What's New
 
 
 

Coming events

  
 

Upcoming Agile Bazaar meetings in the Boston area

Most meetings are on the fourth Thursday of each month.
Meeting details will be announced on the Agile Bazaar email list. Join up at Agile Bazaar Yahoo Group
 
 

Past events

  
 

07/26/05: Test-Driven Development tutorial at Agile 2005 Conference

Agile Rules partners Nancy Van Schooenderwoert and Ron Morsicato will present a hands-on tutorial demonstrating proven techniques for using test driven development to build embedded software in C.

Official description of the TDD Tutorial: TDD for Embedded Systems

More about Agile 2005 conference July 24-29, in Denver: Agile 2005 Conference

07/14/05: Test-Driven Development tutorial at Tufts University

You've heard lots about TDD - now see for yourself what it's like to work this way! At the next Agile Bazaar meeting, partners from Agile Rules will present their TDD tutorial for Embedded software in C. This is the same tutorial that has been accepted for presentation at the Agile 2005 conference later this month. Details (MS Word doc): Agile Bazaar Meeting Notice

09/14/04: Embedded Extreme Programming Experience Report and Clinic

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston.

Description: Actual software metrics from a team that used Extreme Programming for embedded software development will be presented, along with an account of mistakes made and recovery. There will be ample time to relate this experience to the challenges faced by attendees. The purpose is to provide unbiased, thorough information about XP so attendees can determine whether to use it, and how to get started.

What You'll Learn: Practical ideas for how to begin using XP.

Target Audience: Software technical leads, Software architects, Managers of embedded teams, Software/Firmware developers.

08/17/04: Agile Methods for Safety-Critical Software Development

Ron Morsicato and Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at the Extreme Programming/ Agile Universe conference in Calgary. They participated in a panel discussion with Kelly Weyrauch, Mary Poppendieck, and Bill Pyritz.

Description: What might have been a question of whether Agile Methods can be used in the Safety-Critical world is now becoming a question of how Agile Methods can be used in the safety-critical world. This panel will cover some of the myths, worries, solutions, and experiences, hoping to at least address the following questions:
  • What benefits of Agile Methods apply to the Safety-Critical world?
  • What barriers must be overcome?
  • What changes or additions to Agile Methods are needed to make Agile work?
  • Are there concerns from regulatory agencies?

06/25/04:Taming the Embedded Tiger: Agile Testing Techniques for Embedded Software Development

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at the Agile Development Conference in Salt Lake City.

Description: The challenge: An embedded application for a new product design; Brand new CPU with its design not even finalized; Must integrate with software being developed by a partner company. Add to that a schedule already shortened by delay in staffing. Next, add a team with half of its members inexperienced in embedded or real-time software. Sound like a recipe for disaster? We discovered that even inexperienced team members could contribute productively if there were test methods tailored for agile embedded software development, and real teamwork. Embedded systems are notoriously hard to troubleshoot.

Test practices described in this paper made troubleshooting so easy that the software bug list never had more than 2 entries throughout the whole project. (This is for bugs tracked at s/w integration and later phases. Nearly all bugs created were caught in unit test or earlier.)

03/24/04: Managing Software in the Real World: Are Agile Practices the Next Big Thing?

Ron Morsicato and Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at Bentley College. The event was sponsored by the Graduate IT Management Association.

Description: There has been a considerable amount of press lately about agile development methodologies, particularly "eXtreme Programming," or XP. Is this stuff real, or just the latest trend? Part 1 of this presentation will focus on an understanding of what agile methods are all about, comparing them with well known business cases. Part 2 will cover a case study from industry, and show how a transition to XP benefited a team developing a scientific instrument for a varied customer base.

03/16/04: Winning Management Styles

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at the Women's Leadership Conference
She participated in a panel discussion on winning management styles

Description: Once viewed as a touchy-feely topic relegated to the human resources department, leadership is now seen as a business tool that provides companies with a competitive advantage. After you create an aggressive strategy, how do you motivate people to implement it? How do you motivate employees to acquire the skills to perform? And how do you motivate employees during the current economic environment? This panel will discuss different techniques and styles used to develop leaders, optimize productivity and retain key employees.

01/19/04: One Team's Experience Switching to XP

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at Boston Linux and Unix Group.

12/01/03 - 12/02/03: Embedded Software Development using XP

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert spoke at XP Day in London. She and Keith Braithwaite co-presented a session contrasting two very different kinds of embedded system that were both developed successfully using XP.