Personal Kanban Session in Toronto on March 1

Are you or people in your organization feeling overwhelmed with their workload? Do they feel they are not getting the results they want from the actions they are taking? Does everything seem urgently important? This workshop is for individuals who want to create more value for their organizations and themselves through improved personal performance. It is based on the popular book Personal Kanban by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry. Participants will receive a copy of the book.

The link to the workshop’s Web page is http://www.worldmindware.com/LED/39 (or http://bit.ly/pktoronto).

The instructor is my friend Gerry Kirk, who also facilitated the opening of Agile Coach Camp in Waterloo in 2009.

Jan 24 Session Will Be An Open Space

The Agile/Lean P2P is starting the New Year with a forum for raising and discussing ideas that are important to our community. The topics can be anything that are important to you, that you’re curious about or that you feel are important for the rest of the group to know about. Examples include “changing organizational culture and behaviours”, “managing technical debt”, “Product Owner complications”, etc.

We will be doing this Open Space style. If  you have something that is burning, bring it with you and exchanges ideas with peers. If you are just curious that’s OK too!

Hope to see you out!

Communitech Hub
151 Charles St. W.,  Suite 100
Jan 24, 4:30 – 6:00

Lean Startup Machine is almost here – there are a few spots left!

Lean Startup Machine is coming to Toronto on January 26 -29. There are still a few spots left and you can register at http://lsm-toronto.eventbrite.com/ – hope to see you there!

Lean Startup Machine (LSM) Toronto – Jan 26th to 29th 2012

Want to learn more about the Lean Startup methodologies and how to apply them? Check out Lean Startup Machine (LSM) Toronto! 

Lean Startup is the leading edge for how to manage a business through innovation. Lean Startup Machine is the bootcamp. Over a weekend, you will make a pitch, form into teams, and build a product. You will meet potential partners, mentors, and investors. You will learn tools and techniques for validating your business model from experienced customer development mentors.

For more details and to register: http://theleanstartupmachine.com/events/toronto-january-26/

Note: There is no Waterloo Agile Lean P2P in December.  Happy Holidays! We look forward to seeing you at LSM TO and at the next Agile Lean P2P.

Waterloo Lean Agile Nov 22nd P2P

Link to presentation Agile P2P November 22 Final

What:? Creating the Technical Plumbing to Support Agile – Tools and Techniques from the Muddy Trenches

Leon spoke back in March 2010 about the value of continuous integration.  In this presentation he describes how tools and techniques such as this can enable Agile and Lean from the ground up.  Implementing effective methodologies such as Agile are often blocked by aging infrastructure of the current development systems and practices.   This talk provides the participant an introduction to approaches and tools to close the gap between the current reality and the desired state.  However, more importantly the talk goes beyond the technology to look at the challenges of implementing this in real world situations.

The talk will also provide an opportunity to share with your peers what obstacles you might be experiencing and possible solutions.

When?: Tuesday Nov 22nd, 2011 from 4:30p.m. to 6:00p.m.

Where?: Accelerator Centre, 295 Hagey Blvd, Room 2 – Gowlings, Waterloo, Ontario

Who?: Leon Kehl, Boxbrite Inc. MBA/ITM, PMP

Leon has 27 years of experience in the software development industry in a wide range of industries and roles. The software applications he has developed have been used in diverse applications such as image guided neurosurgery, financial applications and check and image processing. He has worked with a number of local companies include NCR, Agfa, SunLife and NDI.

During the last 8 years as a consultant Leon has designed and developed a number of systems in companies attempting to use Agile methodologies.  He has experienced firsthand the challenges of changing existing software development processes.  Often he has had to sell these changes to managers and business partners, who are often preoccupied with short term goals.  Those experiences have provided him with some hands on experience of what blocks Agile practices and ways to overcome them.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Waterloo AgileLean Oct 25th P2P

What?:  Agile Transformation at PTC Integrity (formerly MKS)

David and Cameron will share experiences of agile transformation underway at PTC Integrity (formerly MKS).  The presentation will focus on the factors that have had to be considered as PTC scales agile across enterprise.

When?: Tuesday October 25th, 2011 from 4:30p.m. EST to 6:00p.m. EST

Where?: PTC (formerly MKS), 410 Albert Street, Waterloo, Onatrio 

Who?:
David Dame, Director, Agile and Lean Practices at PTC http://ca.linkedin.com/in/daviddame &
Cameron Ross, Engineering Practice Manager at PTC http://ca.linkedin.com/in/cameronross

Thanks to PTC for hosting this session and providing food and refreshments.

To register, https://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/eventReg?llr=auyxwfdab&oeidk=a07e51wxvg365cd1824 

Agile Lean Sept 27th P2P – Start Your Improvement Journey With Personal Kanban!

What?: Start Your Improvement Journey With Personal Kanban

 

Lean and Kanban are gaining acceptance as ways to manage and improve software development teams.  Surprisingly, the same core principles — visualize what you do, pull, and limit your work in progress — can be applied to personal work; the result is called Personal Kanban. As organizations attempt lean/agile transformations, it is crucial that we understand how Lean works at all levels, including small teams and individuals. Handling tasks during a sprint, conducting a business meeting, planning professional development, you name it – Personal Kanban can help and lead you to improvement. To dive into it, we will use an interactive activity known as Lean Coffee.  This session will give you both an explanation of the principles and first-hand experience and get you started on your own journey of continuous improvement.

