brandonraines

Most product teams I encounter have Product Backlogs that are bigger than they can complete within a Sprint.  Sometimes there are single items on a Product Backlog that take multiple sprints to complete.  No one enjoys long, grueling Sprint Planning sessions that drag on for hours mostly because it's the first time most of the Team has seen or heard of a particular high priority Product Backlog Item.  Product Backlog Items in some instances take some time even to put into a Just In Time form in order for it to still be of business value and for the Team to feel as though they can complete it within a Sprint.  For all of these reasons, a practice of grooming or preparing the Product Backlog on a consistent basis tends to be a good idea.  Below are some ideas on the practice of grooming Product Backlogs that I have found to be successful in many situations. 

What are the goals of Product Backlog grooming?

How often should a grooming session occur?

Who should Attend a grooming session?

Keep in mind that grooming the Product Backlog is an additive practice.  It is not meant to replace Sprint Planning nor is it meant to turn into Big Requirements Up Front, but to help allow the Product Backlog be prepared enough for the team to consume its contents just in time.

Like so many people in the world, the older I got the worst my vision became.  However, my eyesight seemed to have taken many strange turns as I got older.  One year my eyesight actually seemed to have gotten better, then it got worst.  There were years when my eyes cycled back and forth between better and much worst.  Then in my thirties the progression had tilted toward getting worst. My prescriptions for glasses became harder.  After a fitting and taking a new pair of glasses or contacts home, there just wasn't something right.  While I could see, there wasn't the sharpness I had been accustomed to or expecting from a new pair of glasses.  The experience was even worst with contacts.  It would take weeks sometimes months before I would be able to settle on the "right" pair of contacts and it was never "perfect".  I always felt as though I was settling on eye wear.  Contacts and eyeglasses never gave me the vision I wanted, but in most cases it was an improvement, so I settled mostly out of frustration, fatigue and embarrassment that I had to keep coming back to the doctor for additional fittings.  I became that guy, "Oh, Brandon you're back" when I entered the eye doctor.  

At one point, I said enough and ventured out to get LASIK.  My thought process was economic in nature.  Over the life of a LASIK procedure I would spend half as much on it than the constant prescription changes I'd receive with new glasses or contact.  In addition, I'd have the benefit of not having glasses.  This was my cure.  I happily scheduled myself for a LASIK appointment hoping this would be the end to a very annoying experience.  Then it happened, not only was I told LASIK nor any of it's compatible procedures were suitable for me, I was told I had this fairly serious condition that I still cannot pronounce, Keratoconus.  

Keratoconus (KC) is a condition in which the normally round, dome-shaped cornea (front window of the eye) thins and becomes distorted and irregular. A cone-like bulge develops, resulting in significant visual distortion. The apex of the cone is usually displaced outwards and downwards and in the line of sight, creating irregular astigmatism.

After learning I had Keratoconus, it was suggested I get fit with special gas permeable lenses, one of the more conventional and first order treatments for the disorder.  The gas perm lenses would not be a cure nor would they halt the progression of the disorder, but it was conventional wisdom to use them to slow the progression of the disorder.  Unfortunately, the gas permeable lenses presented the same challenges as normal glasses and lenses which was several trips back to the ophthalmologist before we could get a good fitting and prescription.  Sadly, after a year, I could never find a good fit.  I decided to cut my losses(which were significant) with this approach and start over again.  

I should mention that thus far, none of these procedures were covered under my insurance.  All of these expenses were coming out of my pocket and they were mounting into the thousands.  This experience also includes the many trips to Washington DC usually during business hours or high traffic times.  So there was the added expense of loss of work, travel and parking expenses, not to mention the hassle of driving in DC.

My next stop was to a Doctor in Virginia.  I live in Virginia, so that made things more convenient.  This was a short visit as his first recommendation was to see another Doctor in DC that was pioneering a procedure in the US called Corneal Collagen Cross Linking(CXL).  The medical trial for the procedure has been in existence in 1998 mostly in Europe, but has shown promising signs from the trials participants.  While the procedure has not been FDA approved, the result in the US has been as promising as in other places.  Luckily, I live near one of the leading practitioners of the procedure in this country, Roy Rubinfeld M.D. at Washington Eye Physicians & Surgeons

As I type this article, I am hours removed from having the CXL procedure.  The typical results won't be known for months, though I can see, no complications thus far.  The minimum I'm hoping for is that the disorder stops progressing.  The best case is that my eyes will have a normal progression of sight.  A bonus is that if my eyesight is not significantly improved that my corneas will be strengthened as a result of CXL that I can get LASIK in a few years.  
What was striking to me through this experience is how few people(1 in 1000) have this disorder and much of that is known only as a result of the equipment required to detect it is not in typical eye care facilities.  Many people, like me, discover they have this thing as a result of getting corrective eye procedure such as LASIK and not as part of their normal eye exams.  Another sadness that struck me is how little, in my case none, of the corrective procedures are covered under medical insurance.  Hopefully, the medical trials will become successfully approved and there can be a movement to have the disorder and corrective procedures covered by insurance.  I knew nothing about this disease before learning I had it.  I had to go from knowing nothing about it, to be terrified once I learned I had it, to trying to figure out what to do with very little information.  I find myself to be lucky.  I have financial and other resources that afforded me options.  Sadly, I realize not everyone will have those same luxuries.  

 While I know not all of what Dr. King and many people who struggled and died for has not been realized I see so much evidence that their struggles were not in vain and that this country and the world is a far far better place to be as a result of their works.  Dr. King and those who marched, protested, spoke, boycotted, were tread upon, and died did so for the love of their country.  They sacrificed not just for a few who looked like them, but also for the sake of the entire country.  They did these incredible things so that a country defined by it's amazing principles could one day live up to them.  King and many others like him is an American story.  King showed us what it was to be an American.  It means to stand up for injustice, to fight for what is right, to live up to our words and potential, and to effect change.  On a recent visit to the King memorial I was surrounded by people of all races, ages, socio economic status, all revering a great man, a great American.  It seemed proof positive that what King stood for was worth those struggles.

When I made my decision to attend Morehouse College, though it was not just because of King and what he did, he certainly had a major influence but more so because he represented many men that had matriculated through those halls hoping like him to, "make a dent in the universe".  What I didn't know at the time I made my college choice, was that King's impact had reached across thousands of miles and into a country that brought men from as far away as India to Morehouse to study in the same place as King because of his influence from Gahndi.  Knowing that these young men travelled great distances and at great expense to their families was something I didn't take lightly.  Their act was something that inspired me to learn even more about King.  I am amazed how relevant and true his words still are.  King's teachings are certainly worthy of continued study from all of us.  Here are just a few.

"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or the darkness of destructive selfishness.  This is the judgement.  Life's most persistent and urgent question is, What are you doing for others?"

"All men are interdependent.  Every nation is an heir of a vast treasury of ideas and labor to which both the living and the dead of all nations have contributed.  Whether we realize it or not, each us lives eternally "in the red.'  We are everlasting debtors to known and unknown men and women.  When we arise in the morning, we go into the bathroom where we reach for a sponge which is provided for us by a Pacific Islander.  We reach for soap that is created for us by a European.  Then at the table we drink coffee which is provided for us by a South American, or tea by a Chinese, or cocoa by a West African. Before we leave for our jobs we are already beholden to more than half of the world."

"As long as there is poverty in the world I can never be rich, even if I have a billion dollars.  As long as diseases are rampant and millions of people in this world cannot expect to live more than twenty-eight or thirty years, I can never be totally healthy even if I just got a good checkup at Mayo Clinic.  I can never be what I ought to be until you are what you ought to be.  This is the way our world is made.  No individual or nation can stand out boasting of being independent.  We are interdependent."

"We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive.  He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love.  There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us.  When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."

"Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion.  The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything and so popular that it will include everybody.  Not a few men who cherish lofty and noble ideals hide them under a bushel for fear of being called different."

"We must accept finite disappointment, but we must never lose infinite hope"

"There is little hope for us until we become tough-minded enough to break loose from the shackles of prejudice, half-truths, and downright ignorance."

Like life, racial understanding is not something that we find but something that we must create.  And so the ability of Negroes and whites to work together, to understand each other, will not be found readymade; it must be created by the fact of contact."

"When evil men plot, good men must plan.  When evil men burn and bomb, good men must build and bind.  When evil men shout ugly words of hatred, good men must commit themselves to the glories of love.  Where evil men would seek to perpetuate an unjust status quo, good men must seek to bring into being a real order of justice."

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

"The belief that God will do everything for man is as untenable as the belief that man can do everything for himself.  It, too, is based on a lack of faith.  We must learn that to expect God to do everything while we do nothing is not faith but superstition."

