Having Another Thought

Ownership sounds good. As American as apple pie. Personal responsibility, right? But “ownership” in a software team implies that only one developer writes – and understands – each module of code. This leads to defensiveness on the part of the developer. It also creates risk for the business owner, since the loss of one person could slow the team, or potentially cripple the business if they were responsible for a particularly crucial part of the system.

Excellent piece on the myths of software development. While positioned as being about entrepreneurial ventures, I find these to be universal.

A prototype flexible smartphone made of electronic paper has been created by Canadian researchers.

The PaperPhone can do all the things bulkier smartphones can do such as make and take calls, send messages, play music or display e-books.

The gadget triggers different functions and features when bent, folded and flexed at its corners or sides.

This is awesome! I want one!!

I focus on what I do remember: the engaged conversations. The one on one discussions of what someone is working on. Helping a friend design a book cover or solve a thorny entrepreneurial problem. Sneaking out to go to a taco stand for lunch with a very cool CEO...

These are the reasons it is worth going. (At least for me). So do more of that, I think.

I loved reading this, because it represents my thoughts about attending conferences as well. I'm not a big fan of programmed sessions, especially if I can get most of the value from a recording or otherwise. Granted some presenters are worth seeing because they're outstanding presenters. In general, though, I'm much more interested in the people I meet and talk to, and the things I learn through those conversations.

Article by seth godin

Seth Godin is the founder of The Domino Project and has written twelve books that have been translated into more than thirty languages. Every one has been a bestseller. He writes about the post-industrial revolution, the way ideas spread, marketing, quitting, leadership and most of all, changing everything.

The digital revolution is unleashing creativity all around us. All you need is a laptop and an internet connection. To quote Seth: “This is the best shot you’ve got.”

Not everyone believes the ease of entry is good for us. Does allowing everyone equal footing on the playing field result in better art, film, music, and literature? What if this flood of new content is just drowning the true talent? Are we democratizing our culture or just promoting widespread mediocrity?

In this workshop, attendees will experience our Intentional Method of introducing children (ages 10+) to programming using recipes (lessons at www.TeachingKidsProgramming.org ). We use Agile techniques such as pair programming, randoris, short iterations, re-factoring & test-driven development in teaching. Pair instructors model Agile practices while teaching. Learn how to teach technical processes using Agile techniques.

Although we’ve mostly used our method with children, we have also successfully taught adults using similar methodologies.

Process/Mechanics

The presenters have been invited speakers on this methodology in many large forums. For example in 2010, they spoke on .NET Rocks, US Congress, Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing, and Microsoft TechEd Africa. In 2010, there were over 50 instances of this courseware being taught by the presenters or teachers they trained in the following locations US (15 states), Europe (3 countries), Australia, Korea and Africa (2 countries).

This session will be a combination of showing the techniques and experience reports as to why and these techniques are so effective. We will lead a typical one-hour teaching session with the attendees participating as students. During this workshop, we will ‘break out’ into train-the-trainer mode and will explain the how and why of our teaching methods. So you will do (or experience) and then we will explain / recap the particular set of techniques.
Here’s a short video of a demo class:

There will be 4 stages – recipe, recap, variation and quiz for each lesson.
Stage 1 (Recipe) – here you’ll turn logical English line-by-line into executable code. This usually takes around 20 minutes.

Stage 1 Learning’s

• How to set an environment quickly
• Why we didn’t explain anything
• The importance of really rapid feedback
• Using a Virtual Proctor

Stage 2 (Recap) – here we’ll explain the subtleties of what you did in Stage 1 Stage 2 Learning’s

• Why we explain AFTER
• The importance of digestion
• Exploring mistakes
• Abstract lingo AFTER concrete experiences
• Exploring details

Stage 3 (Variations) – here we start to refactor the code, and then play with it

Stage 3 Learning’s

• Refactoring
• Hacking to appreciate compose-ability
• Follow the leader-style
• Peer motivation

Stage 4 (Quizzes) – here we have a short quiz, that pairs of kids complete on their own

Stage 4 Learning’s

• Learning and realizing you have learned are separate events
• Designing quizzes for success
• Impact of rapid feedback on success
• Quizzes as rewards

Overall Learning’s

• Training other instructors
• Setting up your own program
• Teaching in different environments
• Contributing to our program

Learning outcomes

• Just-in-time learning
• Importance of Fun
• Importance of short quizzes
• How to teach with pairing
• Virtual Proctor
• When and how to recap
• How to train new teachers
• How to easily set up student environments
• How to deal with learners of different paces

It's refreshing to see such innovative work in the Agile community.

ThoughtWorks has issued the January 2011 edition (PDF) of their Technology Radar, a document meant to indicate current software technology trends in a concise form. 

This edition of the Technology Radar (PDF) periodically issued by ThoughtWorks does not show the movement of items from where they appeared in the last edition of the radar, the document focusing more on new technologies. The radar contains 4 quadrants, one for each of the following categories: Techniques, Tools, Platforms and Languages. Each quadrant is further divided in 4 zones, Adopt, Trial, Assess, and Hold, each suggesting what to do with the respective technology.

The Mindset

Mindsets are beliefs—beliefs about yourself and your most basic qualities. Think about your intelligence, your talents, your personality. Are these qualities simply fixed traits, carved in stone and that’s that? Or are they things you can cultivate throughout your life?

People with a fixed mindset believe that their traits are just givens. They have a certain amount of brains and talent and nothing can change that. If they have a lot, they’re all set, but if they don’t... So people in this mindset worry about their traits and how adequate they are. They have something to prove to themselves and others.

“Think about your intellligence, talents, and personality. Are they just fixed or can you develop them?”

People with a growth mindset, on the other hand, see their qualities as things that can be developed through their dedication and effort. Sure they’re happy if they’re brainy or talented, but that’s just the starting point. They understand that no one has ever accomplished great things—not Mozart, Darwin, or Michael Jordan—without years of passionate practice and learning.

Why People Differ

Just 48 hours...

On 11 March, 2011, people interested in service and customer experience will meet all over the globe. In a spirit of experimentation, co-operation and friendly competition, teams will have 48 hours to develop brand new services inspired by a shared theme. 

Find out what happens at the Service Jam.

This sounds exciting. Thinking about Dan Pink and "Drive" on the one hand, and the shifting focus towards this area (service, customer experience) is just exciting.

As an activity, this is a stellar example of pulling Autonomy, Mastery, and Purpose together.

The tech world is abuzz with a remarkable display of backbone by Twitter in the Wikileaks case. It deserves wider notice.

Federal prosecutors want to indict Julian Assange for making public a great many classified documents. In December the feds obtained a secret order instructing Twitter to hand over private account contents for Assange and four Wikileaks associates, including network addresses, connection logs, credit card information and identities of everyone they talked to. The order forbade Twitter to notify those affected, among them Birgitta Jónsdóttir, a member of Iceland's parliament.

My cousin, the columnist, on privacy.