 

When?: Tuesday Sept 27th, 2011 from 4:30p.m. to 6:00p.m. EST

 

Where?: TBD – likely The Accelerator Centre (stay tuned)

 

Who? Alexei Zheglov

 

Speaker Professional Biography
Alexei has written software professionally since the mid-90s and always looked for ways to do it better.  He lead Web service development at Desire2Learn over the last few years.  Alexei is experienced in applying Kanban to software development as well as other types of work.  He is one of the organizers of a local Lean/Agile book club, where he introduced Personal Kanban as an effective facilitation tool. 

 

 

Agile Lean P2P Survey

To assist in planning the Agile Lean P2P sessions for the next year, we would appreciate Agile Lean P2P members completing the survey by Monday Sept 5th, 2011.  The survey is located  http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3X25PYC

We will also be getting together infomally on Tuesday August 3oth, 2011 from 4:30p.m. to 6:00p.m. at Firkin at the Tannery, 121 Charles Street West, Unit 30, Kitchener to network and discuss your feedback in person.  We welcome your input!

Agile Lean July 26th P2P – Releasing Your Team’s Intelligent Energy through 5 powerful conversations

What?: Releasing Your Team’s Intelligent Energy through 5 powerful conversations With successful agile teams there is a vibrant team buzz present. Struggling teams often seem dispirited and anemic. As a Scrum Master, coach or manager, you’ll learn the five key drivers of engagement: I fit, I’m clear, I’m supported, I’m valued, I’m inspired. You will work with others, focusing on these drivers, to build the five key conversations that will tap & release the latent intelligent energy of the people on your teams. You will also be able to apply the techniques in this session to your family or other group situations. Prepare to be energized and challenged!

 

The idea behind this session was triggered by Juice and we are delighted Crista has agreed to co-facilitate this session with Declan!

 

When?: Tuesday July 26th, 2011 from 4:30p.m. to 6:00p.m.

 

Where?: The Accelerator Centre, 295 Hagey Blvd, Room 2 – Gowlings, Waterloo, Ontario

 

Who?:  Declan Whelan and Crista Renner

 

Declan Whelan is an Agile Coach who is passionate about building great software with great teams utilizing agile/lean principles and practices.  http://dpwhelan.com/

 

Crista Renner is the Director of Communications at  Juice Inc. and has been part of Juice Inc. since its inception.  She excels at asking the difficult questions that people think about, but never ask. Crista was part of the team that developed the Juice Check, Pull Conversation and the Five Drivers of Engagement.  http://www.juiceinc.com/about/team-member/crista-renner

 

Register: Register Now!

 

Thank You for making The Waterloo Agile Lean Coding Dojo a success!

Thank you to all who attended the Waterloo Agile Lean Coding Dojo on Saturday May 28^th, 2011!

Many thanks to our kind and generous sponsors, OpenText Inc, Desire2Learn Inc, Typemock, Target Process, Blue Coat Systems and Karos Health for supporting and making this valuable event possible!

Special thank you to Alistair McKinnell and Jason Cheong-Kee-You for making the trip from Toronto to facilitate the Coding Dojo!

Congratulations to Anna Lear and Caroline Simpson, winners of the Typemock Isolator licenses.

Memories from The Waterloo Agile Lean Coding Dojo can be found

http://www.flickr.com/photos/55679611@N02/sets/72157626824342468/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/61511399@N08/sets/72157626837481004/          

In the morning, coders pair programmed the Fizz Buzz and Roman Numerals III to 3 katas; and in the afternoon they had the opportunity to solve a coding problem on paper and refactor a coding problem leveraging from test ping pong.

From the retrospectives, the coders gained value from the pair programming rotation, reflecting on the work and the sharing discussion with the group about what one coded.  The variety of having a half day on practicing green field katas and the other half of the day on reading code on paper & refactoring code was appreciated.

Key lessons learned

1. Identify code smell vs. identify what one want to change
2. Reviewed Bob Martin’s Transformation premise – changing the highest priority transformation in the code

Attendee testimonials

“I gained a much deeper appreciation of the “generalization <–> specialization” concept that succinctly explains the power of object-oriented design approaches over procedural ones. I was amazed how Alistair was able to combine the power of intentional programming, OO concepts, TDD, and Eclipse shortcuts to rapidly produce extremely high quality code – I am inspired to improve my craft. The conversations were rich and I had a blast!”

“From attending the Coding Dojo I gained a sense of confidence.  I have read about the practice of Test Driven Development and various techniques for safely refactoring legacy code, but previously had little practical, hands on experience using these practices.   At the Coding Dojo I was able to practice these skills in a safe, friendly environment with like-minded individuals.  I now feel more confident to go forward and apply these techniques and skills while performing my role as a software developer.  I hope that there will be future events like this where I, and others, can continue to learn new and refine existing development skills.”

“Coding Dojo was a great opportunity for sharing and hearing about best practices to improve the efficiency of coding.”

More testimony located on blog http://learningagileandlean.wordpress.com/2011/06/04/learning-at-the-coding-dojo/

It was recommended that it would be of value to have a Refactoring Dojo where one starts finding code smells of code on paper and then in the code!

Thanks to the sponsors, facilitators, attendees and The Stone Crock catering for making the Waterloo Agile Lean Coding Dojo a great success!