"I've decided that I'm going to do battle for my philosophy.  You ought to believe something in life, believe that thing so fervently that you will stand up with it till the end of your days.  I can't make myself believe that God wants me to hate.  I'm tired of violence.  And I'm not going to let my oppressor dictate to me what method I must use.  We have a power, power that can't be found in Molotov cocktails, but we do have a power.  Power that cannot be found in bullets and guns, but we have a power.  It is a power as old as the insights of Jesus of Nazareth and as modern as the techniques of Mahatma Gandhi

"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral.  It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all.  The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind.  It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than to convert.  Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love.  It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible.  It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue.  Violence ends by defeating itself.  It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."

   

I struggle to zero in on the one word to describe the year that was 2011, so I'll stop trying to force myself to come up with one and get on with it.  Instead, I'll simply describe some of the people, places, things and ideas that have helped shape this enigmatic year for me.  I think it safe to say in many ways 2011 represented a year of transition, healing, surprise and growth for me.  Overall, I would rate it as a good year.  Every year brings its peaks, valleys, pitfalls, summits and even plateaus.  2011 was surely no exception.  I leave 2011 having experienced some really great times, a requisite amount of disappointments, but certainly less sucky times than recent years.  I look forward to 2012 with the hope of…possibilities.

Maya continues to inspire me.  Kids view and approach life in such a different way.  Everyday, every hour is a new experience.  My kid is no exception.  There are so many things we take for granted.  She views life with a curiosity and wonder that I admire and try desperately to reproduce for myself.  Every experience for her is an opportunity to learn, which is a wonderful thing.  She doesn't have the same prejudices, worries nor hang ups of her adult counterparts .  She approaches situations with a newness, and at times with a brash rebelliousness, almost fearless of the consequences.   It makes her stronger.  It has made me stronger.  It has given me the perspective to live life, to sometimes ask questions without fear of reprisal or shame.  She looks at life with a beginner's mind.  She describes situations for what they are, sometimes in a literal way devoid of the complications that society has thrust upon us.  For instance, her take on race is that each of us simply has different skin colors, that's it.  She describes her best friend Jackie as having peach skin.  End of discussion. Isn't that the way it should be?  She has forced me to look at life in quite a different way.  With a zeal towards curiosity.  

It's not everyday you get to strike something from your bucket list.  So when it happens, its a source of joy and fulfillment.  Finally getting to attend South by Southwest met all of those criteria for me.  It was an experience unlike any other I've had before.  SXSW has a unique way of bringing together music, film, technology and talented, passionate people, in one place at the same time.  It was a confluence of things that sings directly to my soul.  There was an energy that was ever-present throughout my time down in Austin and I loved every bit of it.  Some of the lessons, people and films I saw during my time at South X still creep into my psyche influencing how I go about my daily life.  It was the definition of a great investment of time and money.  

The Seattle Scrum Gathering isn't the first time I've been honored to speak at a major Agile conference, but it was certainly a special occasion.  It felt good to motivate myself to actually submit something to be reviewed by peers and those in the community I have often revered.  It felt amazing when I got the email indicating my submission was accepted.  I was over the moon in excitement, surprise and humility when I finally delivered my session on Servant Leadership and people actually showed up to listen.  The good feelings at the Scrum Gathering didn't stop with my session.  There were absolutely fabulous sessions there by others.  The Gathering was also an opportunity for me to meet others in the community I had been hoping to connect with for some time.  To top it off, the Scrum Gathering took place in one of my favorite places in the world, Seattle.  This experience shaped my 2011 and most likely beyond because it gave me a confidence, I had been doubting, that I could present a tough topic amongst an audience of experienced, talented Scrum'ites and leave relatively unscathed. 

Like millions of people around the world, I was profoundly impacted by the death of Steve Jobs.  As it tends to happen when there is a death we often reflect on that persons life.  While reflecting on his life, I was reminded by just how much Steve Jobs through his work at Apple, PIXAR, NeXT and the way he lived his life have impacted so much of the way I live mine.  The Macintosh inspired me to be a software engineer.  PIXAR movies have given me and my daughter countless laughs, cries and memorable moments together.  His dedication to making insanely great products is something I greatly admire and strive to reproduce.  I still feel compelled to say, Thank You Steve Jobs.

  Very little excites or inspires me more than ideas.  I'm obsessed with brainstorming, provoking, discussing, building upon and tearing down ideas.  I believe they are the most powerful currency we have as human beings.  They can spur a revolution, save a life or completely destroy people and civilizations.  A few years back I discovered the non-profit organization called Ted.  Ted is exclusively dedicated to ideas with a specific mission "devoted to ideas worth spreading".  In 1984, it started off as a conference and since has exploded to a movement attracting people from all walks of life and expertise, speaking in short burst, usually 18 minutes or less, spreading ideas.  This year, I was fortunate enough to attend one of the local TEDx events - TEDx Mid Atlantic. It was one of the more inspiring, thought provoking, and high energy events I've ever attended.  The range of speakers was incredible.  There were engineers, astro-physicist, chefs, social scientist, journalist, artist, and actors.  Such a range of speakers and such powerful messages.  It was a full day and by the end of it, my mind was completely full of ideas and my spirit was energized and inspired to do more.  

  Every few years the all male college prep school of St. Christopher's in my hometown of Richmond, VA host a leadership symposium.  This year, I was lucky enough to accompany a very good friend to this year's event, entitled 'Building Great Leaders'.  It was an opportunity for the boys of St. Christopher's and the larger Richmond community to listen and be engaged by a slew of talented, driven, passionate people to share their life's journey and how they have contributed to the world in a positive way.  Each of their stories was compelling, heart felt and inspiring.  I'll admit to experiencing the full range of emotions at this symposium while listening to each speaker.  There was sadness hearing about the places and circumstances that each of them found themselves in before they were inspired to do something different.  Then there were the joys, happiness and fulfillment of knowing that they could change their circumstances for them and just as importantly, others.  Listening to the likes of Wes Moore, Robyn Benincasa, Li Cunxin, and Doc Hendley was an affirmation that individuals can make a positive impact in the lives of many people.  They reminded me that one doesn't have to be a victim of their circumstances or short comings, but that we can find something within ourselves along with the careful guidance of others to be a good human-being.  It was a good day.  I laughed, I shed a few tears, and left feeling energized.  

  I believe it's a good idea to get outside of yourself from time to time and experience new and different thoughts in your profession.  It makes you better.  It can also cause you to re-think concepts, strengthen others and get rid of the obsolete ones.  ACCUS did all of this for me and more.  Probably the most important thing that I discovered at ACCUS was that there are really talented coaches in the Agile space and that I can learn a hell of a lot from each of them.  

The Heroism and Redemption of the Human Spirit in the midst of and aftermath of tragedy

2011 brought us famine, genocides, brutal dictatorships, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, and the deaths of our loved ones.  Sadly the world experienced no shortage of those tragedies in 2011.  Still, I tried to experience these tragedies through a different lens.  That lens was, how did individuals, cultures, nations and groups respond in the midst of and the aftermath of those tragedies.  In each tragedy, there were bright spots.  People that stood up to tyrants, evil-doers and great danger and decided they and the people around them would not succumb.  On a hot Arizona day, the hero was played by Daniel Hernandez who responded to help save Gabby Giffords after being shot at a community rally.  In Japan, it was a nuclear worker who said, "I am prepared to die to avoid meltdown" after an earthquake severely damaged a nuclear reactor and threatened the health and life of millions of his countrymen.  Across the world, a bartender named Doc Hendley learned that 1.3 billion people don't have access to clean water and decided to put himself in peril to do his part to bring that number down.  The "Jasmine Revolution" gave us many heroic souls who said, "Enough!" and decided they wanted a better life for themselves and others living under oppression.  These people and many, many more like them, prove to me that despite the terrible things that happen in our world, there are so many more good people willing to do awesome things.  I stand in awe of these people, because they reinforce my belief in hope.  Hope that good is always possible.  

Fields of Flowers

All little girls love flowers.  In fact, I'll go out on a limb and say that all girls, of all ages, love flowers.  It's why men, no matter what egregious act they inflict on a woman, almost always start an apology with a bouquet of flowers.  The more egregious the act, the bigger and fancier the bouquet.  So, my little girl is no exception to this rule.  She loves flowers.  If we are walking somewhere, anywhere, and she spots a flower, it must be picked.  Knowing this and the fact that she has me securely wrapped around her finger, I thought I'd indulge her predilection for a good flower and the subsequent picking of said flower.  So a quest for the grandest of farms that allowed one to legally pick flowers was on.  My crack research staff found what turned out to be the perfect place, Fields of Flowers.  So, on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, my 5 year old, and a few like aged companions set off for our flower adventure.

