10 September 2007

What to do when surrounded by (mostly technical) consultants.

For the first week in September, I'd been immersed in an "unconference" located at a remote skiing town in the Rockies, Mt. Crested Butte, Colorado.

The origins of the event date back twenty years to people who were/are students of Jerry Weinberg, so while over the years, participation by consultants of any stripe has been actively solicited, the strong tendency is for the attendance to be dominated by software-centric consultants.

And there I was.

This was my 2nd time attending and for whatever reason, this year was far more valuable to me than my first. To answer the question/statement posed in the title of this entry, what you do is SHUT-UP, LISTEN, and LEARN. OK... so shutting up isn't my strongest ability... but what I try (and hopefully reasonably succeed) to do is add value by and via what I say when I do speak.

Let's put it this way... there's VERY strong evidence to suggest that the term "agile development" was born at the instantiation of this event roughly 10 years ago (pre-dating the Agile Alliance) in a conversation between one of this year's attendees and a previous attendee, none other than Jim Highsmith, who at that time (so the story goes) was still working on the label, "lightweight" development for the ideas.

Moving right along... One session was on, you guessed it: Agile + CMMI. And, believe it or not, it was *not* my suggestion! Nonetheless, I was asked to attend by the facilitator, and the results were nothing short of a fount of value.

Attending this session were folks whose consulting business were in mostly in either the CMM/CMMI/SEI/Process world as well as those in the agile world. As usual, I crossed both lines, but would put myself in the CMMI crowd if forced to pick one, if only because I don't actually do any software development.

There were many valuable products of this session's efforts. Including a very succinct list of primary/fundamental characteristics for the intent of both agile, and CMMI. One list for each. There was also a list of "parting thoughts" that could span any aspect of either CMMI or agile. But, in between, and perhaps the most valuable, was a long list contrasting agile paradigms with CMMI paradigms.

What made this last list most interesting and valuable, is that nothing on the list was based on "perception" or "reputation". Nothing on the list was "fightin' words". These lists were created by people who believed in their respective ideas while respecting the ideas of the other paradigms. This list is gold. And I got to take it home with me.

And, I'll post the list here in an upcoming entry.

Side note: I had the opportunity to think, work, and be creative with folks from all sorts of consulting points of view. Would-be competitors helping each other. Growing the pie, rather than worrying about taking bigger slices of it. My mind was expanded easily several times more than my business prospects... amazing what is generated when growth and learning take priority over possible differences.

In other words, exactly the sort of mindset required for bringing CMMI and Agile together.

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09 September 2007

Brian Lyons: Finally resting.

I've just come home from a week away. I'm only now getting to sorting much of my email. When I'm on travel, especially to certain locations/for certain events, I tend to only invest email time on critical client and personal matters. Most of my email lists go to the back burner and it's only through one of my lists that I learned of the tragic passing of a Great man.

When I first met Brian Lyons (1965-2007) one of my first thoughts was, "... does this man ever sleep?!"

We were both attending an APLN-DC meeting where I was speaking. Brian was there and sat next to a clearly junior software developer. The depth and insight of his questions were of the sort I'd expect from a well-informed, broadly experienced technical leader. Brian was all of that. Only, he was also the top NumberSixer at NumberSix Software. In other words, here was a guy who could get down and dirty and up to his elbows into technology, methods and processes, but he wasn't a "worker-bee" he was the boss, and owner of the company.

The company is doing swimmingly well and has been for some time. Most people in his position would have unplugged from the technical side years ago. But, that wasn't like Brian. In fact, that's likely why NumberSix is as successful and has become a unique business in an otherwise crowded market.

Much to my surprise, Brian became a quick fan of mine as evinced by his kind words in the company blog; then continued peppering of information relevant to what I do, and often to me in particular. We quickly became very comfortable with one another. At Agile 2007 he had no trouble making fun of me for not being an actual conference attendee. My most recent communication with Brian was just three days before his passing when he bothered himself to let me know that a speaker he was listening to mentioned me by name and URL and even sent me the presentation.

He didn't have to do that. Well, he didn't have to do that if he was anyone other than Brian Lyons. Any other busy, successful, distracted business owner would likely have left me to find out through usual means about this reference and this other person's work. But again, would any other busy, successful, distracted business owner be bothering himself to sit for a presentation on Agile Modeling?

So I get back to my original thought: I make myself feel more adequate by concluding that the only way a person in Brian's position could be as plugged-in, as connected, as thorough, and as conscientious as he... is if he never slept. Until now.

Rest in Peace, Brian. An entire industry will feel your loss. May G-d take pity on your family and home and may your name be for a blessing.

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