Agile Learning Labs

Joel On Software Stuff

I just read this rambling interview with Joel Spolsky, over at ACM Queue.

He mentions the early days of Joel on Software, even before he started Fog Creek Software. Back then he had a bit more time for writing, and created some essays that I still consider required reading. Examples include:

• Command and Conquer Management
• The Guerrilla Guide to Interviewing
• Painless Software Schedules
• Things You Should Never Do, Part 1
• Top Five (Wrong) Reasons You Don't Have Testers

Wait a minute! I’m basically giving you the links from his archive, starting at the bottom and working up! You can do that for yourself. Go to the archive, and start at the bottom. The old stuff is generally good and generally still relevant. I do have a personal soft spot for this one, if only because I was there for the birth. Joel shared the idea with me on May 30th, over lunch in New York City.

In the Queue article, he mentions evidence-based scheduling. The idea is very interesting and I’m going to make a point of picking his brain about it when he’s here. Oh yeah, Joel is coming to town in October. He has 4 demos scheduled in the San Francisco Bay area. They are free, but space is filling up quickly. Register here.

Engineering Managers Support Group Tonight

You are invited. The Technical Management Institute is buying the pizza. Tonight we will learn SWOT, and then move on to talking about your engineering management issues. Details here.

For those seeking more info on SWOT, here are some general SWOT links:

• Wikipedia
• Business Balls
• Bplans.com
• Entrpreneur

SWOT for your own career growth:

• Quintessential Careers
• Suite 101
• Tech Republic
• Monster
• For Canadians!

Agile Project Leadership Open Space

Tonight I participated in an open space event put on by the Bay Area Agile Project Leadership Network. I did a short workshop on how to make the business case for agile. Though the presentation used no slides, I made use of some of the concepts and diagrams from this PowerPoint deck, which is in turn a subset of what I present in the Agile Overview workshops.

The event was well organized and the participants were a smart and enthusiastic bunch. I look forward to the next get together, on Tuesday September 11th.

Bay Area Engineering Managers Support Group August Meetup

This month's session will start with a short workshop on SWOT analysis, a tool commonly taught in business school to examine internal strengths and weaknesses as well as external opportunities and threats. It was originally conceived to help corporations formulate high-level business strategy, but it has proven useful in a broad range of situations. SWOT is an excellent tool for evaluating business opportunities such as starting a new business, entering a new market, pursuing a new development project, or allocating resources in areas such as recruiting or training.

This workshop will teach you how to do a basic SWOT analysis, using your own career situation as a practical application. You will learn a valuable analytic tool and gain new insight into your own professional potential.

After the workshop comes a facilitated discussion where participants can 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.

This time around we will meet on Wednesday night, August 22nd in San Mateo.

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

For more details, see the full listing on meetup.

Photo courtesy of N.Trung