Fields of Flowers is nestled beautifully in the countryside of Virginia in Purcellville.  The drive sets the stage allowing a certain serenity traveling through horse farms, hills, valleys the city simply cannot provide.  The hour long drive brought us to a long tree-lined driveway which at the end emerged a beautiful red barn, letting us know quickly this would be the rustic excursion we all wanted.  The perfect pairing of a tractor in front of the barn made this the farm experience it's supposed to be.  A tree swing and a big burly dog that greeted us completed the visual criteria for a real farm experience.  Walking up to the barn, we were also warmly greeted by the owner.  At this point, she noticed how anxious the girls were to start picking the flowers and run around the wide fields that were peaking out beyond the barn, so she gave us a few instructions on how and what to pick.  I think the girls hardly let the last of the instructions leave the woman's mouth before they took off, buckets and shears in hand, ready to pick.  As we all exited the barn to enter the field, there was a surprise.  A beautiful, potbelly pig.  The kids were thrilled and so were the adults.  All that was missing was a word weaving spider.

In the fields were rows and rows of beautiful blooming flowers.  The color of the flowers set against the green of the fields and the blue hue of the sky was picture perfect.  The most unexpected but awesome benefit was the wide open spaces.  Plenty of space for the kids to run around, take in some fresh air and literally smell the flowers.  It was a nice touch having nets to catch an occasional butterfly taking a nip on one of the bushes.  

Being out in nature, far away from iPads, game consoles, cell reception and other digital distractions was a welcomed and sorely needed change.  The kids loved it.  After picking flowers, they found a tree to make their own impromptu picnic.  The setting continued to inspire the kids to find new things to do with each other.  We were certainly not going to interrupt because it meant more relaxing time for us.  Though the property was large, it never seemed overwhelmingly large such that you felt compelled to be a helicopter parent, for fear your child would get into danger of going missing.  It was self contained and safe. No matter how far the kids travelled off, they were still in relative line of sight.   

Fields of Flowers is the perfect family day trip.  Choose a day in early to mid June when the flowers are at full bloom.   Walk the fields, smell the flowers then pick a bunch.  Don't forget to bring a picnic basket, a big blanket and choose a tree to sit under. There, beauty and peace will be all around you.

           

     

     


The Shows that stayed in rotation as favorites in 2011

Parenthood
The Big Bang Theory
In Plain Sight
White Collar
Royal Pains
Modern Family
Hawaii Five O

Covert Affairs

2011 brought us a glut of super hero stories, none of them good. Well save for the latest X-Men installment.  Unlike 2010 when there were double digit Oscar worthy, excellent movies, I was not as impressed with 2011's offerings.  Beyond the actual movies, I thought the crop of 2011 flicks provided a stage for some really good individual performances.  Of note were George Clooney in 'The Descendents', Paul Giammatti in both Win Win and Barney's Version, Phillip Seymore Hoffman in 'The Ides of March'.  Martin Sheen in 'The Way'.  In addition, we saw the return of Kevin Spacey in 'Margin Call'.  I really enjoyed Jonah Hill in 'MoneyBall'.  Michael Fassbender was excellent in everything he was in this year including X-Men: First Class, Shame and 'A Dangerous Method'. Kiera Knightly was fantastic in 'A Dangerous Method'.  Delivering my favorite performance by anyone this year was Shailene Woodley in 'The Descendents'.  Oh, and since I love Marissa Tomei in anything she does, her performances in 'The Ides of March', 'Crazy Stupid Love' and 'The Lincoln Lawyer', reminded me of how much I love her.  Though most of the movies I saw this year fell short of greatness, there were a few bright spots.

My Favorite Picture Nominees

Movies I saw in 2011 which I'm just catching up to the rest of the world and should have seen a long time ago...

         

Favorites in Documentary Format 

Kumare
A Matter of Taste: Serving up Paul Liebrandt

Will not win any awards, but worth seeing because in their own way, they will provoke a response

         

Deserving of it's own category since it features Zoe Saldana slinking around in her underwear for half the movie.  Need I say more?

Rarely does humanity lose someone who has truly and profoundly changed it.  When an event such as that happens, its time to pay respect.  On October 5th 2011, the world lost Steve Jobs.   Steve Jobs created a company and even more, a movement.   In all aspects of his endeavors he sought to improve the world and the human existence through his work.  Every iPhone, iPad, iMac, newton, Apple II had as it intention, using technology does not have to suck. He showed us that technology can be used for good and that it could make our lives better. He showed me, you can strive and demand to be 'insanely great'.

I can still remember being twelve and having the privilege of being invited to a summer enrichment camp.  At this camp was my first exposure to computer programming, on an Apple computer.  I was blown away.  I haven't put down a keyboard since.  I remember buying my first Mac and have bought nothing but Apple products since.  As much as I love Apple products, I love even more what they stand for.  I get asked all the time why I like Apple products so much, the simplest response is usually, 'It just works'.  Though, its more than that.  They represent simplicity, elegance, and imagination.  As I write this piece with tears welling in my eyes, I smile a bit because it's on a Mac.  Thank you Steve Jobs.

I remember being in utter disbelief.

I remember being profoundly sad and shedding the tears to express it.

I remember how relieved I felt when I found out that my loved ones in harm's way were safe and how sad I felt for those that didn't come home safely.

I remember being terrified of what would come next.

I remember the heart wrenching stories of those who had lost.

I remember our President standing on a pile of rubble with a bullhorn in hand telling us that those who had perpetrated this crime would hear us.

I remember the King of Jordan saying that this was a crime against the world and that our country, the United States represented a beacon of light on the hill and that we all suffered that day.

I remember the changing of the guard in London playing Our national anthem and how grateful I felt.

I remember how united we were as a country through grief and the comfort that we would all gave each other 

I remember being in awe of those that willingly gave their lives to rescue and comfort those who were in danger.

I remember the stories of hope.

I remember the next day dawning and thinking, 'we are still here'.

The adoption of Scrum has been phenomenal in the past several years. While some still struggle with what I believe are the harder rules like delivering every sprint, the daily scrum is one practice that almost all teams adopt earliest. However it is also one of the practices that often gets misconstrued and badly implemented. One of the more disturbing trends I have noticed while coaching teams is a heavy reliance on the daily scrum as THE ONLY collaboration vehicle for the team. When the Scrums are the only means in which team members are talking and collaborating it turns the Scrum into what it is not supposed to be, a status meeting rather than a session to expose risk to the sprint success.  

When I observe these trends on a team, I often start digging by asking how often does work get integrated. Daily builds are a form of collaboration on a team. It allows the team to get feedback on whether it is on the right track and where it is off. I start listening for things like "I'll talk about it tomorrow at the scrum", copious note taking by the Scrum Master, and too much detail being shared. I also look to see how often the team talks amongst itself between Scrums even if the discussion is happening on instant messenger, wiki chatter or elsewhere. The really good teams I have participated on or coached, collaborate in some means throughout the day by pairing, discussions, etc. Lest we forget the agile principle, people and interactions over processes and tools.

Every year since 2005, Agilists  from all over the world converge on some welcoming city to collaborate, commiserate, share new ideas, and celebrate all that is Agile at its premier conference.  This year was particularly special for me as it was the culmination of a ton of hard work by the Blue Collar team to present it's first real product launch, my first time as a presenter in a conference this large, and it took place in a city that I am particularly fond of, Chicago.

Using the Retrospective technique of Mad, Sad, Glad developed by Esther Derby and Diana Larsen here are some high level thoughts on the conference.

:-)

- virtual social networking through Twitter. follow @ #agile2009

- face to face social networking

- iPhone app(props to ThoughtWorks)

- international diversity

- diversity in roles represented(developers, testers, managers, etc)

- sessions that allowed me to talk to other attendees through the use of exercises that sparked conversations

- evidence, albeit still small, of Agile going 'mainstream'. (Obama session, Cockburn keynote, number of presentations featuring government, interviews by media)

- presenting on our coaching experience in the Federal Government, see more below

- Blue Collar Objects product launch, see more below

- conference provided a concentrated opportunity to iterate on ideas with rest of Blue Collar Objects team 

- hallway discussions

:-(

- disappearance of the Questioning Agile stage and accompanying presentations

- bashing of Scrum and the Scrum master.  Seems like this was misdirected as it was truly a bashing of those that have misconstrued the practice.  

>:o

- cell service.  I reluctantly list this since it was no fault of any conference organizer or even the hotel, but it was so incredibly bad and made such an impact that I mention it in the hopes that at future conferences it can be avoided.

