There are several items that we are going to discuss on the 21st.

The most important item we need to work on are the final arrangements
for Mary's talk on the 30th.  We'll need to discuss who is providing
setup support, name tag distribution, facilities, and cleanup.  We
need
to make sure we can get Mary to and from the airport as well as make
sure she is taken care of while in town.  It would be nice to
spread around the work and make this a nice experience for Mary and
her
husband.

If there is time, I want to give each of you an update on the APLN
board meeting that took place last week.  The board made some
decisions
around the Learning and Recognition Program, elected new officers,
and
created several new programs for the care and feeding of the
organization.

The Atlanta chapter has been given the go ahead to host a late
summer/early fall Leadership Summit in Atlanta.  I'd like to talk
this
though and see if we are *really* interested in making this happen.
The good news is that APLN splits the proceeds with the local
chapter.
The Richmond summit made around 15K so that would be a nice amount to
help bring in quality speakers into the community.

Looking forward to seeing all of you there.  We will meet in the
CheckFree activity center as usual.  I have posted directions on the
aplnatlanta website.

Thanks,
Mike

APLN Atlanta (www.apln.org, www.aplnatlanta.org) is hosting Mary
Poppendieck on the CheckFree campus Wednesday January 30th at
7:30pm.  She will be speaking on Organizational Agility: What's not
in the book?

We are very fortunate to have Mary in town.  She is a regular
speaker at software development conferences worldwide and routinely
draws large crowds for her talks.  She is dynamic and controversial,
a keynote caliber presenter.
The session is for all audiences, whatever your role in your
software organization. The talk will be interactive, with plenty of
time for Q&A

Bio: Mary Poppendieck
Mary Poppendieck started her career as a process control programmer,
moved on to manage the IT department of a manufacturing plant, and
then ended up in product development, where she was both a product
champion and a department manager.   Mary tried to retire in 1998,
but instead found herself managing a government software project
where she first encountered the word "waterfall".   She wrote the
award-winning book "Lean Software Development" to explain how the
lean principles from manufacturing could be applied to software
development. Mary found retirement elusive as she lectured and
taught classes with her husband Tom.   Based on their on-going
learning, they wrote a second book, "Implementing Lean Software
Development."  Mary continues to be a popular writer and speaker as
she continues to bring new ideas to the world of software
development.


Abstract : Organizational Agility: What's not in the book?
So, you've got some cross functional teams, you're running in
sprints, you're doing stand-ups - Awesome!!! Hm, but alas, it
doesn't quite feel agile. What now?

In this session, we will listen to Mary Poppendieck talk about what
sort of things her experience shows will help in this respect. Some
examples of high performance cultures and where organizational
change in thinking really occurred. What is involved in having such
a change? What are those hidden fundamental organizational process
and cultural changes that make the most positive impact?

Overview of Lean Software Development from Mary's website
http://www.poppendieck.com/overview.htm

The Role of Leadership in Software Development.  A presentation
given at Agile 2007.
http://www.infoq.com/presentations/poppendieck-agile-leadership

For more information and directions to the event, go to
www.aplnatlanta.org.

Mike Cottmeyer
Agilist
http://www.cottmeyer.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer

-----Original Message-----
From: "Catherine Wright" <cwright@...>

Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2008 14:13:03
To:"Keyuri Yagnik" <any96@...>,<mcottmeyer@...>
Subject: Mary Poppendieck now on the home page of SPIN!


Mary Poppendieck’s speech is now on the Home page of Atlanta Spin  
http://www.atlantaspin.org/ <http://www.atlantaspin.org/>
Hopefully, that will get us some attention.
 
Please forward to the rest of the group. I don’t have everyone’s eMail. Thanks.
 
 
Catherine Wright, MBA, MCSD.NET, PMP
Technical Project Manager
TechDiscovery, LLC
404-630-2676
cwright@...

 

Hey Brian,

 

Here is some info on that speaker we talked about at the Forum just before Christmas.  Let me know what we can do to get this information out to TAG and any other groups that might be interested.

 

APLN Atlanta (www.apln.org, www.aplnatlanta.org) is hosting Mary Poppendieck on the CheckFree campus Wednesday January 30th at 7:30.  The talk is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend.  We are very fortunate to have Mary in town.  She is a regular speaker at software development conferences worldwide and routinely draws large crowds for her talks.  She is dynamic and controversial, a keynote caliber presenter. 

 

APLN's mission to connect, develop, and support great project leaders.  APLN is an Agile organization, but our mission is to reach out to all project leaders, across all industries, to help them become more effective.  To this end, we are interested in co-marketing this event with other IT professional groups in the Atlanta community. 

