Fwd: Test Message - HTML Format:What's Going On At Agile Austin

[Walter Bodwell]

Here's a first cut at the newsletter for April.  Let me know if you have any additions / changes.  It will go out Monday night.

Walter

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http://www.walterbodwell.com
http://www.planigle.com (Planigle, the way to Plan Agile)

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Agile Austin <Agile_...@mail.vresp.com>
Date: Sun, Mar 30, 2014 at 2:20 PM
Subject: Test Message - HTML Format:What's Going On At Agile Austin
To: wbod...@gmail.com

Welcome to Agile Austin's monthly newsletter.  In it, we'll publicize what's new at Agile Austin, upcoming events, blog entries from the local community and anything you need to know about Agile Austin.

What's New At Agile Austin

 

Conference.  On March 21st, we had our second Keep Austin Agile conference.  With 500 registered participants and 25 sessions to choose from, the conference was grander in scope than our first conference.  Based on feedback (a Net Promoter Score of over 61%), it was even better received.  Many thanks to our attendees, speakers, sponsors and the conference team for all your efforts to make it a success.

New web site.  If you haven't seen our new web site, check it out.  It has been redesigned from the ground up to help connect the community and make it easier for you to get to the information you need.

Board meeting.  For those who were unable to attend our March board meeting and are interested in what we talked about, you can see the notes here: https://docs.google.com/a/agileaustin.org/document/d/1Cx7yaYZsWTmzlG2nvucqkVLRA4TJY_XhJpkMKH_vr1Y/edit.

 

Meetings

 