A Reader's Digest version of my favorite sessions

Improving Obama Campaign Software: Learning From Users by Billy Belchev

This was a departure from normal presentations as it focused on a popular and successful venture, The Obama campaign.  This presentation combined the popular appeal of the campaign, politics along with working in a highly iterative environment by getting real time user feedback and acting on it.  This was fun as it was a confluence of some of my favorite topics.

Performance Without Appraisal: What To Do About Performance Reviews by Esther Derby

Really good presentation exposing the many ways that performance reviews have gone so incredibly wrong and how there needs to be a different approach particularly in a highly collaborative environment that Agile demands.  

* feedback should be on the spot, direct and specific

* anonymous feedback engenders paranoia

* give people the information they need to change their behavior

* annual reviews engenders mistrust & bad information as it opens up the possibility that the person has been doing something wrong for a year

* don't discount the cost of bad policies(time taken by employees to 'water cooler' the bad policies)

* challenge: how to evaluate performance and provide feedback based upon team contributions

Scaling Scrum with Feature Teams by Bas Vodde

Bas Vodde is one of the big brains in Scrum and Architecture. Definitely one of my favorite sessions. 

* Large projects have collections of mediocre people

* Instead of being constrained by specialization, learn new specialization within team instead of growing.

* growing may be more expensive over time & velocity may drop by adding or growing within

* invest in learning within team

* utilize component guardians who suggest peer reviews but does not block or become a gatekeeper

* Chief Architect, Scrum Master, Lead Tester or Development Lead is not in charge of creating structure but facilitating the creation of structure amongst the team, perhaps even through constraints

* Use themes as a way to break up product backlog and divide amongst multiple scrum teams on a large project

Become a Better Agile Practitioner:Learn from Other Sources by Mike Sutton

* very much enjoyed the aspect of being able to conduct exercises where I could talk to my fellow attendees at a table for an extended period of time on relevant topics setup by the instructor.

Climbing the dreyfus ladder of agile practices by Patrick Kua

* Fantastic presentation of the Dreyfus model.  The most helpful and relevant class that could help me personally in my coaching practice.

The experience of presenting Managing Agile Transition in Government Beauracracy

* great time collaborating and presenting with Judy

* great questions and interaction with audience

Product launch of Blue Collar Objects Community including Scrum Tools

Blue Collar Objects was very proud to contribute to the Agile community by being a sponsor of Agile 2009.  We used this incredible opportunity to release our product of creating a community where users can tell us the services they want, vote on their priority and price.  The first set of services being created are for those who want to use typical services that a Scrum team would use such as managing a product backlog.  Being a sponsor gave us a chance to showcase our wares to conference attendees.  Preparing for the conference was an awesome chance to collaborate with my fellow Blue Collarites.  Collaborating and iterating on ideas is something that we all thrive on and it was done at a high pace before, during and even after the conference.  

Lingering Thoughts & Take-Aways

* Are we becoming Agile or merely doing Agile?

* Learning that the problems faced from one project, Agile or otherwise, are not always unique, but the solutions are often different.

Mad, sad or glad, Agile 2009 was a great experience.  One that will carry a special meaning for me forever.  It is still the best concentration of the leading Agile minds, famous or not yet famous.  It is somewhere that you will most likely find me every year.  So, see you in Nashville

P.S.

Want to read more about what I did outside of the conference in Chicago? Take a look here, Chicago 2009 
Here are some other Agile 2009 experience reports that I liked:

• http://www.enthiosys.com/insights-tools/a09-recap/
• http://geekyninja.blogspot.com/2009/09/agile-2009-summary.html

While still in college, like many fans, I was introduced to the music of The Dave Matthews Band.  My introduction to DMB would carry special meaning to me since it was given by Shonna, who I would eventually marry.  We were in our apartment in Atlanta lounging around when she decided to play some music.  The first song played, Satellite.  Instantly, it moved me.  I still remember I had to actually sit up and take notice of this beautiful music. The violins, the mandolins, then this quirky voice comes in and matches the music perfectly.  The lyrics were eclectic which matched the voice and music that I was hearing.  It was something quite different as I was getting really frustrated with music at the time. The musical malaise that set over me from gangster rap, which I was never a fan, the almost as equally unimaginative sounds of R&B at the time and even other alternative rock bands that I had come to love were just not working for me.  But this was different.  Sadly, the version of 'Satellite' that was played for me was on a compilation album recorded at an annual Atlanta music festival, so it was the only song on the album by my newly minted favorite group.  So, like a crack fiend, I searched frantically for more from this amazing group.  I searched and searched and found more and until this day, I have continued to listen and love almost anything that the band puts out.  The more I learned about them, the more I liked.  In many ways, they represent several of the things that I appreciate in life.  Diversity, inclusiveness, a zest for life, humor, happiness, a little consciousness, and a whole lot of soul.  

Eventually, I would be told by die hard fans that you really haven't experienced Dave Matthews Band until you have heard them live in concert.  This in fact was the bands main medium.  They are a concert band that records albums in the studio from time to time.  In fact, they release a live album as frequently as they do studio albums.  Seeing the band live was a goal I felt so strongly about that I even put it on my 101 Things to Do Before I Die list.  After many years of listening and watching, my time had come to actually attend a concert.  My voyage to this event was not without challenges.  On the day I was to attend the concert I would witness the wedding of one of my life long friends in Williamsburg.  So my journeys that day would be long.  Wedding in Williamsburg at 2p, DMB in Northern VA starting at 7p.  Yikes!  It turned out that it was a perfect day.  The weather was fantastic, the traffic was light.  On the way back, I even found a shortcut that took me through some of the more beautiful farm country that I never really knew existed in Northern Virginia.  While I was not enthusiastic about the venue of Nissan Pavilion because of its traffic nightmares, I was ready to see my band, even as it turned out by myself.

Taking the long hike from the parking lot to the actual venue was just as entertaining as the concert.  There was tailgaiting galore. People were so happy to be there and so effusive with love that food and drink was being passed out freely to strangers.  This was my kind of concert. Walking to my seat, I noticed something, though it should not have been surprising I still found it, heartening.  The crowd was an amazing amalgamation of humanity.  I saw White, Black, Latino, Asian, old, young.  It was America at its strongest, diversity with commonality.  For goodness sake, there were teenagers with their parents, all enjoying themselves.  When does that ever happen?! The crowd was ecstatic in the revalry of watching this amazing band.  Beach balls were bouncing through the crowd, heads were nodding to what could only be described as the music in your head, and there were smiles and waves from fellow strangers, ready to have a good time.  You could feel the good vibes. 

Then the lights got dim.  You could see the players take their positions behind the translucent curtain.  And then....with one of the loudest guitar riffs I've ever experienced, it was on.  They opened with 'Why I Am' from the latest album, Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King. It was electric everyone was on their feet and remained as such for pretty much the entirety of the concert.  The remainder of the night would continue with new songs interspersed with classics like 'Crash into Me'.  An unexpected and rousing rendition of 'Burning Down the House' did almost that.  What has always been lore for me in discussions of DMB concerts from other concert going veterans was the occasional changing of lyrics or music to certain songs in live form.  I felt uneasy about this as many of these songs have attached meaning in their original form.  You recall certain events happening while a song was playing, were you were, what you were doing and those songs become the soundtracks.  However, after hearing them live, you can see why many like the 'new' version as much as the classic.  Something that has always filled me with chills is listening to a band live and hearing the crowd sing the songs to the point where the artist merely has to stand, hold the mic to the crowd and nod along.  It must be the biggest ego trip, to know that everyone in the crowd knows the words to your songs, no matter how obscure the song is.  

By the end of the night I was filled with such a great experience that transcended even the music.  It was the entirety of the experience that was special.  Even waiting in the parking lot for an hour to leave was not as horrible as one would think as the party continued there.  There was no beeping of horns to rush people out, no screaming for people to move along.  No harassing by park security.  The tailgating continued and the crowd eventually moved.  Amazingly, even after 2.5 hours of hearing the band play great tunes, it seemed like almost everyone was playing DMB music in their cars as they waited to leave, me included.  It was a good day.

Linda would describe her time not only as a woman in the Navy in the 70s but also her time as helo pilot, something that would be considered even more of a man's job.  Linda however, not being the demure type told many stories of how she took no shit from anyone including her commanding officers and they all respected her for it.  Even in the brief amount of time that I spent with her, I believe every single word of it.  In fact, I would not be surprised to hear any of those in her command say that they feared her.  She has a commanding presence in her tone and stature.  With my manhood still in tact, I confidently say that I would not screw with her for fear of her kicking my ass.  The conversation would bounce back and forth between Linda and Mark throughout the rest of the night.  Both sharing stories of happiness and woe.  Mark would talk sadly about his time in Vietnam and how as a soldier he accepted his responsibilities but as a human you could see the pain in his face as he described the inhumanity that was on full display there.  