 

This particular event is being run by APLN, but we are actively seeking out opportunities to provide speakers and create educational opportunities for your membership, where and when you normally meet.  We are not interested in growing a large APLN chapter in Atlanta.  We are interested in developing a core group of Agile Leadership enthusiasts that want to help the community understand what Agile is all about and help folks understand how Agile might benefit their organizations. 

 

Mary Poppendieck Bio

Mary Poppendieck started her career as a process control programmer, moved on to manage the IT department of a manufacturing plant, and then ended up in product development, where she was both a product champion and a department manager.   Mary tried to retire in 1998, but instead found herself managing a government software project where she first encountered the word "waterfall".   She wrote the award-winning book "Lean Software Development" to explain how the lean principles from manufacturing could be applied to software development. Mary found retirement elusive as she lectured and taught classes with her husband Tom.   Based on their on-going learning, they wrote a second book, "Implementing Lean Software Development."  Mary continues to be a popular writer and speaker as she continues to bring new ideas to the world of software development.

Abstract : Organizational Agility: What's not in the book?

So, you've got some cross functional teams, you're running in sprints, you're doing stand-ups - Awesome!!! Hm, but alas, it doesn't quite feel agile. What now?

 

In this session, we will listen to Mary Poppendieck talk about what sort of things her experience shows will help in this respect. Some examples of high performance cultures and where organizational change in thinking really occurred. What is involved in having such a change? What are those hidden fundamental organizational process and cultural changes that make the most positive impact?

The session is for all audiences, whatever your role in your software organization.

The talk will be interactive, with plenty of time for Q&A

 

Overview of Lean Software Development from Mary's website

http://www.poppendieck.com/overview.htm

 

The Role of Leadership in Software Development.  A presentation given at Agile 2007.

http://www.infoq.com/presentations/poppendieck-agile-leadership

 

The talk will be in the CheckFree Auditorium at 7:30 PM on January 30th.  Please point your membership to the APLN Atlanta website for more information and directions to the event.  The website is www.aplnatlanta.org.  Encourage them to join the Yahoo! group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apln-atlanta.

 

Thanks much, this is going to be an awesome event.  I am looking forward to working together on more of this in 2008.

I agree with Andy. One problem I see with organizations is how to get them to
move from waterfall/BUFD to agile. In specific how to address the issue of
moving away
from capitalization of software development.

Randy Herring
--- In apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com, Andy Powell <andy.powell@...> wrote:
>
> My preference would be for the organizational agility talk because I think it
is an
interesting topic that is relevant to every role in the software development
process.
>
> As Mary said, her talk on the role of Leadership in Software Development is on
the web.
It might be good to send out that link in the email announcing that event.
>
> Andy
>
>
> From: apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com [mailto:apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com] On
Behalf Of Mike Cottmeyer
> Sent: Saturday, December 29, 2007 9:40 PM
> To: apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [apln-atlanta] Fwd: Bio and Topics
>
> Hello everyone...
>
> The following in a snippet from my dialog with Mary Poppendieck on potential
topics for
our meeting on 1/30.  I would like to start a discussion with this group around
what might
be most applicable for a diverse group of IT and business leaders.
>
> We need to have something set by the 8th of January, so let's get some
discussion
going.  Thanks!
>
>
>
> For the evening talk - here are some options.
>
> 1.  I have a talk called "the role of Leadership in Software Development"
which I have
given to "core agilists", especially if APLN or PMI folks are involved.  It goes
over very well,
but on the other hand, the version of the talk that I gave at Agile 2007it is
now posted on
the web, and people may also have heard it there. This talk is SPECIFICALLY
about
leadership, and assumes that no introduction to agile is necessary.
>
> 2.  I have a talk I gave in Philly.  The people who organized it wanted me to
talk about
"What's not in the book".  That is, "We're doing agile, have been for a while,
but it doesn't
feel very agile and isn't working all that well.  What's not in the book that
we're missing?"
This generated so much discussion that it just about lasted all night.  :-)
>
> 3.  Or I can talk about Lean concepts that are not in standard agile
literature - queuing
theory, systems thinking, options, and leadership.
>
> 4.  I could just run down the principles of lean, but that seems too
introductory for a
room full of agilists.
>
> I attach some abstracts (pick one - any one!) and a bio for the evening.  The
file
"introduction to lean software development" is for Check-free, and has an
alternate bio
and small picture.
>
> Cheers!
>
> Mary Poppendieck
> 952-934-7998
> www@...<mailto:www@...>
> Author of: Lean Software Development & Implementing Lean Software Development
>

One of the key topics at next months bi-annual APLN board meeting will
be the whole issue of certification.  There have been several proposals
floated in the past few months around this program.  I have uploaded
one of the proposals to the Yahoo! group for your review.

I believe there are two others out there.  As soon as I can find them,
I will post them to the Files section as well.

