Hi everyone,   Here's your chance to get your agile fingers dirty vicariously with Nancy V's: "Virtual Tour of a Lean-Agile Team"   The details are below.  I've known Nancy for a long time now and she's not only a good speakier but she knows her stuff.    Clarke    
> > ------------------------------------
> >
> > Presentation by Nancy Van Schooenderwoert
> > June 16, 2010 at Glasgow University
> > (further details will be on http://www.leanagilepartners.com/events.html)
> >
> > Cost: Free
> > Location: Glasgow Caledonian University
> >
> >
> > Abstract:
> > Using examples from a real team building a safety-critical embedded product,
> > this presentation introduces the concept of Lean Thinking for development,
> > as distinct from manufacturing.
> >
> > Lean development addresses whole products – hardware and software; all the
> > engineering disciplines. But the real key is the way lean principles unite
> > the business and technical sides of the organization. Lean development opens
> > up better ways to engage with your customers, and for that reason it is not
> > something to be ring-fenced to just the technical departments. In fact the
> > companies where senior managers led the lean-agile program achieved
> > significantly better results than those where it was limited to the IT
> > group.

It's short notice (thanks to an unexpected hospital visit), but we've got 2 great free Agile Scotland events happening this coming  Thursday (13 May) @ Glasgow Caledonian University. 

• The first is a day session for business folk & managers concerned about using Agile&Lean to make more money.
• The second is an evening session for good coders who like robots and a bit of competition.

Please read below then email me on clarke.ching@gmail.com to sign up.
Many thanks to the School of Engineering and Computing, Glasgow Caledonian University, for providing the venue and supporting AgileScotland once again.
Clarke
1.  Agile/Lean boot-camp: for businesses which need to make more money, now      by Clarke Ching - 10am - 3:30pm [Free - but with 3 restrictions]
This is a follow on from the very popular free training sessions we ran last year.  This time the course is aimed at businesses which need to make money but are struggling because their software projects are fraught with problems.  A lot of businesses miss out on the financial benefits of working in a lean/agile way because they mistakenly think it's only for techies.  This is a course for managers, sales folk, relationship managers, solutions architects, CFO, business owners and anyone concerned with the financial aspects of software projects.  It is NOT a course for developers, analysts, designers, testers.  It's NOT a course for start-ups, agile consultants, or for ftse-100 businesses.
We will cover:  a) How to make promises/offers to your customers which not only delight them and which - most importantly - you can keep, profitably. b) How to sell agile projects to external and internal customers at high margins. d) How to use Agile & Lean to rebuild trust with your existing customers. c) How to use Agile & Lean & Theory-of-Constrains to speed up your multi-project environment and deliver many more projects each year. d) How to turn (a-c) into happier staff, happier customers and more cash.
The three restrictions:  * Your business must have an established software development team with between 5 and 50 developers. * You must have permission to discuss (with the group) the way your software development teams currently work and the ways they don't work. * No more then 2 people per business can attend - and we only have room for about 12 more people.
[Please note that this is not a sales pitch.  I've been doing free stuff for AgileScotland for a half-dozen years now and I just happen to have a fortnight free to do this kind of stuff.]
2.  Agile Robot's - Matt Wynne - 6-8:30pm. [Free]
Now for the fun bit: a coding competition, with Robots! 
Small teams of programmers will create robots and send them into battle over a series of tournaments. Which team's strategy and skill will win?
First, read more details here.   Second, check if you've got the necessary skills:  
Competence in a programming language that will run on a linux system (e.g. python, perl, ruby, haskell, java, clojure, erlang, possibly C# (under mono) - if we figure out how to support it!  You'll need to bring a laptop.
Third, acknowledge that this is a dry run of the SPA session Matt is running later this month so there may be a few teething problems.  
Fourth, remember that this is a competition, but it'll be more fun if you don't just code in java or COBOL.
Fifth, email me for to book.
Finally, you've probably already signed up for Mary Poppendieck's free evening event the following Wednesday but the conference room is huge so if you or a friend would like a spot then please email me at Clarke.Ching@gmail.com.  There are still just a few seats available for the Poppendick's training course the following day - email me and I'll connect you with Adrian and they other folk organising it.
---
Clarke Ching -  
* Over 14,000 people have read "Rocks Into Gold" ... my  biztech parable about Agile ... that never mentions Agile.  Read it for free at tinyurl.com/RocksIntoGold or buy it from amazon. --- www.clarkeching.com Phone: 079 2011 4893

Hi Everyone,   And now for a little agile fun ....   Matt Wynne is running an Agile Robot Touranment session at the SPA (agile) conference in late May where:   Small teams of programmers will create robots and send them into battle over a series of tournaments. Which team's strategy and skill will win?   This hands-on session will test how well you can meet that goal by challenging you to code a simple robot that will have to compete in a series of battles. You can continue to refine and upgrade your robot though the tournament. The earlier you release your robot, the sooner you will win some battles and start accruing points.

This is a great chance to have some fun showing off your coding skills as well as your project management strategies!   Matt's kindly offered to run the session locally sometime during the next few weeks.  It takes about 2.5 hours and it's very hands on.   Trouble is, before we run the session, ... we need a room.  Can you help?  It'd ideally be somewhere in Glasgow (although Edinburgh would be okay) and be able to fit 12-20 agile developers and equipment for 2-3 hours during an evening or weekend.  You can see the full details here: http://www.spaconference.org/spa2010/sessions/session275.html.    If you can help please email me at clarke.ching@gmail.com.  It would be very disappointing to miss this.   Clarke

This is one for those with an entrepeneurial bent ....   The conference programme is here: http://www.sllconf.com/.  [Kent Beck is one of the speakers].