As the conversations continued and the drinks got lower, we returned the favor they had granted us earlier by replenishing our tonics.  I found her story incredibly interesting.  How many times does one run across a woman Navy pilot from the 70s who tells a great story as Linda does?  I have met some pretty tough broads in my life, Linda takes the prize hands down.  She curses like the proverbial sailor she is and I think better than any man.  Had we stayed longer, I think I would have discovered that she could drink any man under the bar as well.  And under the rough exterior she still came across as warm, kind and thoughtful.  

As we were leaving, the departure was that of kindred souls who had connected by happenstance and knowing that paths may or may not cross again, but that it was something special that took place that night.  This was a cool experience, one I hope I never forget.  Let's just say it was a heartening experience that proves that honest, good, hard working, determined people still live in this world and that when we meet them, we should take notice.  

Before I even arrived I was almost overwhelmed with fantastic suggestions that I solicited from my network of friends and followers in the electronic cloud as well as those of the physical world. My last trip to chi-town was pretty much relegated to lakeshore drive which is no complaint. It is a beautiful stretch of real estate that has an even more beautiful backdrop of Lake Michigan. This trip I was determined to spend a little more time off of the vacation guide suggestions. My major goals were to eat the best food I could find, see more of the ornate archiecture in the city and overall get a sense of the soul of the city or atleast as much as one can in the course of a few days.

Alright so despite wanting to stay off the obligatory hotel vacation guides one gets bombarded with when visiting a city I can't resist flipping through one to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. This trip I would also have another tool to help discover and explore, the iPhone and especially two apps that would prove to be invaluable, Yelp and Google Maps. Yelp and it's system of user reviewed restaurants would provide an even better list of places combined with directions using Google Maps. 

Many of the cultural experiences happened in combination with a reason to do some business.  The first such trip was a massive office supply run by way of a detour of Portillo's. A colleague raved about this place and according to Yelp reviewers it was the place to go to experience authentic Chicago street food. Entering this gigantic structure, it is impressive how they successfully re-create the sounds, smells and sights of a street fair inside a building. There is chaos, smells of all sorts, lines of people, sights of the city, and most notably simple food and beer on tap. Standing in line, I am challenged to decide what to get as there are Polish sausages, Italian sausages, Chicago hot dogs, ribs, sliced beef sandwhiches, pizza, oh my. Eventually I settle into my decision after a little rough nudge to speed things up by the order taker with a Maxwell polish sausage complete with caramelized onions and spicy mustard. Picking up my order seemed just as challenging, despite having a number, as there was a mad rush of people and food piled up on the counter. Thankfully I get my Polish but the same cannot be said for my lemonade. As a friend often tells me, when one door closes often others open. My opened door...beer on tap in a massive goblet.  The Polish was tasty, the beer was refreshing and the sights of the city were good.  Portillo's was definitely a hit for me. 

One of the more enjoyable activities that was afforded to me during this trip was to simply walk around the city.  Even during the last trip, I noticed that it Chicago is a town that is accessible even by foot. While last trip was spent walking Lake Shore drive and the Navy Pier, this trip would keep me more in the central downtown area, most notably, Chicago's Magnificent Mile and Theater district.  Oddly enough, we were in search of Nerf footballs and bats to help support the skit we were putting on for our product launch.  More on that later.  Trying to find the closest store that sells Nerf footballs and bats, well, there's an app for that.  Consulting the mighty google maps app, we begin walking toward a Walgreens on Michigan.  The sights are tremendous.  Approaching the Wrigley building is awe inspiring.  The attention to detail is incredible.  It takes the eyes and brain time to move past the obvious architectural landscape, but the details, the details are what keeps you there.  The small curves, lines and figures that dot the building is something that you know someone with tremendous skill and dedication should be attributed.  Walking over the Michigan street bridge is another sight to simply take in.  It is the perfect spot to watch the river in it's amazing green/blue hues become just as much a part of the city as any of the buildings that line it.  

Doing all of this waking is great exercise and it surely works up an appetite.  Just as my late afternoon hunger is on the verge of overcoming me, I see a sign, that seemed sent from the heaven's, 'Hot Asian Buns'.  This was the 'pick up' line for a restaurant named Wao Bao.  Must. Stop.Now!  Dumplings filled with meat, how could you go wrong?  Of the many choices, I select kung pao chicken and curry chicken.  My buddy Eric chooses, teriyaki chicken and mongolian beef.  To quickly wash it down, we choose, the house special, freshly made ginger ale.  A little spicy szechwan paste and these things are devoured in no time.  Next up, more walking.  

As I said before, the river that flows through Chicago as a tributary from the great lake is just as much a main character that the city tells as the lake itself, history of crime and corruption, and the wind that gives Chicago it's nickname.  So, this trip would not be complete without taking a stroll down the river walk.  The architects of this city were genius to construct a walkway all along this beautiful river dotted with benches and the occasional restaurant.  The walk provides yet another perspective, a more serene view of the beautiful architecture away from the hustle and bustle just 20 feet above, winding along the river, under the bridges and through the heart of the city. 

Like most Americans, I like, ok, love pizza.  I have eaten all types of pizza, NY style, italian flat, but have never had Chicago style deep dish pizza.  After a long first day of the conference that proved to be incredibly successful, the crew wanted to celebrate and pizza seemed to be the natural food.  Luckily, near our hotel was one of the famous deep dish pizza chain's, Giordano's.  Ordering the pizza for a crew of 9 seemed to be a real challenge for many reasons.  Everyone is pretty opinionated about the toppings and then the hardest decision, how much to order.  These pizzas are massive, we were starving, and none of us had ever really had one before.  One could get a clue by looking at the serving size on the menus that suggest a large serves 4-5.  Strange, this was no large I had ever heard of.  The hostess showed us a mock pizza which even looking at that, one doesn't get a sense of how massive these things are until you cut into one and begin eating it.  Despite being ravenous since I had just ran 3 miles, I was full after one slice.  It was a heaping pile of cheese, bread and meat.  This may in fact be the perfect drinking food as it is so thick and dense that it could soak up gallons of alcohol.

On what turned out to be the last full day in Chicago, I would consider the best day.  Thursday was the last real day of Agile 2009 and I was feeling a little lethargic.  Honestly, I was worn out from a week full of presenting, networking and entertaining.  I wanted to sleep in a bit and just lounge around in the hotel room until I felt the energy to actually move, so I did.  Eventually, I would get up, shower and be convinced by Shonna to join her for breakfast.  After breakfast, I stumbled into one of the sessions that was on my choice short list for the day.  It turned out that this session was my favorite of the conference. For more on that, see my other blog entry about Agile 2009.  Once I left that session, I met up with Solomon, Eric and Patrick for a quick review of the week and some intense business brainstorming.  It would become apparent that we needed to vibe with each other about our vision for where we wanted to take the products we were launching during the week and the impacts it would make on the company.  I suggested we take an adventure.  Leave the hotel, venture out into the city and continue the brainstorming.  Change the scenery to inspire new thoughts.  I had been dying to get to a hot dog place that has been described and awarded as serving the best hot dogs in America.  Other notable periodicals, say this is one of the best places to eat in America, hot dogs or not.  The place, Hot Doug's.  A whimsical play on words, where they go even further by exclaiming that they are the sausage superstore and encased meat emporium.  Both they are.  They not only dole out 'normal' hot dogs, but they also specialize in some of the strangest and delectable encased meat sandwiches I have ever eaten.  Anything this potentially good deserves a journey worthy of story.  Hot Doug's is not a restaurant sitting in the middle of Chicago, but off in a relatively far away neighborhood in Chicago.  When we decided to take a cab from the hotel, the bell hop who hailed us a cab did a double take when we gave him the directions to direct the cabbie and commented, 'that must be one helluva hot dog to go that far'.  It would be almost $20 for the ride one way and I still believe it was so worth it.  What's the ultimate sign that you are selling good stuff, people standing on line that snakes around your place, no sidewalks, just crumbled concrete where there used to be sidewalk due to repair and thick mud.  That says, my stuff is really good, and you'll do anything to get it.  The wait in line gave us even more opportunity to run through scenarios, shoot holes in straw-men and discover new ways of working together.  It was the perfect situation.  Then it was our turn to order.  So many choices and all of them seem good.  I went with the strategy of ordering several of the tubular delights and urged my compadres to do the same such that we could sample a wider assortment.  In all, we would order almost all of the 15 or so choices the menu had to offer.  My favorites, the foie gras dog, the bratwurst and the lamb & pork dog.  Yes, I did say foie gras dog.  It was a duck sausage topped with slices of foie gras and truffle aioli.  Now you understand what I mean when I say this was no ordinary hot dog joint.  This was something to die for.  Something that could easily go on a last meal list.  Something that I would make return trips to Chicago, specifically to eat this masterpiece of food.  Without question, one of the best meals I have ever had.  The only disappointment, it was a Thursday, so there was no chance of us to partake of the Friday/Saturday special of duck fat fried fries.  Oh well, another reason to return.

