometime in June once I find a suitable venue - if you can suggest somewhere then please give me a yell; at this stage most of the positions are filled, but email me if you'd like to go on the waiting list.  We're also looking to run 2 more courses in Edinburgh - one exclusively for Spring Recruitment's linked in group, in their offices, and one open to eveyone using the same venue we used last week. 

The Next Clinic - Glasgow City Centre, 2pm, June 11.:  Peter Aitken, Rob Lally and I are available for free consultion at next week's AgileScotland Clinic.  We'll be meeting in one of the Starbucks or Costas near Borders but we'll give you more details nearer the time.  If you'd like a little helping hand then you can learn a lot in an hour.  So far we've helped Agile veterans and newbies; managers and techies.  The conversations are 100% confidential.  Email me now at clarke.ching@gmail.com.

I'll send out Pete and Rob's bio's shortly.

---
Clarke Ching -  
1.  Author of "Rolling Rocks Downhill" ... a business novel about software development; coming soon from the Pragmatic Bookshelf.
2.  Author of "Rocks Into Gold" ... a biztech parable for developers who want to THRIVE during the recession.  www.RocksIntoGold.com 
www.clarkeching.com
Phone: 079 2011 4893

[AgileScotland] Edinburgh training day ... now Friday the 29th

Hi everyone,

We've had very good uptake so far,  which isn't surprising, I guess...

Please note: we've had to move the training day to FRIDAY the 29th, rather than Thursday. 

Clarke

Full day "Introduction to Lean and Agile" training in Edinburgh & Glasgow ... FREE

Do you work in Software Development? Do you want to enjoy your job more? Do you want to ship more projects?

update: date now Friday 29th May.

Today I'm delighted to announce the first of our very low-cost AgileScotland "open source" training courses.

Title: "An introduction to Lean and Agile - for Scottish Businesses"

Presented by: Clarke Ching and Rob Lally.

Where: Princess Street, Edinburgh

When: Friday 29th (was Thursday 28th May), starting 9:15 for 9:30; finishing around 4pm;

Cost: FREE if you are currently not employed; otherwise £30; we'll provide coffee & tea but you'll need to provide your own lunch.

Learn Agile and Lean from two of the UKs most experienced Agile and Lean practitioners/coaches.

After attending this course you will understand why Agile (in it's many flavours) works, why it is sometimes hard work, and what you can do to make it easier. You will know Agile well enough that you'll be able to explain it to your bosses, your staff, your colleagues. You'll know enough to sell the financial benefits of Agile to your bosses and to plan your first agile initiative.

We will cover:

* Why? The business reasons for doing Agile

* What? The technical reasons for doing Agile

* Yes, but ... why do Agile projects stuggle (hint: they execute the practices superbly, but miss the prinicples)

* A solid overview of Scrum, Kanban, and Extreme Programming

* An introduction to Test Driven Development.

* Agile / Lean for the IT department (i.e. when you run more than 1 project).

Prerequisites: You must already have at least 2 years professional experience working on (or with) Software Development teams. You must live or work in Scotland.

Restrictions: Only 2 people maximum from each company;

Book now by emailing me at clarke.ching@gmail.com giving me an idea of your employment status, job title, and why you'd like to attend, then very early next week I'll confirm your position. We expect to fill up very quickly so it's first come, first served. If you'd prefer to attend the course in Glasgow then email me too - if you don't ask, you don't get.

Please forward this on to anyone who might be interested ... We will try to repeat any popular courses.

--- Clarke Ching, Linlithgow, Scotland.

1. Author of "Rolling Rocks Downhill" ... a business novel about software development; coming soon from the Pragmatic Bookshelf.

2. Author of "Rocks Into Gold" ... a biztech parable for developers who want to THRIVE during the recession. www.RocksIntoGold.com
www.clarkeching.com
Phone: 079 2011 4893

[AgileScotland] London Lean & Kanban (Europe) 2009 Sep 27-29

Hi everyone,

 

Some of you many be interested in the Lean / Kanban conference being put on in London later this year.  See below.  They're got a fantastic lineup.