The simulcast is being kindly hosted by Winterwell in the Grassmarket,
who most of you will know/recognise from Techmeetup. Hypernumbers will
provide a snack...
The sign-up page is:
http://www.eventbrite.com/event/652392323   Hope to meet some of you there.   Clarke

Hi everyone,   Excellent news.  On the evening prior to Mary and Tom Poppendieck's "Leading Lean Software Development" course in Glasgow next month, they'll be giving a free public presentation for AgileScots.  Mary and Tom are worldclass speakers - always interesting, always relevant - so you won't want to miss this.   A Brief History of Software Development - sponsored by Lean Data Solutions. Throughout the short history of software development, there have been some major advances in approaches and techniques, but there have also been many fads that have come and gone. The question is – how do you tell the difference? This talk will take a walk through the history of software development, looking at the facts, the fads, and the fallacies. It will distinguish sustainable improvements in software development from shiny new approaches that will eventually go out of style.   Where:  A hotel in Glasgow's West End When: 19th of May, around 7pm. Sponsored by: Adrian Mowet and Lean Data Solutions.   We only have 50 spaces and I expect them to fill quickly.  Please email me to book a place: clarke.ching@gmail.com.    Clarke Ching 07920114893   BTW: Adrian, who is hosting the training and sponsoring this free evening event, says there are still spaces left on the course.  The early bird price expires on the 20th of this month.

Can help out two friends/colleagues of mine?  They're both on this list. They both lost their jobs when their employers stumbled due to the recession. They're both good at what they do.   I can't name them here, but I'll call them Tim and John.  They're both in their extremely early 40s.

• John is an outstanding and innovative Agile development manager.  He's also a gifted developer who still actively codes.  He has set-up and managed several successful Agile development teams and, until the recession devastated his former employer, he lead a team of little over 50 staff,  globally.  He's worked in big corporates and small start ups.  I say, without reservation, that John is one of the most inspiring and trustworthy managers I've ever met.  He also has a habit of getting things done.

Where as John is a polished professional, Tim is a diamond in the rough.

• Tim left school when he was 16 to work in a factory.  In his early thirties he started an Open University Computer Science degree and discovered that he not only loved programming but he was also good at it.  He scored 90+ for virtually every assignment and after graduating he got a good junior-programmer job with a local consulting firm.  He's now had 4 years solid development experience, working in one of the local banks.  His development background is classic ASP and .net, with an emphasis on the database side of things.  He worked for me a few years ago and he's the sort of guy you can throw a meaty, messy problem at and he'll do better than most at untangling it.  You'd happily have a few beers with Tim after work but you wouldn't throw him into a sales meeting.  Tim and I are currently working together on a small not-for-profit cloud-based app.  

Just for the record: I don't do recruitment and I'm not looking for a commission. It's just a shame that these two guys aren't working in jobs they'd love.   If you know someone who might NEED a Tim or a John then contact me at Clarke.Ching@gmail.com.   Thanks.   Clarke 07920114893.

The Scottish Ruby conference is long sold-out but there are still a few spots for locals to get some world-class Ruby on Rails training ... really cheap.   My recommendation: even if you can't get your boss to pay for this, take holidays and pay the £75 from your own pocket.  If you are inquisitive and into coding then you'd be made to miss this.   Clarke   Paul@ScotlandOnRails.com writes: >The pre-conference Scottish Ruby Conference charity tutorials, held in Edinburgh on Thursday 25 March, are a great chance to acquire or augment your skills while also supporting a well-deserving charity.   Being both rapid and test-driven, Ruby on Rails is very much an Agile framework in an Agile language.  Popular with start-ups and gaining traction in The Enterprise, demand for Rails programmers is growing.  The Scottish Ruby Conference charity tutorial is a great and affordable opportunity to bootstrap your Ruby skills: for a full day's Ruby tuition all that is asked is a £75 donation to the Children's Hospice Association Scotland.   The  introductory course is being run by experienced Rubyist, Keavy McMinn for those new to Ruby and/or Rails. This covers the getting an application up and running, as well as going beyond the basics into adding more advanced features like Ajax.   For those who are currently familiar with Rails, Joe O'Brien will be running a refactoring workshop.  Taking a poorly written code-base, participants will learn to identify various code smells, and how to transform ugly code into beautiful code by applying standard refactorings.   Places are limited.  Sign up using the link below   http://scottishrubyconference.eventwax.com/src2010-charity-tutorials   Make your donation to CHAS here:   http://www.justgiving.com/src2010

Hi everyone,

Last summer Rob Lally and I ran a few very well received "Intro to
Lean and Agile software development" training days. They were free for
any victims of the recession and about £30 each for people in work. We
had some excellent feedback and we made some good friends. We promised
to run more ... but then work commitments, the weather, and such, got
in the way.

Now that the winter is (nearly) behind us, I'm thinking of doing the
same again but this time instead of daytime sessions we'll run them in
the evening so that they suit people (like us) with day jobs. That'll
mean we have 3 or 4, 2 hour sessions spread over 2 or 3 months. Once
again we will keep the price down low enough to cover expenses of the
venue.

If you are interested in attending [or contributing to] something like
this then send me an email (Clarke.Ching@gmail.com) and I will see
what I can do. Please feel free to forward this note on to your
friends and colleagues.

thanks,
Clarke Ching, www.clarkeching.com, 07920114893
Linlithgow.
----------------
Author of Rocks Into Gold - An Agile Parable and - coming soon -
Rolling Rocks Downhill - An Agile & Theory of Constraints Business
Novel.