My time in Chicago has come to and end.  It was in almost all ways a hugely successful trip.  The presentations I was apart of were overall a success. I was able to dig a little deeper into Chicago, eat some fantastic food and meet some really incredible people.  Chicago is truly a beautiful city.  I am pretty sure I could never live there due to the weather in the winter though.  Once I start seeing signs that say, 'No parking when 2 inches of snow is on the ground', it is a clear sign to me that it gets, really really cold there.  Cold is just not my cup of tea.  But Chicago is a great place for me to visit during the warmer months.  This place has always shown me a great time.

Check out my attempts at photography here:

www.imageevent.com/brandon_raines

Of course the first answer is the standard scummy consultant answer 'it depends'.  My second hopefully better answer is...probably not.  Having said that, I have not been on or coached a team where there was not someone on the team that knew more about almost everything or some critical portion of the architecture, infrastructure, testing, database or all of the above that everyone on the project was well aware of and often consulted. These people are the wizards of the project and without them many people are lost.  In self organized teams these wizards emerge by reputation not fiat.  Do we need to call them a 'lead'?  You make the call, but choose your titles wisely. The best situation is when this knowledge is more evenly distributed across the team as well as the responsibility of insuring the integrity of these functional areas are maintained.  Even better is when these wizards are willing to be mentors to other team members by helping them discover the answers to their questions as opposed to spoon feeding. As the old saying goes, give a man a fish he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish he'll never go hungry.   It doesn't mean that decisions don't get made, they are just being made amongst the team.  So, if a team takes it among themselves to govern how it works, is there a need for one person designated as a lead to assign work or make the decisions for the entire team?  

Some of my resistence of porting over to the iPhone in its first generation were quickly dismissed.  First, AT&T does not suck.  I am surprised, they actually have improved their service.  Ok, so I still have experienced some drop calls, but I can deal, so far.  Second, I was concerned that my typing speed would go down significantly due to the no button keypad the iPhone touts.  However, I have noticed that I can type just as fast, even in portrait mode.  I can go even faster in landscape.  

What's cool:

• Form factor - it just feels good in your hand.  
• Setup.  It took me less than an hour to get synched with my contacts, calendar, bookmarks, email setup, apps setup(facebook and twitter)
• Phone features - conference calling, visual voicemail
• Camera - very good quality and easy to send the pictures to email, post to FB, twitpic.
• Maps - very cool to help navigate your way while walking
• Search - I have a lot of stuff on my phone, so being able to search with searchlight features like on my mac is pretty cool.
• Tweetdeck app - The ability to see links from tweets in a much cooler interface is pretty cool.
• Facebook app - The ability to respond to comments and full functionality of FB is really cool.

What's not cool

• Battery life -  It sucks. I have to recharge sometimes twice a day.  What is it with Apple and battery life for their products?

Lewes Seafood Lewes, DE

The only reason to go here is for the crabs.  Best time is in August. Get the x-large size. Drive home as fast as you can so you can eat them while they are hot.  Best if you have a deck outside to enjoy a nice breeze on a hot day.  Roll out some newspaper on a table.  Get a bowl of water for occasional hand washing.  Take your shoes off, crack shells, eat, repeat.  For extra credit, a frosty cold beer to accompany said crab.

El Pollo Rico Arlington, VA

Best Peruvian Chicken I've ever had.  Must get plenty of the "green" and "white" sauce.  A plus is getting a side of the steak fries and a creme soda.  It is worth the wait.

Taco Joint Mexico City, Mexico (around the corner from us embassy)

Best Tacos I've ever had.  Very, very simple.  a few tables that appear to be of the '70s in this restaurant.  The choices are just as simple, chicken or beef.  On the tables are fresh pico de gallo, fresh guacomole.  A coca-normal(coca-cola) in the original curved bottle adds the nostalgia factor.  The homemade tortillas taste like an old grandmother made them.

Ruth's Chris Fairfax Corner, VA

I realize they are a chain, but good is good.  My favorite meal is my version of steak frites.  It's a medium-rare to medium ribeye with the hash-browns.  Best hash-browns EVER!  Wash it all down with a good cabernet.  Ask the staff what the best pairing is as they are always right.  By the way, that is the added appeal, the wait staff is friendly, accommodating and competent.  

Neptunes Wharf, San Francisco

The view is amazing.  The restaurant sits on the end of the wharf and overlooks the bay.  At sunset, the view is captivating, watching the fog roll in, the sun setting over the beautiful golden gate and alcatraz casting its shadow.  Still the best dungenous crab I have ever had.  I still think they poached the crab in butter as the meat from the crab was rich and buttery.  One of the most romantic settings I've ever been in.

Golden Skillet Chicken, Richmond, VA

I am still in love with this chicken and can remember the taste even though it has been at least 5 years since I had it last.   There is only one left in the entire city and for all I know in all the world.  The fried chicken is to die for.  They cook it in peanut oil and it's best with a side of fries, like most things.

Red Rock Canyon Centreville, VA

The best thing at this restaurant are the deserts.  Specifically, the Something Chocolate.  It is an ice cream sandwich from the heavens.  A two inch thick, 4x4 inch square cake provides the foundation, topped with a two inch square of vanilla ice cream topped by a two inch thick square of another chocolate cake and topped by a fudge and walnut icing.  To accompany this concoction is a super rich chocolate fudge sauce, caramel sauce and a fresh made whipped cream.  If that isn't enough for you then try the pineapple upside cake that is made with rum.  I have put my own touch on this desert by requesting the chocolate fudge sauce which I pour over top.  By the way, this comes with a rum pineapple sauce and a scoop of ice cream.  Oh yeah, the key lime pie is tops on my list that I've ever tried as well.

Noodle Place, China Town, Toronto, CA

Best dumplings, by far.  Any time you see old Asian women diligently making dumplings by hand, you must stop and at least try.  The wonton soup was also incredible and HUGE.  12 dumplings plus gigantor bowl of wonton soup, $10.

Jerry's seafood Lanham, MD

There are lots of good things on the menu.  Easily one of the best seafood restuarants I've that I have dined.  However, the best thing for me on the menu is the Cream of Crab Soup.  It is extremely rich and the crab is fresh and premium.  Bring your patience because the wait is long, but worth it.  

Lemon Grass Kauai, HI

Nothing fancy here, but the food and drinks are great.  Particularly the seafood platter which is a delicate array of tempura battered prawns, lobster, scallops, oni, smashed purple potato and a tempura battered tuna roll.  I remember the waiter telling me that the seafood is caught fresh everyday by someone diving for the food from the ocean which is about 200 yds from the restaurant.  Even better are the mai-tais.  These are not the typical rail liquor mai tais with canned fruit juice.  These are fresh mango or guava muttled on demand and flavored with premium white and dark rum.

Pig and Fish, Rehobeth Beach, DE

It's a new restaurant, but they have an awesome concept as its name suggest.  I am still blown away with the meal I had, pork shank with a bbq reduction and sweet potato smash.  The pork shank stood up in the middle of my plate and when I applied a fork, the meat delicately fell off.  Heaven!

Taste of the Carribbean, Atlanta, GA
The absolute best cocoa bread and patties I have ever had.  It is a whole in the wall near the Atlanta University Center.  So this has sentimental value to me as well.  

The Wisdom of Crowds (Paperback)

by James Surowiecki

Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't by Jim Collins

Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness 25th Anniversary Edition by Robert K. Greenleaf

Freakonomics [Revised and Expanded]: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner

Kitchen Confidential Updated Ed: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly (P.S.) by Anthony Bourdain

Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections on and Off the Court by John Wooden and Steve Jamison

Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell

Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2nd Edition by Steve Krug

The Toyota Way by Jeffrey Liker

How to Break a Terrorist: The U.S. Interrogators Who Used Brains, Not Brutality, to Take Down the Deadliest Man in Iraq by Matthew Alexander and John Bruning

The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations by Ori Brafman and Rod A. Beckstrom

Wabi-Sabi

Statistic cited by Schwaber: Agile is being used by 55% of projects now

framework not a complete methodology for complex projects

project is defined as one sprint

product is several sprints that equal a release

1/6 amount of planning upfront compared to traditional projects, then just in time planning at every sprint

5 tenets of Scrum

1. transparency
2. inspect and adapt
3. self organized teams 
4. cross functional teams
5. regular deliveries

Not doing daily scrums doesn't allow its biggest benefit, exposing the shortcomings/dysfunctions.

