Welcome to Agile Austin

February 3 Agile Leaders SIG – How To Compensate Agile Teams?

RSVP for session on Eventbrite

This month’s Topic:   How To Compensate Agile Teams? - how do you reward the “team” instead of the “individual”.

Session will be facilitated by Matt Roberts – Agile Austin President and Director of  Research and Development for CA.

About the Agile Leaders Special Interest Group MeetingThe purpose of the Agile Leaders SIG is to provide a forum in which those responsible for leading agile adoption and improving agile practices can learn from each other.  Attendees are expected to share their knowledge with the group and contribute their unique perspective.

Meeting Format:  A member will bring a topic for discussion, provide a short introduction to that topic, and then facilitate a dialog for the remainder of the meeting.

• 15-20 minutes presentation on topic
• 40-45 minutes for group discussion and sharing of experiences

Meeting Logistics:

• Max EKesi, Sr. Program Manager with Dell, and Chis Buoy, Director of Software Engineering at Drillinginfo will address meeting logistics and facilitation 
• Lunch will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin
• When: 12:00-1:00 first Friday of the month -  please be punctual
• Where: CA/Hyperformix office – 5001 Plaza on the Lake, Suite 102, Austin, TX (first floor)

Informal Directions and Parking Info:

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.

• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved. The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic. Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events. If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us!

January 31st Agile Architect SIG – Communicating Architecture in an Agile Environment

RSVP for this event via eventbrite

About the Architect Special Interest Group Meeting

The primary goal of the Agile Architect SIG is to facilitate information discussion about how Architecture works in the Agile Environment. Each meeting will consist of a round table discussion of issues of interest to the group

The group is facilitated by Lee Fox, Architect with Microfocus and David Sheth, Chief Architect at Calavista.

More information and group communication may be found at the SIG’s Google Group:http://groups.google.com/group/agile-austin-architects

Food and Drink

Lunch will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Informal Directions and Parking Info

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.
• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending. (These sessions are valuable to both newbies and experienced alike).

About the program

Communicating architecture in an agile environment

Description

One of the agile tenants is “Working software over comprehensive documentation.”  If this tenant is followed in the development process, agile architects should not deliver comprehensive documentation to the dev team, but should do something else.  That something else can include working software, illustration of concepts via Legos, quick whiteboard diagrams, or any number of other things.

Please come listen to and participate in a discussion of how to best communicate architecture in an agile environment.   Bring your stories of what worked and what didn’t, so that we can all learn.

Feb 7 Monthly Meeting – Coupling and Cohesion: Pillars of Software Development

Date: 2/7/2012
Time: 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Cost: Free
Location: Pervasive Software, 12365-B Riata Trace Parkway

Coupling and Cohesion: Pillars of Software Development

Coupling and cohesion stand as the often hidden pillars of software work. Either explicitly or implicitly many patterns and recommendations are built around them. At their essence coupling and cohesion not only form the basis of the work that goes into building a software system, but also have a lot to do with the humans developing that system, their knowledge, their limitations, and their teams.

Steve Teleki looks into the meaning of these concepts and provides a practical way to incorporate them into your everyday software project work. By paying attention to coupling and cohesion you’ll write easier to maintain code with fewer defects on shorter schedules.

Biography: Steven Teleki

Steven Teleki is software engineering executive, consultant, and mentor. He has over 20 years of experience in the software industry, including consumer and large enterprise products developed with distributed teams. He worked on software released to over 40 million customers worldwide. Steve is passionate about solving problems with great software on a schedule and budget that makes the project successful. He focuses on understanding, measuring, and improving individual, team, and organizational software development performance. He relentlessly works to improve cycle time while at the same time reducing post-release defects. Steve is Chairman Emeritus of the IEEE Computer Society, Austin Chapter. He can be reached at http://steven.teleki.net.

Directions:
Riata Trace Parkway is between Duval and Oak Knoll off 183. From 183: exit Oak Knoll Drive, turn right at Riata Trace Parkway. 12365-B is 0.8 miles on right

Agenda:
6:00 – 6:30 PM   Sign-in, Networking
6:30 – 9:00 PM   Announcements and Presentation

Integrating User Experience Into Agile Training Class – March 1st

http://experoinc.com/landing-page-for-ux-agile-integration-course/

Many development teams are adopting Agile techniques, but don’t know
how to effectively incorporate user-centered design and UX best
practices into the process. This two-day course provides practical
insight, whether you are new to Agile or trying to get more out of
Agile.

Unlike other Agile courses taught from either the engineering or
usability perspective, this course teams up two leading industry
experts from the worlds of Agile and User Experience to shed light on
different perspectives and lessons learned.

10% discount for Agile Austin Members

Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Class on Feb 23rd, 24th in NW Austin

Agile Velocity has partnered to bring Robin Dymond to town to offer a 2 day
Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) Class.
Register now and receive a $100 discount! Use this discount coupon in
Google Checkout: csm100earlybird

Leading a Scrum team is radically different than traditional project
management. Rather than plan, instruct, and direct, the leader of a
Scrum team (called a ScrumMaster) facilitates, coaches, and leads.

The 2-day Certified ScrumMaster training provides you with the
learning and experience required to lead, participate in, or sponsor
Scrum initiatives in your organization.

Workshop Description
Through a combination of immersive team-based learning, exercises, and
real-world case studies, you will learn how to:
Plan, initiate, and lead a Scrum project
Establish a shared vision for the entire team
Generate an agile release plan utilizing user stories and story point
estimation
Lead your Scrum team through planning, review, and retrospective
sessions
Create an environment in which self-managing teams can flourish
Identify, enroll, and engage business stakeholders in your project
ScrumMaster training provides an applied understanding of the Scrum
process and helps participants begin to develop the tools, insights,
and skills required to apply Scrum on their projects and across their
organizations.