Please take a look and share your thoughts.  I'd love to get to the
board meeting able to represent the Atlanta community and how we feel
about some of this stuff.

Thanks much, happy reading!

Mike

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the apln-atlanta
group.

   File        : /DSDM APL competencies.xls
   Uploaded by : mikecottmeyer <mcottmeyer@...>
   Description : Competency List from APLN.  This is the foundation for the DSDM
APL Certification.

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apln-atlanta/files/DSDM%20APL%20competencies.xls

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles

Regards,

mikecottmeyer <mcottmeyer@...>

Hello,

This email message is a notification to let you know that
a file has been uploaded to the Files area of the apln-atlanta
group.

   File        : /LandR Proposal1.pdf
   Uploaded by : mikecottmeyer <mcottmeyer@...>
   Description : L&R Proposal from Todd Little

You can access this file at the URL:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apln-atlanta/files/LandR%20Proposal1.pdf

To learn more about file sharing for your group, please visit:
http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/groups/original/members/web/index.htmlfiles

Regards,

mikecottmeyer <mcottmeyer@...>

We are going to meet on the CheckFree campus on December 17th at 7:30
PM.  Moving forward we will shoot for the 3rd Monday of every month.
Since the Agile-Atlanta meetings are on the 2nd Tuesday, this gives a
week of separation between the two (for those that want to do both)
and an alternate night for those that cannot meet on Tuesdays.

This month we are going to develop our plan for bringing great
speakers into Atlanta to speak at non-Agile IT events.  Come prepared
with ideas for speakers, venues, topics, finance strategies, and most
importantly, a desire to take a few action items so we can get moving.

For those of you not familiar with action items, please see the
following:  http://professionalsuperhero.com/

Visit www.aplnatlanta.org for a little additional information.  My
intent is to stop spamming the Agile-Atlanta group with APLN event
information, so if you know anyone who is interested in attending,
please forward them the website and encourge them to join the Yahoo!
group.

As we get closer, let me know if you think you'll make it.  I'll do
my best to make sure we have some refreshments. I'll look forward to
seeing you there!

Thanks much, Mike

Great idea! Discussing Agile project challenges is a great way to
learn from one another.

I also love the idea of bringing speakers to other groups or even
companies. We are already 'sold' on Agile. We need to promote Agile
and 'sell' others...

Catherine



--- In apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com, Andy Powell <andy.powell@...>
wrote:
>
>  "Et tu, Brute!"
>
> I'd like us to lead role plays of discussions that come up on
projects and then discuss them with the group.  Examples could be:
>
>
> *         Deadline missed role plays (agile vs. traditional??)
>
> *         Standup meeting
>
> *         Retrospective meeting
>
> *         Poor performing team member role play
>
> Oh wait you said, bring in speakers.  Well maybe this would work
too and I think it would be fun, build camaraderie within our new
APLN group, and be an interesting topic for TAG, SPIN, etc.
>
> Andy
>
> From: apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com [mailto:apln-
atlanta@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Mike Cottmeyer
> Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2007 10:46 AM
> To: apln-atlanta@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [apln-atlanta] Monday's meeting
>
> I know not everyone on this list was able to make the Monday
meeting.  We got a lot accomplished and came up with some great
ideas.  I have a few days off next week and will try to get a
summary posted to the Yahoo! group.
>
> That said... I wanted to follow-up on and idea that was generated
at the meeting.  We discussed our role in leading the Agile
community in Atlanta.  To that end, we discussed not bringing in
speakers to talk to APLN, but bringing in speakers to talk to other
groups in the area that could benefit from hearing the Agile
message.  I am excited by this idea and think we could have
significant impact taking this approach.
>
> I have relationships with board members of both AITP and TAG and
have reached out to both. They are both interested and want to
develop the idea further.  So now we are on the hook :-).  Let's
start generating some discussion on topics and speakers we think
might be able to deliver a compelling message to a senior audience.
>
> Looking foward to working with you all.  Get your ideas out here!
>
> --
> Mike Cottmeyer
> Project Manager, Agile Coach, Process Mentor
> http://appliedagileleadership.blogspot.com
> http://www.linkedin.com/in/cottmeyer
>

I for one am interested in brainstorming.

I live in Johns Creek and work less than ten miles away from home.  If we meet
to chat over
lunch very near Johns Creek, that works for me.  Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and
some
Saturday evenings I'm available;  other evenings are already committed to
Toastmasters and
family.

How much brainstorming do we want to do in this forum?  I think we should at
least raise
some of the questions we'll want to answer as a group.

For example:  :)

The Agile-Atlanta group is regrouping right now.  How thoroughly should
Agile-Atlanta and
APLN-Atlanta coordinate?  "Joined at the hip", "share some active
leaders/members", what?

         Joseph Beckenbach