Agile 2006

  • Article

Well, here I am at Agile 2006.  So far, it’s been a good show.  Here’s the list of sessions I’ve attended:

  • Are Agilists the Bonobos of Software Development (Linda Rising)
  • Refactoring Games (Alan Harriman & Josh Kerievsky)
  • Demonstrating Responsibility: The Mindset of an Agile Leader (Christopher Avery)
  • Context Driven Agile Leaders (Todd Little)
  • Homer’s Odyssey or My Year of Living Dangerously in Agile Development Consulting (Jean Tabaka)
  • The Principles of Agile Design (Robert “Uncle Bob” Martin)
  • Agile Estimation Techniques (Owen Rogers)
  • Coaching Software Development Teams (Michael Feathers)
  • Adventures in Promiscuous Pairing: Seeking Beginner’s Mind (Mitch Lacey)
  • Automating Functional Tests with Selenium (Antawan Holmes, Marc Kellog)
  • Presenter First: Organizing Complex GUI Applications for Test-Driven Development (Micah Alles, et. al.)
  • Working Effectively with Legacy Code (Michael Feathers)

And, now that the conference is over, here are a few sessions I wish I could have attended, and why.  If you attended one of these sessions, I’d love to hear about it:

  • Making Movies and Software at the Speed of Thought! (Barg Upender and David Kane), because everyone who attended raved about it.
  • The Planning Game (Chet Hendrickson, Ron Jeffries), because I’ve never actually seen these two speak.
  • XP Geography: A Guide to Mapping Your First Steps (Kent Beck, Cynthia Andres), because it was a full day with Kent and Cynthia, whom I’ve never actually heard speak.
  • The History of Lean (Mary Poppendieck), because I love what comes out of Mary.
  • Programmers are from Mars, Customers are from Venus (Angela Martin, Robert Biddle), because I met Angela at the conference and talked to her briefly about her fascinating PhD work around the Customer role.
  • Ward’s Top 10 Favorite Wiki Postings (Ward Cunningham), because I love what comes out of Ward.
  • Burning Down the House (Tim Lister), because Tim’s “dead fish” talk in Denver was so good.

I also sat in on a couple of good open space chats and attended a couple of great parties.  I’ll blog more later, as time permits, with my take on each of these sessions.

Viva Agilistas!