 

Speaking of conferences with fantastic lineups ... Rob Lally and I spent the last month or so speaking with some of Scotlands most gifted Agile / Lean / Other practitioners and we now have a fantastic lineup for our as-yet-un-named mini-conference.  I can't name names, nor specific dates, just yet but you're all going to be very impressed with some of the stuff that's going on out there. 

 

---
Clarke Ching -  
1.  Author of "Rolling Rocks Downhill" ... a business novel about software development; coming soon from the Pragmatic Bookshelf.
2.  Author of "Rocks Into Gold" ... a biztech parable for developers who want to THRIVE during the recession.  www.RocksIntoGold.com
www.clarkeching.com
Phone: 079 2011 4893

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: David J Anderson <netherby_uk@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, May 18, 2009 at 5:03 PM
Subject: [agilemanagement] ANN: Lean & Kanban (Europe) 2009 Sep 27-29 London
To: agilemanagement@yahoogroups.com


Rob Hathaway (and his colleague Jason Smith @ Indigo Blue) with Karl Scotland (EMC Consulting) are organizing the European version of the Lean & Kanban Conference in London this coming September.

http://ukleanconference.com/

Mary Poppendieck, Alan Shalloway, Don Reinertsen and I will be key note speaking. Other notable speakers include Kenji Hiranabe and Jeff Patton (both Gordon Pask Award winners), John Seddon, Hal Macomber and Corey Ladas.

Online registration isn't open yet but you can call the number on the web site and pre-register with Jason. The event is strictly limited to 200 people because of the venue. Quite a few folks have already pre-registered - many more than registered early for Miami. We do expect the event to sell out given the high level of interest in Kanban in London and the stellar speaker line up.

David
http://www.agilemamagement.net/



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AgileScotland clinic - Edinburgh, Thursday afternoon, 21st of May

Hi everyone,

 

If you'd like a little free, confidential* Agile or Lean (or even Kanban or TOC) advice from a local expert then .. we're holding the next AgileScotland Clinic next Thursday, the 21st of May, in Edinburgh.  Send me a note and I'll book you in with one of the experts.  

 

Yours leanly ...

 

Clarke

 

* Don't worry, your conversations will remain 100% confidential.

[AgileScotland] Clinics ... East Coast

Hi everyone,

 

Wow! I've been very pleasantly surprised by the overwhelmingly positive response to the Agileclinics.  I was a little nervous that people might think it was a daft idea, but apparently not.  Take a look here to see how Agile Austin are running their AgileExpert sessions.  I've taken a slightly different direction in that rather than dropping in, I'm asking people to book.  I'm not sure what's best but I was concerned about confidentiality and scheduling issues.

 

So here are the Bio's of our east coast based contacts. I've known all three for at least 5 years and they really know what they're talking about.

 

1.  Alan Francis - http://cardboardsoftware.com/

With 15 years experience as a developer, I've built systems for clients that include Power Stations, Multimedia Authors, Breweries, Retail Stores and Investment Banks.  I am a Rails and RubyGems contributor, spoke at RailConf, RailsConfEurope and RubyConf, and organised the wildly successful Scotland-on-Rails Ruby conference.  I can do Java, but these days, I mostly do Ruby or iPhone work.

 

I'm also a consultant,  I made an early move towards Agile Methods and attended the first XP Immersion course hosted by Kent Beck and Martin Fowler in 1999.  I became an active member of the XP community, speaking and teaching at conferences such as XP200x, XPDay, XPUniverse.

 

I like building software, but I *love* building teams.

2.  Brian Swan - http://www.codedexterity.com/

 

Brian is an Agile mentor with extensive experience in both the technical and the management aspects of Agile.

He has successfully led a variety of teams transitioning to Agile methods helping them to improve quality and customer satisfaction and deliver software into production with substantially reduced lead times.

Brian has over 14 years development experience and a particular interest in test automation and continuous integration. He developed EXACTOR, an open source acceptance testing framework for Java, (http://exactor.sourceforge.net) that has been successfully used by many teams to test both web and rich client applications.

3.  Paul Wilson - http://merecomplexities.com

I am an Agile/Extreme Programming coach and coder who has worked with many teams to improve their
process and ʻAgilityʼ.  I have been practising Test-Driven Development since 2000, and other Agile practices
since 2002.  Over the past ten years, 70% of my positions have been repeat-business, or through recom-
mendation.

