Then it was onto the ballroom for the keynote address.  After some brief announcements (1400 participants representing 38 countries!!), Dave Thomas started his presentation. I took some notes, in the form of tweets from the Keynote, even though I was at first hesitant because of his slide forbidding any live tweeting due to copyright…but I was soon set straight that this was just a joke.  Here are some of the tweeted highlights from the keynote:

“Practices first, not about brands of methods. ”

“If you can’t do it with a card, you will do it worse with fancy tools.”

“If we are saying developers need to be enlightened, what about product owners?”

“Hire them young, they don’t know it can’t be done.”

“Lean is so simply, but it requires the ability to think, which makes it hard.”

“We do Kanban, we do scrum, we do XP, we’re all DUMB!” Haha, I liked this chant.

“Founders have magic powers. We need to nourish the leaders of tomorrow. Always seek to replace yourself.”

Here are some pics from the keynote address:

A quick scan of the ballroom.  It was packed!  Standing room only!

The rest of the day was filled with great presentations, including a hosted lunch where I shared a round table with David Hussman of Devjam.  The extended lunch was filled with great, thought provoking conversation, definitely worth the time.  I often find that most of the value of these types of conferences are in the connections you make and the conversations that happen outside of presentations.

For the remainder of the afternoon I popped in and out of several sessions, and had my regular conference anxiety of sitting in one session too long for fear of missing something else.  Definitely something I have to work on.  Now I look forward to heading to a Shipwreck party being sponsored by my good friends at VersionOne.

I plan on taking some video and pictures, so check back tomorrow to see highlights from tonight’s festivities.

Bill Gaiennie
@AgileAdvisor

Me snapping pictures!

20 minutes til keynote, and already filing up fast.

The Parfait line at breakfast was packed!

The rest of breakfast was awesome.  Those burritos rocked!!

More shots of the room.

Get here quick.  Between the time I took these photos until now, it is now almost completely full!
(At least at my table.  Come by, say hi, get your picture taken:)

Twitter: @AgileAdvisor

Twitter: @AgileAdvisor

Breakfast started the day, with a really nice spread, I wish I had a picture to show you, but believe me, it was great.  I got caught up with some old friends, met some new ones, and headed out to my first session “Becoming Agile in an Imperfect World.”  I was excited about the talk, but then soon realized that it was aimed primarily at folks new to Agile.  I was contemplating scooting to a new session when the fire alarm in the room went off, followed by an announcement stating we would have to evacuate the space and head outside.  So much for our session.  I joked as we headed out that it must have been those waterfall guys trying to throw a wrench in our conference.

Here is a short video of half the conference making their way outside:

After we all went back inside, the session picked up steam and stayed for the duration.  We ended up doing some team exercises, and it must have been the trainer/facilitator in me that had me on my feet with a marker in my hand before anyone could ask.

The second half of the day was great as well.  I spent a few hours in Jean Tabaka’s session “The Agile Organization: Apply Visioning and Learning Models.”  This session really hit home because of how much I relate to the Peter Senge type of materials about systems, learning organizations, and mental models.  So much about what I like to present within Agile is aligned with this aspect of the transition, the people factor.

That session took us through the end of the day, and here I am back in my room getting ready for the mixer and dinner with a friend.  I look forward to making more connections this week, so please find me if you happen to find this post.

Some things I wish they would improve on:

- Something other than coffee to drink!  At lunch, there was great food, but nothing to drink other than coffee, not even water!  I think this is a huge miss.

- Something to drink during the breaks.  The break snacks are great, but again, nothing to drink.  I think that if you pay $2,000 for a conference, they should offer something to drink.

That is about it.  Remember to follow me on Twitter for all the intraday jabbering!  @AgileAdvisor

My presentation can also be found there, titled “All You Need To Know Is That It’s Possible.”  My presentation addresses many of the excuses I have heard teams make over the years as to why Agile could not work for them.  Over time I came to find that most of these teams simply used this type of excuse to relieve themselves of the responsibility of having to try to make Agile work, a responsibility they would certain shoulder, but only if they allowed themselves to believe that the Agile approach might be able to offer the enormous gains that are touted.  These same teams spend great deals of energy in convincing themselves to believe that it is simply not possible for Agile (or seemingly any better approach) to work with their unique, product, team, culture, organization, etc.  They would tell me that they are just too different.  This presentation seeks to make the case that it is often the limiting beliefs held by people that keep them from being able to succeed with Agile.

Hopefully I will see some of you at Agile2010 in Orlando in a couple of weeks, I will be tweeting non-stop for those of you that cannot make it.  Follow me at @AgileAdvisor.

Here are some of the details:

Website (and Registration): http://www.southernfriedagile.com

When: Friday, July 23, 2010. 8:30a – 4:30p

Where: The Crowne Plaza Charlotte Hotel. 201 S. McDowell Street, Charlotte, NC 280204

How Much: $49 (super cheap!!)

Twitter Hashtag: #sfa2010

Want more information: Go to the website for a list of sponsors, speakers, and the sessions currently scheduled.

See you there!!

So why am I returning?  Because I love writing this blog.  Even though it didn’t have a long life, I enjoyed doing it, enjoyed the feedback, and enjoyed the challenge.  But why am I returning now, rather than months ago?  Because of something I heard this past week at the Scrum Gathering in Orlando…Agile teams ship.  The simple way of stating that we cannot polish or procrastinate forever, we must ship, sometimes earlier than we would like, but we must ship.  So I must return, get over my self-inflicted precedent of only posting perfected posts, and get on with the business of sharing my thoughts and observations gathered from working with companies across the country and now across the globe (I was honored with the opportunity to teach several classes in Switzerland last week.)

And lastly, to anyone that may be reading these words, thank you for returning.  I promise to keep my blog out of any other comas in the future.

Bill

P.S.  Sad but true fact, as I was attempting to log in to write this post, it had been so long since I accessed the admin portion of my blog that I forgot my username and password.  I forgot how to login to my own blog!

I can’t say that it will be like most of the agile fare currently available on the internet. My plan is to share my unique perspectives on how agile is best implemented. Information that has been gathered during my engagements as a scrum master and the many agile classes that I have facilitated. And I can say with all honesty, I have learned more from training others on agile than in any other professional endeavor. Some of these experiences are true gems that I have wanted to share for awhile, so now I finally have the forum and opportunity. Now I get to see if what I have floating around in my head is actually worth anyone’s time to read.

So, this, my very first post, is nothing more than to announce my intentions to add to the knowledgebase of agile, a compendium of information that is continually growing, and more importantly, evolving.  That is, if agile and the agile community truly wishes to practice what we preach, we are going to have to eat our own dog food and recognize those areas of opportunity.  What better place to share these experiences than on the internet, the great equalizer.

I look forward to getting to know those of you who find some value in what I have to share.   And finally, if you are reading these words, then let me offer a sincere word of gratitude that you have taken a moment of your time to read these words.

Until next time,

Bill Gaiennie