Boston Linux Meeting Wednesday, March 16, 2011 Agile Programming

[David Kramer]

On 03/10/2011 01:23 AM, John Abreau wrote:
> I've updated the topic, but the detailed description still just says
> 
>     Details to follow
> 
> Can you send me a more detailed abstract of Nancy's talk?

Description of talk:
Agile From the Engine Room: Making the world safe for good geeks

The strength of the Agile movement is based on many of the same
fundamentals that give the open source movement its power: individuals
caring about their craft, strong technical foundations, recognition
based on merit. But creating mechanisms for it to endure is no easy
thing. The success of both communities has meant they must deal with
misinformation, mis-application of their ideas, and outright lies.

Maybe you’ve been in a company where “being Agile” meant that all you
had to do was skip documentation and code really, really fast. Or maybe
you’ve worked in an “Agile sweatshop”. Such abuses exist.

First we’ll look at the truth about what constitutes a healthy Agile
team – by going on a virtual tour of the team room of a real Agile team
that is running their first iteration for a safety-critical project.
We’ll see what their day-to-day practices actually are, what their user
stories look like, and how the Agile mechanisms make room for the voice
of technical competence to be heard in the din that accompanies the
startup of a high-stakes project.

Then we’ll briefly explore who’s using Agile methods in open source
work, how the practices typically vary for open source teams, and why
it’s so difficult to move from people-driven mode to the “rule of law”.
It’s all part of making the world safe for good geeks to be able to do
their work – and do it right.


Her bio should read:
Nancy Van Schooenderwoert is an Agile Enterprise coach and founder of
Lean-Agile Partners, Inc. She has over a decade of experience applying
Agile practices as an engineer, manager, and consultant. She has led
Agile change initiatives in safety-critical, highly regulated
industries, and coached clients in the art of Agile technical and
management leadership. Nancy's experience spans embedded software and
hardware development for applications in aerospace, factory automation,
medical devices, defense systems, as well as financial services. She
holds a BSCE in Computer Engineering from Rochester Institute of
Technology and is President of Agile New England.



Thanks, John.