THANK YOU to our sponsors: ProKarma and Agile Open Northwest!!

For any code base there comes a time when you want (or need) to change it. If your changes are extensive, it’s easy to get lost in a jungle of dependencies or on a sea of broken code. Ultimately, you might just give up and shove it away under the legacy label. Instead of doing that, use "The Mikado Method," a systematic approach to reclaim your code. The method helps you visualize, prepare, and perform business-value focused changes, while delivering, and without having a broken code-base in the process. It enhances team communication, collaboration and learning, and helps individuals stay on track.

http://mikadomethod.wordpress.com/book/

For: Lead developers, architects, programming coaches, or anyone who wants to get some serious hands-on practice on how to work their way out of messy code while keeping the delivery frequency and business value focus.

Join Ola Ellnestam, founder of Agical.se and author of The Mikado Method, as he leads the group through exploring techniques for restructuring difficult-t0-work-with code. Ola likes to combine people, technology and business which is best done with simple means and flexible processes. More than that he likes to share his knowledge and experiences because that’s how new insights are created according to him. http://ellnestam.wordpress.com/

http://www.hanoulle.be/2012/02/who-is-ola-ellnestam/

http://www.agical.com/

Registration fee: $85 - The participation of our sponsors, (including Agile Open Northwest, ProKarma, and...you?) helps us to keep the fee as low as possible.

For more information, or if you'd like to sponsor this event, contact dlarsen [at] futureworksconsulting [dot] com

May 9th Rose City SPIN Seminar

Why We Need Architects And Architecture On Agile Projects

Presented by Rebecca Wirfs-Brock

Dates/Times: Wednesday, May 9, 2012: Networking @ 5:30-6:30 PM; Seminar 6:30-7:30 PM

Location: OTBC (Oregon Technology Business Center), 8305 SW Creekside Place, Suite C, Beaverton, Oregon, 97008, 2nd floor.

Abstract:

The rhythm of agile software development is to always work on the next known, small batch of work. So where is the place for architecture on an agile project? Some think that software architecture should simply emerge and doesn’t require ongoing attention. But it isn’t always prudent to let the architecture emerge at the speed of the next iteration. Complex software systems cam have lots of moving parts, dependencies, challenges, and unknowns. Counting on a good architecture to spontaneously emerge without any architectural investigation can be risky. So how should architecting be done on agile projects? It varies from project to project, depending on risk, complexity, and size. This talk presents some useful practices for architecting on both smaller and larger agile projects and explores what it means to be an agile architect.

Bio:

Rebecca Wirfs-Brock is an internationally recognized leader in the development of object design methodologies. Although best known as a software design guru and creator of Responsibility-Driven Design and the x-driven meme, Rebecca is also an innovator of techniques for simply expressing complex requirements and effectively designing and communicating software architecture. She is active in the agile community, and is currently President of the non-profit Agile Open Northwest openspace conference and co-producer of the Agile 2012 Insights (experience reports) Stage. She champions bringing the right balance of design and architecture into agile projects and frequently helps product engineering, IT, and startups with the technical bits, as well as with effective teamwork and agile design and architecture practices. Her passion is software design habitability. You've got to be able to live comfortably with your code.

A Special Treat from PNSQC

Plan on coming early! In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) the SPIN meeting will have pizza and pop provided by PNSQC beginning at 5:30 pm.

PNSQC is the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, a group of volunteers interested in Software Quality. The Mission of the PNSQC is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. As a non-profit, it seeks to promote software quality by providing education and opportunities for information exchange within the software community.

Thanks also to OTBC

We want to thank OTBC (http://www.otbc.org/) for providing the space for this talk

How to Register

No need to register! This is a FREE lecture sponsored by the Rose City SPIN. But you can help us plan food and drinks by registering at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3436487627

Rose City SPIN

The Rose City Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN) is a monthly forum for networking, mutual support, and promotion of effective software practices. We exchange practical experiences, ideas, knowledge, wisdom, and war stories about the technical, business, and human facets of software process improvement. The Rose City SPIN serves the software development community of the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Whether you work for a large company or a small one, corporate or self-employed, industrial or academic setting, you are welcome at the Rose City SPIN.

The SEI Architecture Technology User Network (SATURN) Conference is the largest conference in North America dedicated to software architecture.

In 2014, the SATURN Conference will celebrate its 10th year. Each year, SATURN attracts an international audience of practicing software architects, industry thought leaders, developers, technical managers, and researchers to share ideas, insights, and experience about effective architecture-centric practices for developing and maintaining software-intensive systems.