I am an active member of the local Ruby and Agile communities, and co-organiser of the very successful Scotland on Rails
conferences.  I currently code mostly in Ruby, Java, and Objective-C but am open minded about other languages.

I'll send out the West Coast list shortly.  If you'd like to volunteer to help or if you'd like a little friendly advice then send me a note. 

 

Clarke 

 

[AgileScotland] - Talk at Napier University - "Don't blame the Project Manager-the problem can be the status of your IT Governance"

Hi everyone,

 

Pritam Chita from Napier University forwarded this on to me.  It looks VERY interesting and I hope to go along.  Maybe I'll see you there.

 

Clarke

 

****

 

The following talk will be given by Shirin Sherkat-Khameneh on Monday 4th May 2009 at 4pm in Room F29. Merchiston Campus, Edinburgh Napier University

 

Title:      "Don't blame the Project Manager-the problem can be the status of your IT Governance"

 

 

Abstract:   Project Management needs IT Governance to deliver the right solutions at the right time effectively and efficiently.  Using examples from the Technology and Public sectors, this seminar will discuss the symptoms of ineffective IT Governance and how they impact Project Management and what Project  Managers can do to help address the issues.

 

 Brief Bio:  Shirin Sherkat-Khameneh is a Management Consultant with over 25 years experience working in the Technology and Public sector. She has been involved in business process  improvement for over 20 years and has championed the delivery of a number of IT Governance frameworks. Her most recent appointment was for the Scottish Parliament.

 

 If you wish to attend, please contact me ( p.chita@napier.ac.uk )  to reserve a place

 

Pritam Chita

  

Lecturer in Software Project Management

School of Computing

Edinburgh Napier University

 

 

Tel: +44 (0)131 455 2708

Fax: +44 (0)131 455 2727

Mob: +44 (0)777 556 0717

Re: [AgileScotland] Introducing our day time "Agile clinics" - a little free, friendly help if you're struggling.

Hi everyone,

Looks like we're holding the first clinic in Glasgow, Thursday the 7th
of May. It'll be in the Starbucks next to Borders book shop next.

I have 2 appointments left.

Clarke

[AgileScotland] Introducing our day time "Agile clinics" - a little free, friendly help if you're struggling.

Hi everyone,

Just over two years ago I woke up one Monday morning, made my weetabix, took a bite, swallowed and doubled over in agony.  By the end of the day I was in the high dependency ward at The Royal Infirmary dosed out on morphine.  I had chronic pancreititis, an illness which has a surprisingly high fatality rate.  I was lucky, I survived, but I'm told it was pretty scary.

So what's this got to do with Agile?  Well it turns out that If I hadn't missed my last two diabetic clinics (due to work travel and complacency) then my GP would have immediately noticed my hugely elevated triglyceride levels; he would have changed my medication and scared me into going to the gym; I would've avoided a whole lot of physical pain; and I wouldn't have scared the **** out of my family and friends.   

The treatment, it turns out, is incredibly simple: each day I take 3 capsules of medical strength Omega Three fish oil.  

So here's the Agile connection:

Over the last few months I've been chatting with a bunch of very seasoned AgileScotlanders and we've come to the conclusion that with the addition of just a little bit of (free) expert advice many of the Agile implementations here in Scotland would be HUGELY healthier and happier.  

We're sick of hearing "Agile bad news stories" that could have been easily avoided so ...

  ... each month, from now on, we're going to run a free day-time "Agile Clinic" in a local coffee shop.  We will alternate between Glasgow and Edinburgh and (if there's demand for it) Dundee and Aberdeen.  We'll be there for 2 hours or so. 

If you have an Agile problem you'd like help with then send me an email - Clarke.Ching@spiceUpIT.com  - quickly describing the problem and I'll book you in for a 30 - 60 minute "consult" with someone who can probably help you out.  They'll "take a blood test" and because they're experts they'll usually prescribe some off-the-shelf "medication".  