Who Should Attend?
ScrumMaster training is designed for the members of an organization
who will lead, support, or participate in Scrum-driven projects; this
includes:
Project leaders
Development managers
Team members
Product managers
Pricing
The cost of the two-day workshop is $1,295 US per person. This
includes printed course materials, full access to ScrumTraining
resource center, and a one-year membership in the Scrum Alliance.

Register Here:
http://www.scrumtraining.com/register/

If you have any questions please contact David Hawks, david@agilevelocity.com

January Board Meeting

Some folks in the community have raised concerns recently about openness and transparency in Agile Austin. In that spirit, the board has decided to open the board meetings to all members.

During the meeting members may:

• Suggest content for board discussion and vote.
• Represent a position on a point of discussion

Members will be required to restrict their interaction to a time period defined by the board.

If you are a member and would like to attend, you must pre-register here:

http://agileaustinjan2012boardmtg.eventbrite.com/

January DevOps SIG Meeting 1/25

Welcome to 2011!

The DevOps SIG resumes this month on Wednesday, January 25th with a discussion of the role of monitoring and DevOps.  Come prepared to discuss both monitoring in its traditional role as well as its value back up the chain as a tool for developers to hone the quality, performance, and maintainability of their code.  This is an undervalued resource in many shops, yet could be a terrifically powerful tool for testing.  This might be a good opportunity for QA SIG members to come stimulate some good cross-discipline discussion!

Eventbrite link is here:  http://agileaustindevopssigjan2012.eventbrite.com/

MEETING LOGISTICS

Food and Drink

Pizza and drinks will be provided courtesy of Agile Austin.

Informal Directions and Parking Info

Hyperformix is on the south side of Lake Austin at the 360 Pennybacker bridge.

• Coming down 360 from the north, turn right into the first driveway (immediately) after the bridge.
• Coming up 360 from the south, exit right before the bridge, take the turnaround under the bridge and then turn right into first driveway.

You can park in the open lots or any of the garages that aren’t indicated as reserved. The meeting will be held on the first floor.

Seating is limited!

Please make sure you are able to attend this session. Seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. We want to give everyone the opportunity to attend, so please only sign-up if you are committed to attending and have an interest in the topic. Meetings are held on a monthly basis, and topics vary, so don’t worry if the topic for this month does not interest you–there will be plenty of chances to attend future events. If you have an idea for a future discussion, please tell us! These sessions are valuable to both beginners and experienced alike, and folks from all disciplines are welcome.

January 10th Workshop – Release Planning and Estimation

Goals:
Introduce you to a technique for Agile Estimating
Give you hands on experience conducting Release Planning
Show you techniques to provide visibility into the progress of a release
We will work through a hands on exercise covering the following topics:
Release Planning
Story Points
Planning Poker
Metrics and Reporting

For more information and to reserve a seat: http://agileaustinjanuaryworkshop.eventbrite.com/

Date: 1/10/2012
Time: 6:30 PM

Directions:

From North, take 183 to 360. Take 360 south. Turn right at the 2nd stop light onto Bluffstone Drive. The entrance to the building will be on the left at the top of the hill. It will be the building with “Micro Focus” on the side of it.

From South, take 360 north. Turn left at the Bluffstone Drive. The entrance to the building will be on the left at the top of the hill. It will be the building with “Micro Focus” on the side of it.

Speaker Bio:
David Hawks is a software development optimizer at Agile Velocity and thoroughly enjoys maximizing team potential. Prior to founding Agile Velocity, Mr. Hawks was the Sr. Director of Engineering at RenewData where he was responsible for all software development activities. He has over 15 years in senior technical management positions at RealVue Simulation Technologies, Exterprise (acquired by Commerce One) and Fireman’s Fund Insurance.
He received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management Information Systems from the University of Texas at Austin. He’s a Certified ScrumMaster and Certified Scrum Professional. When not helping teams turn into high performers, he can be found tailgating at UT games, gaming or watching his kids play sports.

The next Agile Austin Book Discussion book?

Help decide which book the Agile Austin book discussion group reads next. Please vote for one of the books below or enter your own suggestion!

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dDNhV2h1a1lINnltNXd2OXE0ckFZTlE6MQ

• The Fifth Discipline, by Peter Senge
• Managing to Learn: Using the A3 Management Process, by John Shook
• The Goal: A process of Ongoing Improvement, by Eliyahu M. Goldratt and Jeff Cox
• The High-Velocity Edge: How Market Leaders Leverage Operational Excellence to Beat the Competition, by Steven Spear

Dev SIG – Jan 12 – I know my code is high-quality when….?

About the Developer SIG

The primary goal of the Developer SIG is to promote community learning through questioning, critical thinking, sharing of experiences, collaborative problem solving, and exploring of our differences.  Each meeting will facilitate a group discussion relating to a common problem in software development. This month’s topic, sharing experiences with deployment automation.

The group is facilitated by Janelle Klein, Developer and Agile Practices Leader with New Iron.

Mailing List: http://groups.google.com/group/agileaustin-dev

I know my code is high-quality when….?

How do you know when your code is high-quality? And what does it take to get there? Come prepared to share your answers with a lively, pizza-stuffed gang of your peers.

Eventbrite: http://agiledevsig11.eventbrite.com