This coming Monday, August 14th, Agile Denver will host a special event
on the eve of our six year anniversary. Please mark your calendars for
"Preparation versus Planning: An Evening of Innovative Thought with Lee
Devin."

The meeting will be held at the 200-seat Qwest auditorium in Downtown
Denver, so there will be plenty of space for bringing a co-worker or
inviting a former colleague or customer. As always, there is no cost or
pre-registration required to attend the monthly meetings.

Our special guest will be Dr. Lee Devin, Professor Emeritus at
Swarthmore College. He will examine the topic of preparation versus
planning. Planning being what you do so that you can do exactly what you
want; preparation being what you do so that you can do whatever becomes
necessary.

With Rob Austin of the Harvard Business School, Lee wrote "Artful
Making: What Managers Need to Know about How Artists Work." Austin
contacted Devin when he joined the Harvard faculty in 1997, and the two
began an ongoing dialogue that led eventually to the book. Their book
explores the use of theater techniques to do creative work in business:
replacing restraint with release, compromise with collaboration, and
industrial teams with knowledge work ensembles. The two authors are at
work on their next book: "Reliable Innovation."

"For years businesses have been trying to figure out how to innovate
reliably. Good theater companies have done it successfully for a long
time," says Devin.

"Few business deadlines are as firm as opening night. And yet theater
companies consistently deliver high-quality products under deadline
pressure. Business managers can learn a great deal about reliable
innovation from the way collaborative artists do, and manage, their
work."

Lee has presented at the Cutter Summit, the Harvard Business School, the
Academy of Management, and the Agile 2005 Executive Summit. Lee's other
writings from which he will draw upon include:

"Beyond Requirements: Software Making as Art," with Rob Austin. IEEE
Software, Jan/Feb, 2003.

"Successful Innovation through Artful Process," with Rob Austin, Leader
to Leader, Spring 2004.

"The Economics of Agility in Software Development," with Rob Austin,
Working Paper, Harvard Business School.

"Planning to Get Lucky," with Rob Austin, Cutter IT Journal, Vol. 17,
No. 11, November 2004.

"An Innovative Frame of Mind," Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol 6, No. 5,
May 2006.

Lee's presentation is appropriate for managers, as well as programmers,
architects, testers, and their customers.

Visit http://www.agiledenver.org for meeting updates and information
about Agile Denver.


AGENDA:

6:00 - 6:30 PM Refreshments, networking and announcements
6:30 - 8:00 PM Lee Devin presentation


SPEAKER

Lee Devin graduated from San Jose State College in 1958 and took his PhD
at Indiana University. He has taught at the University of Virginia,
Vassar College, and Swarthmore College. In 1970 he founded The Theatre
at Swarthmore, which became in time the Department of Theater Studies.
In 1975 be became a member of the artistic staff of the People's Light
and Theatre, acting, teaching acting, and doing dramaturgy.

Along the way, Lee has written articles, plays, opera librettos, and
translations. He has worked as a technical director, master electrician,
production stage manager, and dramaturg. Lee has acted and directed in
the academy, the regional theatre, and for movies and TV. He has a
framed SAG residuals check in the amount of $0.01 to memorialize his
movie career.

Lee retired from teaching in 2002. He is currently a Dramaturg at
People's Light and Theatre and a Senior Research Scholar at Swarthmore
College. He's at work several writing projects that interfere with his
trout fishing, and cause him to neglect his grand children.


SPONSORS

The August 2006 meeting sponsors are:

- Rally Software Development (http://www.rallydev.com)
- Addison-Wesley (www.awprofessional.com)
- Softpro Books (http://www.softpro.com)

A special thanks to Rally Software Development for sponsoring the
speaker expenses, event location and refreshments.

From an Agile pilot project to enterprise deployment, Rally helps
thousands of software professionals respond faster to changing customer
needs by shortening their development cycles. Rally's leading Agile
lifecycle management unites Agile project management with tracking of
requirements, tests, and defects so everyone has a real-time picture of
a project's features and quality, priorities, roadblocks, and risks.

Rally provides both on-demand and on-premise deployment options. With
Rally's on-demand solution, there is no software or hardware to buy,
install, maintain, or upgrade. Rally's subscription pricing starts at
$19 per user per month. This includes everything you need to get
started, so unlike other installed solutions, you won't be surprised
later by hidden people and technology costs.

For more information on Rally Team, Program and Enterprise Editions,
please visit: http://www.rallydev.com/products.jsp


DIRECTIONS

The Qwest auditorium is on Level A of the Qwest building on the corner
of 17th and Curtis. The street address is 1005 17th Street. Take the
exterior escalators facing 17th from street level to Level 1. You can
then access the elevators via doors to the right of the escalator
landing. Those doors may be locked after business hours.

If these doors are locked, proceed to the main building lobby which is
on Level 1. From the lobby, you can take a walkway over to the
auditorium. There will be someone on hand to direct you from the lobby.

In addition to street parking, there is an outside parking lot
on the East side of the Qwest building that costs around $6 after 4pm.
Several other lots are within a few blocks. Covered parking can be
found across the street under Independence Plaza (the Rock Bottom
Brewery) and in the Tabor Center for around $5.


A G I L E D E N V E R
www.agiledenver.org