Agile Learning Labs

Facelift

Checkout the new look over at the Technical Management Institute. Many thanks to Hillary for the new look.

SDForum SEM Sig

I spent the evening at the SDForum Software Engineering Management Special Interest Group (SEM Sig) meeting. The room was filled with engineering managers of almost every type and experience level. The presenter tonight was Narinder Sandhu, who worked at HP and Intuit before founding T-Rex Global. He managed to get everyone in the room to do a basic skills-assessment and career action plan, as part of his presentation comparing large companies to small startups.

After the formal presentation, the informal discussions were amazing. I talked with people about things as diverse as: finance, feedback, agile development, a mathematical model for organizational structures, and C vs. Lisp vs. Verilog! Oh yes, I’ll be back.

Engineering Managers Support Group – Report

Last night, 8 folks gathered in the event room at a Round Table Pizza in San Mateo to learn about giving feedback and discuss the issues they face managing engineers. I was especially gratified that two of my past coworkers dropped by and participated.

The new venue seems to be better located and has the capacity to support the group as it grows. Pizza worked well as workshop food. We will return to this same location next month, on Wednesday August 22nd.

To keep informed about the Bay Area Engineering Managers Support Group, join us on meetup.com.

Engineering Managers Support Group - Tonight!

Now with free pizza!

Share the adventures and challenges of managing engineers. This month's session will start with a short workshop on giving feedback. After that comes a facilitated discussion where participants share challenges that they are facing and get feedback, ideas, and support from the group. The event is free and pizza will be provided. Come out, join the discussion, and become a better manager.

We will be in the event room at:
Round Table Pizza
61 43rd Ave
San Mateo, CA

Arrivals and free pizza 7:00 PM - 7:30 PM
Program starts at 7:30 PM

It’s free, RSVP at meetup.com.

Agile Development Resources

Tonight I’m a guest lecturer at USF Cupertino, thanks to Juan Montermoso. Juan is an instructor as well as being president of Montermoso Associates, a marketing and training consultancy based in Silicon Valley.

Tonight’s talk is a subset of the material that I cover in my Agile Overview class, which happens to be one of the classes I’m currently offering for free.

Here are some links for those who will be at the class:

My slides
Wikipedia on:

• Agile
• Extreme Programming
• Scrum
• Iterative Development

Methodologies and Such:

• Agile Alliance
• Agile Manifesto
• Scrum Alliance
• Extreme Programming
• Feature Driven Development

People:

• Kent Beck
• Alistair Cockburn
• Ken Schwaber
• Jeff Sutherland
• Mike Cohn

Blogs:

• Agile Artisans
• Exploration Through Example
• Martin Fowler's Bliki
• Meme Agora
• Agile Thoughts

Enjoy!

South Bay ABC

This morning I went down to Santa Clara to enjoy some fine IHOP breakfast and the company of a dozen other consultants. I was pleasantly overwhelmed with the responses I got when I asked the group for advice on marketing my training services. Most everyone was aghast when I told them that I’m currently giving some classes away free.

Rosemary Hossenlopp was the first one to arrive, and the first to offer me helpful advice. Melissa Stacey, a professional organizer, did an excellent job of facilitating the meeting. Rogene Baxter, the president of Northern California Chapter of theInstitute of Management Consultants USA, was there and made a point of giving me some personal encouragement after the meeting.

Other folks I met included:

• Karen from Perceptive Technologies
• Carl Angotti, a product development consultant
• Mary Ann Gustafson, founder of Alliances Plus Consulting
• Alastair Hood, who does both strategic management and product development work
• Dan Farkas, a success coach
• Barb Tobias Chappell, a marketing communications consultant

Many thanks to everyone for sharing their experiences and advice.

New Classes Available – For Free!

To celebrate America’s two hundred and thirty first birthday, The Technical Management Institute is reducing the price of our one-hour and two-hour classes to zip, zero, or free! For about the cost of a drink of tap water, you can have me come to your company and put on one of these short-format workshops. This will only last a limited time, so act now!

The current list of free short workshops:

• Agile Overview
• Delivering Effective Feedback
• Stop Wasting Time in Meetings!
• Why are We Meeting Like This? – How to have productive, goal-directed meetings

The up-to-date list of all classes offered can be found here. Contact me to arrange your free class.

Happy birthday USA!

Photo courtesy of sarboo