It's BeyondAgile: people making software that works!

In our never-ending series of just-in-time events, BeyondAgile presents:

   "An Introduction to Behavior-Driven Development"
   Thursday, 16 June 2009
   6:30 to 8:30 p.m.

Read on for agenda and locations information, or visit our Google Group
at  http://groups.google.com/group/beyondagile


- The Blurb
What's BDD? This is the place to be on Thursday night to learn about
Behavior-Driven-Development: what it is, what it attempts to accomplish, its
benefits and drawbacks, and how the ideas behind it could provide a benefit to
your organization.

Our presenter for this event is Michael Ibarra, who's been writing software in
the Seattle are for over ten years for companies like Microsoft, PEMCO
Insurance, eProject (now Daptiv) and (currently) Parametric Portfolio
Associates. He's a Microsoft Certified Programmer and has multiple Microsoft
Certified Technical Specialist certifications. What's more, he's a member of
BeyondAgile's program team since it was founded.


- Event Agenda
o Welcome and Announcements (10 min.)
o "An Introduction to Behavior Driven Development" presentation (60 min.)
o Questions and Answers (15 min.)
o Giveaway Drawing (from AgileToys.com: an x10 build-status light *and* a Team
Toy Pack! See http://www.agiletoys.com for details.) (5 min.)
o Meeting Retrospective (10 min.)
o Socializing and Breakout/Breakup/Beer


- Event Location
We're meeting at *two* physical locations, connected through videolink:

Eastside (Redmond)
   SolutionsIQ
   First Floor Training Center
   10785 Willows Road NE, Suite 250
   Redmond WA

Directions and picture of building at
    http://www.solutionsiq.com/about-us/contact-us.php
Look for the tent signs and the blue BeyondAgile logo

Westside (Seattle)
Amdocs Digital Commerce Division (formerly QPass)
Greece Room
2211 Elliott Ave Suite 400
Seattle WA


Questions? Contact us at beyondagile@..., or visit our Google
Group, or contribute to the nascent Wiki at beyondagile.org. Or (we're really
letting a thousand flowers bloom here) you can RSVP/discuss the event at the
BeyondAgile Facebook site:

   http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=68941257907&ref=nf


- Opportunity knocks!
If you've attended our meetings and think the audio/video links need
improvement, or if you *can't * attend our meetings and wish there was
live/stored streaming of meetings...BeyondAgile needs you! Everything we do
happens because someone wants to make something better: we have no staff, no
budget, no fixed leadership or organization...only the folks who want to help
each month, and our faithful location sponsors (Amdocs Seattle Division and
SolutionsIQ).

So: help make this a better group. Contact us using any of the means you see in
this announcement, or come to the meeting and see who you can get to help you!


- What's BeyondAgile?
It's the combination and follow-on to a number of the agile-oriented user and
interest groups that have operated in the Puget Sound area. We aim to:

o Build a bigger agile community
o Take advantage of overlaps between existing groups
o Expand beyond meetings and provide a place to collaborate
o Align software development and business
o Explore cutting-edge ideas and techniques
o Discover the most useful practices among all agile processes


- When do we meet?
The plan was to gather at least once a month on the *3rd* Thursday of the
month--that's a change from our previous plan to target the fourth Thursday--
and probably more often. With luck, that date will work better for more people
than the previous date did.


- Where do BeyondAgile events happen?
Our goal is to have many answers to this. As a result, we've worked to remove
the impediment offered by bridges and commuting: we (try to) hold our events in
both Eastside and Seattle locations, through the semi-magic of videocasting.
That's (much) harder than it seems; we'd also still like to present events freed
from the confines of time through streaming video. If you can make that happen,
please, pease, please volunteer to help!


- What is BeyondAgile like?
That, in large part, is up to you. A primary reason for consolidating our
efforts is to broaden our base of support, capability, and leadership. We
envision a more active, multi-faceted organization that does more than just host
talking heads. Come to our events, join our program team, or just watch what we
do on our online sites--you decide what works for you!