ScrumButs examples:

• not having daily meetings
• biz not having time to engage w/ release
• everyone wants their stuff first
• interrupting sprints
• team not self organizing, thus get a manager
• too much work, part time on everything no full timers, velocity goes down
• skills not present to get work done
• no automated tools, to rapidly do work
• can't start work until you think through everything
• sprint zero is a ScrumBut instead, do tracer bullets(reference Pragmatic Programmer)

ScrumButs happen instead of trying to resolve issues Scrum exposes that cause the problem

Schwaber: scrum does not require colocation

The daily scrums are there to figure out how the team can best optimize itself to achieve its commitments

Scrum Master should be raising the flag that perhaps the team may be in danger of achieving its goal.  get the team to prove it. show the proof at daily scrums

Scrum Master = dev manager from traditional projects. Use servant leadership rather than Command & Control

EVM is meaningless in Scrum because Scrum measures amount delivered over time

Product Owner should measure value delivered

ScrumButs can be ok, as long as they are being used as a step to improve rather than an acceptance to an inadequacy.  ie, stabilization sprint.

visibility, peer pressure, time boxes are ways to cause tension to get to high performance.  

Brandon's Aha moment: what type of project is scrum best for?  less about type of project rather than type of person/team.  people that are willing to work in timeboxes, work as a team, work in a self directed way.  work in a jit planning mode.

What is Ken reading now: Crucial Conversation

I knew i needed a break and a bit of a renewel.  The signs were there. Work seemed to be winding down after a tsunami of deadlines, projects and commitments were being completed.  I was getting crabby.  I was also feeling burned out.  While I am not poor, I certainly don't have an endless supply of money and I wasn't really interested in being on a plane for a long amount of time.  Especially since it was winter time, which always brings the potential for being delayed or trapped in some snow bound hell en route to my destination.  While talking to a co-worker who shares my fondness for yoga, suggested that I look into a place called Yogaville.  At first, I admit, it sounded rather strange and was afraid that I would be attending some type of cult complete with kool-aid drinking.  After a quick visit to the website, the idea seemed plausible that it would fit the mold of providing an environment for a spiritual and mental renewal and not require me to don white robs and pray to the gods of yoga.

What is Yogaville?

Yogaville is an Ashram, which is to say that it is a place of worship, meditation, learning, spiritual gathering and relaxing.  The spiritual aspects are based upon the teachings of Integral Yoga.  Here you can meditate, learn and practice yoga and in general be in a serene setting that serves as an oasis from the chaos.  Being away from the chaos for a few days was exactly what I needed.  By the end of my three days there, it would serve as an awakening for me.  The things I learned and practiced there would give me new guidance in the way I interact with others, how I view myself, how I eat and practiced yoga.  All of that and I would walk away with a few new friends.

The drive to Yogaville

I have always been enchanted with the western portion of Virginia, especially the parts near Charlottesville.  The rolling hills of the Shenandoah covered in its beautiful foliage with the eventual expanses and wonder of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The simplicity of life that becomes nostalgic of simple life where people instead of machines still care for the Earth and the food we eat.  Life is slower here.  The roads are narrower.  The farm animals more plentiful.  This was the drive to Yogaville.  The level of seclusion that this place requires means that you have to drive some distance to get there.  But, the drive was scenic.  I had known that Virginia was becoming a serious contributor in the wine industry, but it was of great surprise to me the number of wineries driving down 66 West and South on 81.  It seemed like I passed a vineyard every 15 minutes on my 3 hour drive.  

My first impressions of the place

While I did some research making sure that I could maximize the amount of meditation and solo time, I didn't know exactly what to expect.  I was greeted in the most amazing way by everyone i encountered.  It was clear that other guest and those who make their permanent stay at Yogaville were interested in having a peaceful spirit.  The accommodations were simple, which was fine with me.  I requested a single room as opposed to the community style dorms that were also available.  There was a main building where everyone ate at the same time every day.  Then there were buildings where yoga and meditation classes would be held.  Each building was non de script. It very much reminded me of my days at Morehouse where a simple concrete building with few amenities could provide the best of times.  I will admit, I am not the most spiritual nor religious person in the world.  In fact, typically both are things that are not really part of my life.  Because of this, I was a little concerned that I wouldn't exactly fit into this place of serious worship and spirituality.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  Everyone I encountered there was less concerned with the dogma of any one particular religion, but inclusive of all, even non believers and more concerned with the spirit of the soul.  This was a welcome sign for me.

What i wanted to accomplish while I was there

I was very interested in practicing yoga, relaxing, letting go of the normal thoughts and issues that I had been consumed with recently.  Also, I didn't want to really have a schedule, I wanted to loosen up control. To be in the moment.  To see where things would take me during the three days I was there.  I also wanted to catch up on some non technical reading and write in my blog.  

Feasting at Yogaville

Most know me as a pretty serious carnivore.  I view eating meat as a birthright and something that I am no longer willing to give up.  There was a time in life that I tried the whole vegetarian thing, which turned into the no pork thing, which all eventually dissolved into me eating what I want when I want it, including and especially all forms of meat.  Well, at Yogaville, there was no meat, no dairy, no alcohol, no bread.  What in the hell did I get myself into?!  Ok, so honestly, I said I wanted renewal of the mind and spirt, so I guess the physical cannot be separated from that renewal.  In for a penny, in for a pound.  Not only was there a strict vegan only diet, but food was only provided at certain times of the day.  This was going to take some getting used to, but it was only three days.  I have to give the cooks a lot of credit.  Each meal was well prepared, well seasoned, tasted good and surprisingly, pretty darn filling.  Each morning, I would get a bowl of oatmeal, a favorite of mine.  The difference, I added soy or rice milk instead of my standard skim milk.  No butter, but instead I had raisins and cinnamon.  Lunch was always a few hearty vegetables, beans and some type of entree that was a take on a typical meat dish.  In the end, eating at Yogaville would prove to be the best thing for my goal of losing weight and getting healthy for the year.  It was a tipping point for me.  One of the more interesting and helpful lessons learning in the area of eating for me, 'Drink what you eat, eat what you drink'.  A lesson I needed as I typically inhale my food.  I lost weight while I was there, but better I felt like my digestive system had a new lease on life.  Don't get me wrong, the first thing I did when I left was to stop at a pork bbq place.  But, the cleansing was needed.

It is said, if you provide food, the people will come and eventually, conversation will follow.  Meal times at Yogaville were no exception.  Everyday, several times a day, meal times would serve as these wonderful opportunities to meet other visitors and yogis.  We all shared stories of what brought us to Yogaville and how this experience was the right cure at the right time.  I met people who came to Yogaville and literally never left.  Many of the Yogis that were there came long ago, 20 years ago, and found something so special that they decided to leave everything and become apart of this community, helping to share its lessons and way of life with others.  Some came, and decided that this was a great place to learn life lessons and spread beyond its walls by becoming a yogi.  The stories were at times inspiring.

The yoga

For the past few years, practicing yoga has taken an unfortunate turn for the worst for me, falling into serious neglect.  I was hoping this trip to this mecca of yoga would be the spark to re-ignite my yoga practice.  Everyday, I would rise early in the morning and join the line of others who were also there to practice with very accomplished yogis.  I learned a ton while I was there.  I learned so much about how I was doing poses incorrectly or not intentionally enough.  It was a great experience to learn more.  I was able to get into my poses more deeply and with more balance.  Something I was not expected to learn, but that which still helps in all aspects is that I learned how to breath.  Sounds utterly ridiculous as it is one of the first things we learn as we are born.  This would be a different type of breathing.  A breathing that truly puts oxygen into the body and help for real renewal with every breath.  Even savasana was different here.  I felt more relaxed as though my body were truly melting into my mat and the ground beneath me.

What will I take away

The serene setting of the woods.  The gentleness and hospitality of the people. The lessons of kindness from the sessions.  The lessons of yoga and meditation to settle the mind.  these are some of the things I will take away from Yogaville.  I will always remember my first experience here, but I leave with the hope that it will not be my last visit, but one that I will make again.