Apr 1 (6:00 - 9:00 pm)	Monthly Meeting - What the Marine Corps Can Teach Us About Empowered Teams BancVue, 4516 Seton Center Pkwy, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78759 Agile organizing principles are often contrasted with hierarchical "command and control" organization of work. However, there are lessons to be learned from the best C&C outfits, and here we'll examine one of the most admired. In the late 1980s the United States Marine Corps (USMC) re-examined its strengths and roles. Out of that introspection the Marines reinvented themselves as a force whose effectiveness was based upon superior readiness and maneuver, an understanding of war as dynamic  and unpredictable, communications often chancy, and small groups and individuals required to function effectively even when cut off from the chain of command. How do you prepare individuals and teams to succeed under such circumstances? We'll look at Marine doctrine and values, and draw some lessons for Lean and Agile enterprises that will surprise and inspire you. Agile's detractors characterize agile teams as undisciplined, anti-process "cowboy coders." But even advocates often fail to understand the values and disciplines that truly energize a self-organizing agile team. The answers the USMC offers may surprise you. Speaker: Edward (Ned) C. Horvath To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/10877004413
Apr 2 (noon - 1:00 pm)	QA SIG Downtown - Test Automation on Legacy Systems - The Agile Way HomeAway, 1011 W. Fifth Street, Austin, TX 78703 Dena Laterza has graciously agreed to give the same presentation that she gave at the QA SIG North back in March.  Hope you can make it! --- I’ve heard it said, “the definition of a legacy application is one that has no automated tests”. I agree! In the past, applications were tested manually and therefore not written with automation testability in mind.  If you struggle with where to start and how to go about automating testing on the application you are working on, I’ve been there. Would you like to come up with a strategy, but don’t know where to begin? Begin now. Come to this SIG meeting and let's discuss how to approach automated testing with agility. You will leave with ideas to strategize a test automation approach that works for you. Speaker: Dena Laterza To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/11097307345
Apr 2 (6:00 - 8:30 pm)	Book Club - Continuous Delivery, Session 5 of 5 Planview, 8300 N Mopac Expy, Austin, TX 78759 Humble and Farley, “Continuous Delivery: Reliable Software Releases through Build, Test, and Deployment Automation.” We'll have read the complete book before we meet 3/5/14. Chapters to Focus On: Chapters 13-15 Amazon links – Hardcover: http://amzn.to/1hJiEDL, Kindle: http://amzn.to/1f8rsD1 To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/10849716795
Apr 4 (noon - 1:00 pm)	Agile Leaders SIG - Retrospectives: Learning and improving (the what and how of) what you got CA Technologies, 5001 Plaza on the Lake, Third floor, Austin, TX 78746 "If you do what you did, you'll get what you got."  -- Susan Jeffers  Is what you're getting satisfactory? Much more importantly, will it be in the future? Might Lao Tze's observation that "If you do not change your direction, you may end up where you are heading" apply right now? We'll talk about your Teams' retrospectives, and how they are or aren't helping improve the results being delivered. Speaker:  Earl Everett To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/11084842061
Apr 8 (noon - 1:00 pm)	Kanban SIG Planview, 8300 N Mopac Expy, Austin, TX 78759 More information will be sent to the Agile Austin notify mailing list as it becomes available.
Apr 8 (6:00 - 9:00 pm)	Agile Austin U - Agile Leadership St. Edward’s University–North Austin, 9420 Research Boulevard, Echelon III, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78759 This is a four-week class that will be held 6 - 9 pm on March 18, March 25, April 8, and April 15. The expectation is that you enroll only if you are able to attend all four sessions.  Agile leaders deliver high-impact business results by relying on self-organizing teams to plan, execute and innovate throughout the project lifecycle. Rather than plan, instruct, and direct, the agile leader educates, coaches, and facilitates. Development of these critical skills and the process and tools that support the agile team is the focus of this course. Special emphasis on leadership development and enabling organizational change is central.    Class is limited to 15-20 participants. Anyone who is not on-time for the first session will have their slot re-assigned to an alternate.  Food and beverages will be provided. Sold out.
Apr 15 (noon - 1:00 pm)	Agile Austin U - Agile Leadership St. Edward’s University–North Austin, 9420 Research Boulevard, Echelon III, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78759 This is a four-week class that will be held 6 - 9 pm on March 18, March 25, April 8, and April 15. The expectation is that you enroll only if you are able to attend all four sessions.  Agile leaders deliver high-impact business results by relying on self-organizing teams to plan, execute and innovate throughout the project lifecycle. Rather than plan, instruct, and direct, the agile leader educates, coaches, and facilitates. Development of these critical skills and the process and tools that support the agile team is the focus of this course. Special emphasis on leadership development and enabling organizational change is central.    Class is limited to 15-20 participants. Anyone who is not on-time for the first session will have their slot re-assigned to an alternate.  Food and beverages will be provided. Sold out.
Apr 17 (6:30 - 8:00 pm)	Technology Event - Project Xenia Kickoff BancVue, 4516 Seton Center Pkwy, Suite 300, Austin, TX 78759 Please come join us for the kickoff of Project Xenia. What is Project Xenia?  Details are still coming together for it, but it will be a great chance to help give to the Austin community as well as hone individual skills and share knowledge. To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/10850647579
Apr 21 (6:30 - 8:30 pm)	Board Meeting - March Meeting Qcue, 505 Walsh Street, Austin, TX 78703 Join the board in discussing how things are going with Agile Austin.  See here for the current agenda / notes (it will be updated during the meeting). To add to it, send an email to bo...@agileaustin.org.  The first thing we do in board meetings is ask for additional topics / prioritize the topics at hand. As a result, the agenda will change. The best way to encourage discussion of a particular topic is to attend. To Register (and for more info): http://www.eventbrite.com/event/11130051283
Apr 23 (6:00 - 9:00pm)	David Anderson (more details to come) TBD

Blog Entries from the Community:

• Can Introverts Contribute on an Agile Team?
• A “ScrumBan” Wall as a Useful Tool for Mixed Work Efforts
• What Is DevOps?
• Does an Agile Team Have Room for “Heroes?”

That's it for this month (check the web site for late breaking news).  As always, we welcome your feedback.  How can we help you solve the problems you face in becoming more agile?

The Agile Austin Board

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[Jay Paulson]

Kanban SIG - How to use Kanban to become predictable.

The Kanban SIG this month will focus on how kanban can help your team become more confidant with the predictability of their work.  Attendees will learn what key measurements and visualizations they should be making.  How to understand the data that you are looking at and using this information to manage project risk, staff projects, and plan projects.

Speaker: Jay Paulson

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[Walter Bodwell]

Got it.

Walter

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http://www.walterbodwell.com
http://www.planigle.com (Planigle, the way to Plan Agile)