George Dinwiddie’s blog

Ever since I experienced the “Where Are Your Keys” language fluency game with Willem Larsen, I’ve been thinking about how to apply the concepts to learning other than languages.  One of the fascinating concepts I gleaned from this game is the separate dimensions of proficiency and fluency.  The proficiency scale that Willem uses is based on the ACTFL guidelines of Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, & Superior.  Willem gave a memorable colloquial description of these guidelines in relation to a party: (Continued)

Another conference has come and gone.  I’m home.  I’m exhausted.  I’m glad to have good internet connectivity again, and time to sit alone with my thoughts.

I had a fabulous time.  Through conferences such as this one, I now have dozens of friends from around the world that I rarely get to see.  I really enjoy getting together face to face.  Missa vitussa se poro on. (I hope I’ve spelled that correctly.)  And I spent time with friends that I previously only knew from Twitter and email.  And I met new friends that I’d not known before.  All of that was thrilling.  (I also didn’t get a chance to talk with some friends whom I know attended. Life is like that.)

I attended some great sessions.  (Continued)

Bob Payne has posted a new podcast, Tips and Advice – Manifesto for Agile Software Development, where we talk about the principles and values of the Agile Manifesto.  I’m still a bit unused to hearing myself talk, and I’ve got a ways to go at getting the “um” monster under control.

If you’ve got the time, give it a listen and give us some comments.

It’s only a week away from the Simple Design and Testing Conference. This will be the third such conference organized by Naresh Jain, and the first that I’ve missed. I’m disappointed that I won’t be there, but I’ve been on the road almost continuously for almost five months….

Frankly, it puzzles me that these conferences aren’t more highly attended. Despite my suggestions to Naresh, he insists that there be no admission charge. The only cost is a weekend of your time and your travel expenses. Oh… and a desire to learn and share.

As you may have noticed, I haven’t posted for awhile.  I’ve been on the go too much.

Right now I’m at the Agile Coach Conference in Ann Arbor, MI.  The regular sessions will start tomorrow.  For Friday evening, we had some delightful lightning talks.

I posted this question on LinkedIn this morning, and have already received a ton of answers. I thought it would be good to ask here, too.

As a manager, what would you like the software developers under your management to learn? This might be knowledge of some specific technology, some software engineering skill, some other skill or knowledge, or what?

Your answer doesn’t have to apply to all of your developers. Pick something that will make a noticeable difference in your organization’s effectiveness. And please be as specific as possible.

Of course, some of the answers were general advice rather than specific things at the answerer’s organization. But where the answers were specific, I typically followed up with two more questions.

What steps are you currently taking to help developers learn this?

What steps do you think you should take, but aren’t yet, for some reason?

I’d like to hear your answers, either as comments to this blog or privately in email.

The new Carnival of the Agilists is focused on the Agile 2007 conference.  You’ll find a bunch of references to blogs discussing the conference.  There’s some interesting stuff.  There’s even a pointer to my good friend, Jack Ganssle, who is not an Agilist and is highly allergic to people touting a New Methodology.  Jack is interested in things that work, and work well.  I was glad to see he had some good things to say.  The reason he did, is that people talked about things they had done and the results they got from doing them.  Telling those stories works ever-so-much better than telling your theories.

I found it amusing that the first response to the Carnival of the Agilists post was one complaining that the drinking water wasn’t obvious enough, being provided in coolers instead of bottles.  All I can say is that if this is the biggest complaint, the conference was a great success!

The Carnival of the Agilists has posted a new issue. Every two weeks, they post a pointer to the interesting articles in the Agile arena. If you can’t keep up with all the blogs and mailing lists and online publications, this is a good way to hit some of the high points.

… and fruit flies like a banana. It’s amazing to me that it’s been three weeks since my last post. Sometimes real life has a way of consuming the time, leaving little left for philosophizing.

During this time, Brian Marick has been stirring things up at the Agile Alliance. I’ve joined in the discussion of his observations and proposals only a little. Brian’s turned over a lot of stones at once, and it takes me awhile to examine all the things that have been living under them. Being a Myers-Briggs introvert, I tend to discuss these things in my own head before displaying them to the world. Here, though, I’m just thinking out loud and I haven’t come to any conclusion. (Continued)

Johanna Rothman’s recent post on the AYE Conference prompted this unsolicited testimonial.

If you’re a techie working with people, you can learn loads about being more effective by attending this conference.  This is no sit-in-a-room-and-listen sort of thing.  You’ll get involved and learn lessons you’ll never forget.

I’m an independent consultant and pay for my own training.  This conference is one I won’t skip.  It’s well worth the cost.