My 28 seconds of fame has arrived. If you're not already a Java Posse podcast listener, let episode 233 be your introduction to this excellent resource, and your chance to hear my radio voice as the Java Posse Roundup 2009 attendees all take a chance with the mic.
I'm trying to recall the best ideas I learned at the roundup last week, for prompt use at my workplace, Marketing Technology Solutions. Some of the ideas about how to help get back developer time were interesting, especially the focus on automating more processes. I look forward to reviewing more of the audio sessions in future weeks and months to extract more ideas.
However, there are three ideas that made my eyes light up when I heard them, and they're relatively simple to get started at work almost immediately after selling them to the team.
1. Project Retrospectives
After each code release, allow a full regular day to fix any surprising production issues. Then on the next day, run through a 1 to 3 hour code review and functionality retrospective. During this meeting each team member who completed anything interesting can show the primary changes they made to the code base and the improved functionality they created. This can help other team members learn how areas of the code are evolving that they haven't seen recently, and it can help us learn from each other's challenges and the solutions we found.
2. Regular Discussions with Employees
Spend 30-60 minutes each week with each employee to find out privately if there are any ideas or problems that deserve some attention from the employee's perspective. This should preferably be done far away from the office building to encourage unchecked speech about office troubles. It's reasonable to use a full or partial lunch break for the meeting if the employee wants, or just go for a walk during work hours.
3. Lightning Talks
Once a month our team can have an hour-long lunch-and-learn session of 5 minute lightning talks on any technical or non-technical subjects. Keeping things educational and entertaining helps promote free thinking and creativity, so non-technical talks are just as valuable as technical ones, as long as they're interesting or funny. This is especially helpful for team members who are not yet comfortable speaking in front of a group, which is an increasingly important skill for a developer. To get things started I'll need to prepare a few short talks on technical and non-technical subjects, with and without slides. This can help others see the flexibility of the format so they feel free to present whatever and however they prefer.
The lightning talks at the Java Posse Roundup 2009 were very successful. They went as follows:
TUESDAY
"Fair Allocation" Algorithm
Selenium Intro
How I Became 3/4 of the Man I Was
The Art of the Photo
High Gear Media and GWT
Loop Quantum Gravity
Animation Inside JavaFX
Racing 101
Awesome Productivity with GMail
ScalaCheck Automated Tests
Simple Twitter Client in Scala
Your Eyes Suck at Blue
WEDNESDAY
Why Are There 12? or The Other Staircase
DB Migration in Java
Dynamic Web Skinning
Centerline Soccer
YQL
Java User Groups: How to Start One?
Sophisticated Data Access with JPA and Spring
F1 KERS System (2009)
Scala + Wicket
Surprise?
Slide Rules for Fun and Profit
Call 811
Repository Management
THURSDAY
Fan
jFlubber, FlexFlubber, FXFlubber
The Smallest Plugin System
Hacking Hardware
Helmet Cam Footage
Zombies: Are You Prepared?
JavaScript Shell
Recovering a Stolen Laptop with Flex
Doctor Who
Sexier Software with Flex
Solar Power for Your House
Scala and JavaRebel
Groovy SwingBuilder, Google Maps, YQL Mashup
The JPR09 lightning talks are gradually getting released by Carl Quinn on http://www.youtube.com/javaposse
Showing posts with label jpr09. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jpr09. Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Powers of Two
When I was 2 my parents divorced, but I didn't know that at the time. I LOVED apple juice.
When I was 4 I made an alphabet book with pop-up pictures of things that start with the 26 English letters.
When I was 8 I learned to type by playing Infocom games. I had already decided that I would grow up to be a fantasy novelist or an Infocom game author. I was incorrect but I was starting down the right path.
When I was 16 I designed theater sets and managed a crew to build them. I wrote and game-mastered year-long role playing games with my friends, which would later turn into an epic poem for high school credit. I didn't know it but all of this was gradually turning me into a software developer and manager.
Today I turn 32 and I'm on a plane returning from the Java Posse Roundup in Crested Butte, Colorado. My driver's license vanished so the airport security folks find me interesting, and maybe even attractive. One guard was even so attentive that he wanted to pat down my arms and legs. He asked if I was sore or tender anywhere.
I told him about falling on my ass repeatedly while cross-country skiing with computer geniuses. On the trail, Dianne Marsh patiently taught me the basics as we trudged through 3 miles of winding hills. The creator of Artifactory, Fred Simon, showed me how to cut the snow by bending my ankles correctly to go slowly down a hill.