A few things: 

• we promise to keep the conversations absolutely confidential; 
  
• no one will never ask for money at these sessions;
  
• all we ask for, in return, is that - provided you find the clinic useful -  then please will you recommend us to your friends, colleagues, bosses and competitors;
  
• we won't ever make a sales pitch to you but you are welcome to hire us or recommend that others do;
  

Over the next couple of days I'll send out "bios" of our current stable of "Agile GPs".  You probably know of most of them: Rob Lally, Alan Francis, Paul Wilson, Brian Swan and myself.  We all specialise in different areas with a bit of overlap.  We all know what we're doing.

The first clinic will be NEXT WEEK in either Glasgow or EDINBRUGH.  

You get to decide.   If you need a little confidential Agile help, or you have a friend who does, then email me now -  Clarke.Ching@spiceUpIT.com and I'll get the ball rolling.

Clarke

[p.s. Thanks to the guys in Agile Austin who run similiar sessions and inspired me to do the same.]

[AgileScotland Conference] More for Less: Using Agile to Save your Job

Hi again,

Can you help?  I'm in the early stages of organizing another full day Agile meetup ( think part mini-conference, part workshop) here in Scotland. It won't cost much and - all things being equal - it'll happen before the summer.

As well as having plenty of very practical managerial & technical content covering HOW TO do agile better, the conference will also focus on WHY using Agile can save your job and/or business.

The equation is simple -  Agile done well produces better software, faster, delighting your customers; it needs less cash to run an agile project, you do more projects each year, each delivers sooner, but you don't need more people; that puts loads more money in your employers bank accounts and with healthier bank balances they keep paying your salary. It's a simple enough equation but a lot of people don't get it.  Agile is the right thing to do. We need to start selling it better so that more of us get to do it.

So, I need your help:

 

- What do YOU want to learn from a meetup like this?  What would your boss want you to learn?

- What areas of Agile particularly concern you?

- Do you have a success story you'd like to share?  A failure you'd feel comfortable sharing so we can all learn?

- Are you interested in introductory or advanced sessions?

 

Here're some thoughts:

... I've already got volunteers for a session on the different ways to handle requirements - stories, use cases, features, etc.

... I've also got three volunteers who are willing to share their success and failure stories.  Would you like to join them?

... I imagine there'd be a lot of interest in the leading edge agile test-first thinking.

... I'd like to run a workshop on identifying the benefits of Agile and using them  to get buy in from your boss's boss.

 

Send me an email (Clarke.Ching@Gmail.com) if you have any thoughts or would like to volunteer to help. 

Please ...

Clarke

[AgileScotland] Training - FIT for developers - Brian Swan, 21st and 22nd May 2009

Hi Everyone,

 

Brian Swann is an excellent Agile trainer and coach who lives and works right here in Scotland.  He has been a member of AgileScotland since the early days and over the years I have often sought his advice on the more technical aspects of Agile.  He knows his stuff.

 

Next month he is presenting on of his courses (on using FIT) here in Edinburgh.

 

Brian writes:

Communication, collaboration and automated testing are are the heart of Agile methods. Used effectively FIT/Fitnesse can help you to improve all of these on your project. In this 2 day course you'll learn the tips and techniques to get the most out of FIT/Fitnesse on your project.

 

The course is for developers who are using, or thinking of using, the FIT or Fitnesse framework for automated acceptance testing.

 

During the 2 day course attendees with learn:

 

       • How to use the FIT/Fitnesse framework to create executable documentation.

       • How to document and test business and validation rules, queries and searches, business processes and workflows.

       • Handling test data including variable elements such as dates and times.

       • How to add FIT/Fitnesse to your build process, running tests and publishing the results.

       • Integrating FIT/Fitnesse into your development process.

       • Involving customers, testers and analysts.

       • Avoiding common pitfalls when using FIT/Fitnesse.

 

Course details and registration http://www.codedexterity.com/courses

If your dev team is currently under pressure to do more with less, then take my advice and invest this course - FIT is an excellent prodcutivity tool when used properly; Brian is an excellent teacher; and the course will pay for itself within weeks.

 

Clarke

[AgileScotland] LinkedIn group

Hi everyone,

 

If you use LinkedIn then I please follow the following link to join the AgileScotland group. 

