Clarke Ching's Rocks and Snowballs

Testing Word 2007 for blogging

Hmmm …

evolution of the book

http://managetochange.typepad.com/main/2007/03/the_evolution_o.html

I short and humours video look at technology adoption … from centuries ago.

 

Agile Scotland mini-conference

This month's AgileScotland meeting will be a little different - a
mini-agile-conference or is it an agile-mini-conference. And even
better, you can attend in the nude. Read on ...

On the day - Monday the 16th of April: We will use Skype's skypecast
facility to have a large scale conference call. We'll all dial into
the call at 7:25pm for 7:30pm start. We will then have a series of
"mini presentations" or discussions - each lasting from 1 minute to 15
minutes max. We will end at 9:00pm. Someone will chair the meeting
and have the power to turn peoples mics off and on.

Before the conference:
1. Someone (Volunteers?) will setup a wiki or an online spreadsheet.
If you want to run/give a session then add a title to the wiki, and
1-4 sentences to describe the session and a duration from 1 to 15
minutes - note that on the day the chairperson will kill your
microphone exactly on the time you've nominated, i.e they're time-boxed.
2. Three days before the session - Friday the 13th - we will vote for
the sessions we prefer and they will be delivered in priority order.
Someone will need to decide voting rules. Remember that each session
has a higher "cost" in terms of your time, so vote carefully.

So, who wants to volunteer to chair the conference? And someone to
help the chair? And someone will need to test the technology works
SOON so that we have time to adapt?

And for no other reason than it would reduce my stress-levels can you
send me a note if you are interested in joining the conference.

Thanks,

--
Clarke Ching
www.clarkeching.com
+44(0)7920114893

Quite Interesting News

You’re going to love this: Quite Interesting (QI) News – rss feed.

Space: the final frontier?

How long, one wonders, til google offers unlimited space on the gmail accounts, like yahoo?

I won’t switch to Yahoo though.  Unlimited space isn’t remotely appealing enought to tolerate their flashy user interface.

If there is a god then she's trying to tell me something ...

In early January my wife order life insurance forms for me since we’d just bought a new house.

In late January I ended up in hospital with an illness that nearly killed me.

Yesterday I got a letter from the insurance company turning me down for insurance because of my recent medical history.  Fair enough, but …

Today a car pulled out directly in front of the taxi I was traveling in, while on the way home.  My life flashed before me – I momentarily wished I’d rebelled more as a teenager and felt relief that I was wearing clean underwear.  I quickly glanced at my lap and was further relieved to confirm that I hadn’t yet taken my laptop out of my bag so it was safe.  The taxi driver swerved sharply into the next lane, missed the car which had pulled out, swiped a car in the next lane the skidded to a halt.  Wow!  That guy had fast reactions.  Thankfully no one was hurt and just over an hour later, with a slightly sore back, I am able to blog about my second brush with … ummm, death.

I wish I’d filled out the life insurance form in November like my wife first asked me to do.

My Room 101

I’m working in Sheffield at the moment.  This morning I caught the first train down from Edinburgh.  Got some good reading and good writing done.  Very happy.  Train just about to pull into Sheffiled.  I’m waiting at the door then notice the toilet … think, hmmmm, long taxi ride, big cup of coffee earlier.  I take my chance before I have to get off the train. 

Moments pass.

Press “Open” to open the door.  Nothing happens.  Press open again. and again. and again.  and again.  Still nothing happens.  Three people standing outside try to help me to force the door open.  Someone goes to find the conductor.  Still nothing happens.  The train is getting closer.  I have images of myself stuck in the train until Bournemouth.  Late for work.  Ping!  The door opens just as we enter the station.  If I’d not just been I probably would have wet myself with relief.

Improve your memory: wiggle your eyes back and forth

Moving your eyes from side to side can help improve the accuracy of your memory. That's according to psychologists Andrew Parker and Neil Dagnall, who say the beneficial effect could be related to sideways eye movements increasing interactive neural activity across the front of the two brain hemispheres.

[Read more at the BPS Research Digest]

A warning on the limits of multitasking

In some sort of journalistic irony, journalist Steve Lohr has published two articles about multitasking (the evils of) on the same day.  One is in the New York Times and the other in the International Herald Tribune.  They start off differently, but there is considerable overlap between the two.  Good stuff.

Three Agile articles in this months Crosstalk magazine

Crosstalk is an excellent journal about software engineering in defense.  This months issue has the following three articles about Agile software development:

1.  What Engineering Has in Common With Manufacturing and Why It Matters  ( PDF 171KB)
by Dr. Alistair Cockburn
This article equates software engineering decsions to manufacturing products. It then picks six lessons from the last 50 years in manufacturing and applies these lessons to software development.    

2.  Collaboration Skills for Agile Teams  ( PDF 98KB)
by Esther Derby
In this article, Esther Derby outlines key collaboration skills that help teams maintain productive relationships, avoid destructive conflict, and benefit from everyone’s best ideas.     

3.  Toward Agile Systems Engineering Processes  ( PDF 270KB)
by Dr. Richard Turner
This article presents thoughts on agility and systems engineering, looking at how systems engineering can be more agile and how it can support agility in other disciplines, hoping to look at systems engineering through the agile lens and to extend the dialogue between agile and plan-driven software proponents into the systems engineering world.

Plus this one, looks very promising.  The OODA loop is – according to many of my TOC colleagues - very important, but I always find myself drifting when I read about it.  Hope this article helps:

4.  “OO-OO-OO!” The Sound of a Broken OODA Loop  ( PDF 142KB)
by Dr. David G. Ullman
In this article, the author explores why the Observe, Orient, Decide, and Act Loop gets stuck at the decision step process, and it instructs how to put the D in the loop as a basis for effective action.