My brain is brimming with ideas from the conference. My housemate Todd Costella showed me the value of Crucible and Fisheye for recording code reviews. My other housemates Andrew Harmel-Law and D. J. Halberg helped me understand Scrum master training. The formal and informal discussions were eye-opening, and the 5-minute lightning talks were such a good idea I'm going to try to get them started at work.
Dick Wall will gradually publish the audio of the discussions and the audio-video of the lightning talks. Thanks for everything, Dick! I'll be listening to those files many times, including the ones I was present for. Until the files are available I think I should blog about what I remember. This way I'll have a way to review my experiences and convert them into actions.
Tor Norbye shares my appreciation for fruity cocktails instead of beer. I introduced him to the joy of the Bay Breeze (Malibu rum, vodka, cranberry, pineapple). I'll have to find out his favorite drink so I can try it out as well. He's already shown me how valuable Netbeans is for Groovy, JavaScript, JavaFX, and Matisse.
On this same plane with me is Bill Robertson who redesigned the look and feel of Dick Wall's JFlubber application for the new and improved FlexFlubber and JFXFlubber incarnations. I sliced and diced Bill's design in Photoshop to make an exported JavaFX app. James Ward grabbed the PSD to make FlexFlubber. A few of the drop shadows didn't get into the buttons in Flex but it still looks wicked cool.
Our wrap-up session from last night is already uploaded as episode #233 of the Java Posse Podcast at http://www.javaposse.com and the best of the lightning talks are starting to show up on http://www.youtube.com/javaposse
When I'm 64 I could be handy mending a fuse when the lights have gone.
When I was 4 I made an alphabet book with pop-up pictures of things that start with the 26 English letters.
When I was 8 I learned to type by playing Infocom games. I had already decided that I would grow up to be a fantasy novelist or an Infocom game author. I was incorrect but I was starting down the right path.
When I was 16 I designed theater sets and managed a crew to build them. I wrote and game-mastered year-long role playing games with my friends, which would later turn into an epic poem for high school credit. I didn't know it but all of this was gradually turning me into a software developer and manager.
Today I turn 32 and I'm on a plane returning from the Java Posse Roundup in Crested Butte, Colorado. My driver's license vanished so the airport security folks find me interesting, and maybe even attractive. One guard was even so attentive that he wanted to pat down my arms and legs. He asked if I was sore or tender anywhere.
I told him about falling on my ass repeatedly while cross-country skiing with computer geniuses. On the trail, Dianne Marsh patiently taught me the basics as we trudged through 3 miles of winding hills. The creator of Artifactory, Fred Simon, showed me how to cut the snow by bending my ankles correctly to go slowly down a hill.
My brain is brimming with ideas from the conference. My housemate Todd Costella showed me the value of Crucible and Fisheye for recording code reviews. My other housemates Andrew Harmel-Law and D. J. Halberg helped me understand Scrum master training. The formal and informal discussions were eye-opening, and the 5-minute lightning talks were such a good idea I'm going to try to get them started at work.
Dick Wall will gradually publish the audio of the discussions and the audio-video of the lightning talks. Thanks for everything, Dick! I'll be listening to those files many times, including the ones I was present for. Until the files are available I think I should blog about what I remember. This way I'll have a way to review my experiences and convert them into actions.
Tor Norbye shares my appreciation for fruity cocktails instead of beer. I introduced him to the joy of the Bay Breeze (Malibu rum, vodka, cranberry, pineapple). I'll have to find out his favorite drink so I can try it out as well. He's already shown me how valuable Netbeans is for Groovy, JavaScript, JavaFX, and Matisse.
On this same plane with me is Bill Robertson who redesigned the look and feel of Dick Wall's JFlubber application for the new and improved FlexFlubber and JFXFlubber incarnations. I sliced and diced Bill's design in Photoshop to make an exported JavaFX app. James Ward grabbed the PSD to make FlexFlubber. A few of the drop shadows didn't get into the buttons in Flex but it still looks wicked cool.
Our wrap-up session from last night is already uploaded as episode #233 of the Java Posse Podcast at http://www.javaposse.com and the best of the lightning talks are starting to show up on http://www.youtube.com/javaposse
When I'm 64 I could be handy mending a fuse when the lights have gone.
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