 

http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1883781&trk=anet_ug_hm&goback=%2Egin_1883781_false_im*5invite_cs*5connections

 

The groups feature works surprisingly well in LinkedIn and seems to be getting better all the time.

 

I still continue to email out to this list ...

 

Thanks

Clarke

 

AgileScotland - Uni thing and a free book ...

Hi everyone,

 

1.  A quick update: I've had several volunteers -Peter Aitken, Paul Wilson, Brian Swan, Rohan Cragg, Colin Brodie-Smith, Graeme Brown, Mark Davidson, Rob Lally, and Ian Brockbank - to help out with the university initiative; I've got two universities definitely signed up; and I've you've all passed on a number of useful contacts which I'm pursuing.  So thanks!  This'll start out small ... but I hope we can make it into something bigger over the years.

 

2.  I'm attending Endava's "agile outsourcing" event this Thursday afternoon in Edinburgh.  If you're going along or fancy meeting up afterwards for a quick chat (around 6:30, Edinburgh city centre) then send me a note (clarke.ching@gmail.com).  I've got a couple-dozen copies galley copies of RocksIntoGold back from my pubisher and if you'd like a copy then I'll bring one along on Thursday. 

 

If your boss (or your customers) would like a copy (free) then send me their postal address and I'll post a signed copy out to them.

 

Clarke

Can AgileScotland make a difference? (Includes free agile course)

Over the years I've done a good few lectures, talks and workshops for local universities about Agile and its cousins.  The older students (who have worked in, or about to work in, the "real world") have a good, healthy appetite to learn about delivering good, profitable software. What disappoints me, though, is that over the years I've been contacted by several of the students I've taught who have graduated,  got real jobs but then discovered that (a) agile has a bad reputation where they work because it's been done badly there in the past, (b) agile is being done "according to the books", but it's widely regarded by "the troops" as a bit of a joke, or (c) no one's ever heard of agile.  Unfortunately, there are currently less than a dozen good, solid agile initiatives running in Scotland (we lost a few good teams as a side-effect of the credit crisis), and they don't tend to employ recent grads. 

I want us - AgileScotland  - to do something about this.  

 

I want to do what Apple does:  

They put their products into schools so that the kids who use them pester their parents to buy them (my 3yr old claimed to know how to use my new macbook even though I couldn't, so  I took it back for a refund) and, once they've got jobs, they pester their employers to buy apple products.  I don't know how well it works, but you've got to admit that apple owners can be annoying.

It's a slow process, but I'd like to take the same approach with Agile: teach tomorrow's developers, analysts, testers and managers how to make agile work in the real world, so that when they start working they know just enough to make a difference.

Three steps:

1.  I'm volunteering my own time to run a full-day version of my "EverydayAgile" course at any Scottish University, free to all  academics, students, and recent-grads.  All the university needs to do is provide a room, a digital projector, and at least 10 attendees.  In order to fit my work commitments, I can only run these free sessions on Mondays, Fridays or Saturdays.  It's a chance to learn the essentials of agile, how to make more money from doing it, and (in particular) the non-technical things you need to do to make it work right; there's a bit of coding involved, but nothing beyond your average manager or lecturer.

2.  I'm looking for volunteers from AgileScotland who are willing to give up a little of their time to teach some of the more technical aspects of Agile (which I don't cover).  Can you help?  I have a couple of volunteers already, but I'd love your help if you're up for it.  It'd be great, too, if we had anyone willing to take an hour or two, every so often, to publicly share their Agile success stories (especially if you are planning to recruit grads in the future).

3.  (The easiest step) I'm looking for introductions to people working in local Universities whose students have a technical, managerial or business interest in software development.  I'm working with one already and I'll be talking to a couple more next week.  Are you still in contact with your old lecturers?  Do you have friends who might be able to help? 

I hope this doesn't sound too melodramatic, but ...  I'm not Scottish, though my 2 daughters are; I've live here for decade now and I'd like us to at least try to make a difference.  If you can't help but you know someone who might ... then please forward on this email.

