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2007-10-12Cybersmith: APLN Seattle Meeting with Jim Benson
Jim Benson stands still for a sound and position check (photo 1). David Anderson strode in with his bicycle (photo2). Dragos Dumitriu is one of the hosts at Avenade (photo 4). As usual, I forgot to write down the names of others and now I'm afraid I'll get them wrong. I had several conversations with the fellow in the middle and had to rush for my bus connection, unsatisfied with our incomplete conversation about how one approaches interviews to obtain a fit with how one wants to develop as an agilista. Benson lives in Seattle and blogs on social media, agile management and other topics. I learned of his talk at the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) Seattle meeting via David Anderson's Agile Management blog. Benson posted a follow-up on some topics that came up in the discussion and that he wanted to say more about. A video was created of the presentation. I'll have to find out whether it is available online. I think the Agile Manifesto is non-specific and easily misleading (about the strength of "favoring over"). Descriptions in terms of practical situations such as the one Benson featured provide much more grounding. Seeing how Benson crafts contract-development arrangements, there is much to learn in contrast to the "how do I find a place where I can be an agilista, or get my employer to allow it or ... ." Next meeting: Alistair Cockburn on Monday, October 15. What's so remarkable about this group and its meetings?At some point, successful developers will begin to move from mastery of the tools in front of their noses (whether VC++ or PopFly or Flex or ..) to broader levels of awareness and concern around the complete software-development lifecycle, working with teams to accomplish more than any one can produce by themselves, and finding reliable ways to deliver software that provides value greater than for the rudimentary satisfaction of writing it at all. As a practicing cybersmith -- my term for this level -- one must be attentive to process and social matters and how others, especially project leaders and managers, approach them. Even as a solo nano ISV, I have to pay attention because I must understand how what I produce as open-source and community contributions will fit into the ecosystem in which it may be picked up and used, or not. Finally, as a scholar, I want to offer guidance to beginners in moving attention and their own development from getting tools to behave to the problem of being a dependable contributor in the creation of useful and reliable software-based systems. My personal, and lengthy though narrow, experience is that agile development is an extremely fertile area in which to explore and develop the other dimensions of effective cybersmith practice, especially for starting small and unfolding over time the ways that more complex projects can be mastered. Although there is a lot of material available in print and on the web, it is very helpful to find a community in which a range of experiences is represented. Developer groups and periodic meetings on development topics are invaluable for getting outside of my own world and learning the different perspectives and motivations that others provide. For myself, I care about development process topics that the agilistas grapple with. You may find it useful to take an interest because, whether you want to care or not, the issues that that agile development methodologies and other development approaches contend with cannot be escaped. At some point you will discover that producing results that are valued and delivered into production systems requires you to be aware of broader development-process approaches and how they are applied to ensure quality products having satisfied customers. At some point, you need to know enough about what your leaders and managers know so that you can manage yourself and your commitments in a way that contributes to a positive outcome for all. I claim that is the eventual direction of developing yourself as a cybersmith. You owe it to yourself to locate and participate in groups like APLN as a way to learn about the wider world and as a way to share and reality-check your own experiences. [update 2007-10-15: Added a little more about conversations and a lot more about why this is interesting.]
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