AgilePDX Retrospective

Every community needs to reflect occasionally to consider where it is now and where it wants to be in the future regarding size, shape, and services. meetup twitter

I created the group's logo which I sketched with sharpie and then scanned, colored and lettered by computer.

I've been provided with a list of questions. I will answer them here for myself first. Should new insight arise from the event I will make updates.

1. AgilePDX was originally XPDX. How did that group get formed? The practices had been brewing in international workshops for a decade. I met local people through my consulting work that wanted to bring some of the discussion back home. Alex Ginos called together the first meeting. See Portland XP User's Group

2. What was the original format of the gatherings, and why was that format selected? Meetings revolved around an invited speaker who would tell of some work going on in Portland or else where in the world that would be of interest in Portland. The city had a healthy user group culture so there were models to follow.

3. What were some of the main questions/concerns addressed by the group at that time?

Topics addressed in the first year include Frameworks, Corporate, Design, Pairing, Spikes, Planning, Feedback, Refactoring, Ownership, Testing, and Integration. wiki

4. At a high level, how do you think things have evolved over the years? Agile was born of the desktop and object-oriented programming revolution. Computers and the way we approach programming has revolutionized several more times since then. See Objects, Patterns and Agility and Future of Programming

5. What is the one key thing you think people need to understand about agile? All agile methods suggest ways to work. Few recognize the intense decision making that happens with each line of code and suggest ways that these can evolve toward great decisions. See XP and Normative Good

6. Are there any ways you’d like to see the agile movement improve (or something like this)? Agile assumes that there is a customer to be served. That makes programmer's, in Alexander's words, "hired guns". See his vision for a more Natural Genetic Infrastructure

This past April, Dayton School District formed a partnership with New Relic to pilot a new Agile Partnership Program to support the school’s innovation culture. post

For a more critical look at how the infection that makes life hard for most of us spreads see Winners Take All