---
Clarke Ching -  
1.  Author of "Rolling Rocks Downhill" ... a business novel about software development; coming soon from the Pragmatic Bookshelf.
2.  Author of "Rocks Into Gold" ... a biztech parable for developers who want to THRIVE during the recession.  www.RocksIntoGold.com 
www.clarkeching.com
Phone: 079 2011 4893

[AgileScotland] One seminar & one fantastic training opportunity

Hi everyone,

 

1.  On April 2nd, Endava, an expereinced euroepean outsourcing company, are running an afternoon session in central Edinburgh covering their experiences doing outsourced agile development.  It's aimed at "Financial Services IT Professionals".

 

You can read the powerpoint invite here: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dfg96gcp_1dtzv7xcc

 

Please email Lawrence.Power@endava.com if your interested in attending.

 

2.  The Scotland on Rails conference sold out extremely quickly this year and so did the training event.  The GOOD NEWS is that they organisers have found a bigger venue for the training event so there are now more places available.  It's only 75 pounds for a full day with 2 of the worlds best Ruby/Rails trainers (and the money goes to charity).  It's an extremely good deal.  If your boss won't pay for it then take a day off and think of it as "me time".

 

Paul Wilson writes:  

If you went to last year's you will remember that things didn't go quite to plan. 

 

This year we are taking a different approach: it is an entire day's course, concentrating on core Ruby, planned and given by Pragmatic Sudios Ruby and Rails instructor Chad Fowler and Rails-core alumnus (and also a Pragmatic Instructor) Marcel Molina.  These guys are both expert rubyists and trainers.   All we are asking is that you make a £75 (75 GBP) donation to the Children's Hospice Association Scotland at the page below

http://justgiving.com/scotlandonrails

More details on the tutorial are here:

http://scotlandonrails.com/schedule/26-march/all-day-charity-tutorial/ (ignore the SOLD OUT sign on the page).

3.  They didn't ask me to write this, but I know that Paul Wilson and Alan Francis will be looking for work shortly after the conference.  I know them well and I know they're two of the best agile programmers in Scotland/The World.  It takes a huge amount of time, effort and personal sacrifice to deliver these community events so if you know of anyone who needs to hire two good, local developers then contact me and I'll put you in touch with Paul and Alan.  (I do consulting, not recruitment, so I'm not looking for commission).

 

Cheers,

Clarke

[AgileScotland] Rocks into Gold - free

Hi everyone,

I forgot to mention that my first book Rocks Into Gold is now finished.  It'll be on sale with amazon shortly but you can read it for free on slideshare: www.tinyurl.com/rocksintogold.  It's a short book and it's really easy to read on slideshare.  Take a look at the reviews first.  It's already been viewed by over 4000 people in the last month.

That said, let me tell you why I think you should block out 20 - 30 minutes in your diary to read it:

• It's a book about a programmer who saves his job, his colleagues' jobs, and perhaps even his company by using just one agile principle.  His project was about to be cancelled due to the recession/credit-crunch and he figured out how agile could help.  That said, he'd never heard of the word agile and it doesn't involve any coding.  It's all about understanding why the credit crunch is causing IT people to lose their jobs (and it's not quite what you think it is).
• If you're already sold on Agile then you'll be delightfully surprised that what you already know may help save your job and business in the recession.  Don't look down, but you're sitting on a gold-mine!  What I suggest is that you read Rocks Into Gold, say "oh yeah - I never thought of it quite like that before",  then pass it on to your boss or customer and let them read it. 
  
• A few of my favourite agile coaches have already bought copies to give to their customers.
• For instance, Nancy Van Schooenderwoert, who has spoken at AgileScotland a couple of times, wrote "Clarke - You've got real skill at *saying* the simplest thing that could possibly work to get people's thinking shifted over to more fundamental ideas that can't help but inspire action. Thanks so much - I will recommend this little book!". 
  
• I've even had one very respected manufacturing consultant contact me to say that he's thinking about how he can use the idea in the book to change his own business model. Oh, and I've been told by one respected blogger that his son - a landscape gardner - has done the same.  Those two surprised me...
  
• If you're not into Agile .. then read the book and you'll discover that you can very quickly get many of the benefits of Agile without even using the word Agile.

I've put a lot of my own time into writing this book.  I'm giving it away for free because it might help save jobs.  Please forward it on.

thanks,
Clarke