Notes on running a dojo session

[Mike Abney]

Someone who is putting together their own dojo session asked for an experience report. Here are the quick notes I took. (We might use them for future sessions.)

• Prep environments before the meeting.
• For Randori, make sure the machine that will be used has the environment set up—down to the folder structure and maybe the first test's file.
• For styles with multiple groups working:
• Set up a structure in version control that everyone can d/l.
• Make sure you know how folks are going to share their solutions (branches in VCS?)
• I was able to have everything local, but you should make sure net access will be easily available
• For VCS if needed
• For reference material
• Randori format (only one pair writing at a time) can lead to something that gets boring to watch.
• It is a good format for introducing people to what the goal is, though.
• Maybe do a *very* simple one this way then move to everyone pairing and comparing results.
• Don't underestimate the time it will take.
• What should have been a 4-minute kata took 50 minutes just due to folks being unfamiliar with the environment or keyboard (MacBooks confused people from the Windows side of things.)
• Pick a kata based on what you're trying to accomplish.
• We used FizzBuzz (http://codingdojo.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?KataFizzBuzz).
• We wanted something short (though remember the previous bullet—this took 50 minutes)
• We wanted to cover TDD

That's all I can think of at the moment.

Mike Abney

http://practicallyagile.com

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