It sounds so cliché, but it is true, Scrum has few rules and is easy to grasp at a superficial level. I have heard many say Scrum seems like common sense after reading a book or listening to a lecture. But just like common sense it ain't always common and it is very hard to implement in your daily life. It is the reason why most Scrum projects live and die based upon whether they have a good or bad ScrumMaster. It is the ScrumMaster who needs to have a firm grasp on these rules and more importantly how to push and pull the team to adhere to the rules and understand when it is time to gather the team to tweak the rules. As Schwaber put it ever so eloquently in Agile Project Management with Scrum, "If someone wants to change the rules, use the Sprint retrospective meeting as a forum for discussion. Rule changes should originate from the Team, not management. Rule changes should be entertained if and only if the ScrumMaster is convinced that the Team and everyone involved understands how Scrum works in enough depth that they will be skillful and mindful in changing the rules. No rules can be changed until the ScrumMaster has determined that this state has been reached." I have found it much easier when I have a mindset to follow the rules and only when the rules absolutely do not make sense do I stray from them. With that in mind, let's take a look at the rules of scrum and some words of caution for changing certain rules. 

These Rules Weren't Made To Be Broken

Set Sprint Length

Sprints should be a set length. Most scrum teams choose either 1, 2, 3 or 4 week sprints, usually no longer than 4 weeks. Having a set sprint length allows the team to establish a rhythm for working and sets an expectation for the customer when features will be ready to be used.

No adding stories to sprint once it is in progress

Once a sprint backlog has been committed to by the team and agreed to by the product owner and the sprint begins, no additional stories are allowed into the sprint unless all stories have been completed. This allows the team to focus on highest priority features from the customer without switching focus.

No outside interference - Self organized teams

Having a self organized team allows the team to innovate on solutions for achieving the sprint goal. This also allows the team to move faster as self managed teams work faster.

Prioritized backlog by value done by product owner

If the Product Owner prioritizes the backlog of features this ensures the customer to always get the highest priority features at the end of a sprint

Working production ready software at the end of the sprint demoed by the team

Allows the customer to get new features at the end of every sprint

Backlog estimated by the entire team

Gives true estimates of what the team can accomplish.

Burn down chart or some visual depiction of daily status

Allows the team, product owner and other stakeholders to understand the team's progress during a sprint, instantly.

Sprint Planning Meeting

Allows the team and product owner to prioritize the backlog and commit to a set of features for a sprint

Sprint Review

Allows the team to demo done items as well as inspect and adapt on improvements to implement immediately.

A few cautionary tales

While it is true that the scrum rules can be changed after deep inspection and the consent of the scrum master, there are a few things that should be seriously considered before changing, if ever changed.

Not having cross functional teams

The team may not be able to complete entire features because the necessary skillsets will not be on the team.

Changing sprint lengths after every sprint

The team may not be able to establish a rhythm, velocity cannot be determined. Finding a rhythm is extremely important for teams. Rhythm is essential for establishing the velocity upon which a team operates to the most mundane of allowing team members to establish a sustained and consistent pace of work for scheduling things as important as vacation.

Taking on new items in a sprint without consulting product owner

By doing this the team may not be working on the highest priority items. Only the product owner can determine the highest priority items.

Not using retrospectives

Retrospectives are designed as a way to analyze root causes for problems, establish patterns of success such that they can be repeated and decide on solutions for problems to implement immediately by the entire team. The alternative is that one person makes the decision or worst, the team never gets a chance to inspect and adapt to issues that have come up during the sprint.

Team taking on more work than they can handle

Teams should take on no more nor no less work than they are capable. The way that a team measures how much work they can get done is by looking at how much was actually accomplished from previous sprints. Scrum teams refer to this as yesterday's weather.

Not breaking stories down into tasks

I have found that breaking stories into tasks serves two purposes:

It is a starter for doing design work for the stories. View the tasks as lower level design specs that need to be accomplished for a story to be considered done.

It gives the team a sense of whether a story is too big or too small based upon the number of tasks. If a team feels as though there are too many tasks for a story to be completed, perhaps it should signal that story needs to be split.

Switching out team members

Teams develop chemistry from working with each other. If team makeup is constantly changing, so will the chemistry and the velocity. Remember, velocity is measured at a team level, and one change could impact velocity.

Having teams larger than 9

The lines of communication become greater and greater based upon how many members are in a scrum team. Every meeting, retrospectives, planning, becomes harder to conduct with every additional person.

Working outside of a scrum team during a sprint

The default behavior should be for a member of the team to help accomplish the sprint goal for their particular scrum team. If the sprint goal has been accomplished or a team member truly cannot contribute to the sprint goal, the Team should decide whether to take on new tasks or ask other scrum teams to help accomplish their sprint goal.

Velocity chart or some visual depiction of sprint to sprint status

Allows the team, product owner and other stakeholders to understand how much a team is capable of doing within a sprint

• Be an honest broker. Remember that a Scrum team should be cross functional, which means there are developers, testers, tech writers, DBAs, etc. Each of these people brings not only their human frailties, but their experiences from their respective skill sets. Therefore, no preference should be given to an individual or a functional group. A Scrum Master should be neutral and supportive of the ideas presented, giving equal weight to all. This is one of the biggest reasons that the Scrum Master should be a good facilitator. Scrum teams with versatile members may not rely as heavily on the Scrum Master to facilitate.  However, in my experience most scrums have a number of specialists.

• Be passionate about revealing root causes to problems/Be passionate about finding the truth. The retrospective held at the end of a sprint is an excellent way to unearth issues that have been happening during the sprint. Many times, Scrum Masters will scribble bullet points given by the team during the retrospective. Some of these issues will need more attention to discover the root cause of the problem. Make sure as a Scrum Master that you use techniques like the 5 Whys to discover the root cause of a problem and address that as a roadblock/impediment to remove. Many times, as Scrum Masters, we are given the symptoms, but there is truth to be sought and a root cause to attack.

• Passionately enforce the rules of scrum. There are very few rules in Scrum. It is meant to be lightweight so that the rules it has should not be broken. Beyond the rules, the team should work by inspecting and adapting how to use Scrum. The Scrum Master is the shepherd of the team and the process, enforce it with vigor.

• Doggedly remove obstacles that are preventing the team from achieving success in a sprint. One of the main duties of being a Scrum Master is identifying roadblocks and obstacles that the team is experiencing and either removing them yourself or finding those who can. Despite the fact that one of the questions in the daily scrum is, "Are there any roadblocks getting in your way?" many team members don't always recognize a roadblock for what it is. I have been in many daily scrums and a team member will make a comment in passing and I will ask, is that a roadblock, and the person will get a glazed look and eventually say...YES!!! So make sure that you can recognize a roadblock even when a team member does not, and work hard to remove it. Doing this will engender trust between you and the team, and the team will be more productive with fewer roadblocks.

• Make sure that all on the team have a voice to express issues and opinions. There is almost always an introvert in the group. As a Scrum Master, it is important to pull out ideas from even the shy ones. Recognize the fact that not everyone likes to talk in crowds and that there are other ways to pull out ideas without verbal communication. This is often a major factor in Scrum teams using Post-It notes to get ideas on paper rather than shouting them out in a meeting. In the end, the team benefits from everyone being able to express an idea. Scrum and Agile thrives on the concept of the wisdom of crowds. Meaning, we get better ideas from a diverse group of people working on a problem rather than one expert.

• Your opinion is not central to the discussion. Be careful about offering opinions on a topic brought up in a daily scrum, retrospective, planning session, etc. Remember, be an honest broker, neutral facilitator. The opinions that you absolutely should give are those that concern the Scrum process.

The Delaware beaches are a special place for me.  My family and I have been coming here for 20+ years.  We have seen this place grow from a veritable ghost town to a bustling resort destination for many on the northeast coast.  I remember coming here as a kid desperately wanting more action, more stuff to do here. Now as an adult having seen this place grow to be almost unmanageable due to the crowding, I long for those slow paced days of Delaware from my childhood.  Still it's a great place to visit.  I especially like coming here now in the off season when the crowds are smaller, the parking meters are gone, and there are still crabs to eat.

As the saying goes, sometimes the journey is as important as the destination.  This is somewhat true for the journey to get to the beaches.  From Northern Virginia it is a two and a half hour trek through the smallest of towns that America has to offer.  Us city dwellers forget that most of America are these small towns populated by people who want the simplest of lives, something I have an immense amount of appreciation for.  Places where cornfields, chicken coops and barns are still a way of life.  Towns where you still find roadside stands, sometimes manned only by a sign that request a modest fee for any goods taken.  Oh, did I mention that this stuff is actually good?  Admittedly, I could be under some odd nostalgia spell, hoping for the the simpler life and rebelling against my current plastic big 'n save world, but the stuff from these stands taste better.  I have had some of the best tomatoes, cantaloupes and cucumbers from these stands.

Anyway, on with the journey.  As the winding roads through these little towns continue, eventually we emerge to cross with a major highway, coastal route one.  Yes, this is the route one you are thinking of.  The same one that goes up and down the east coast.  The same one that has been largely forgotten in favor of I95 for north/south meanderings of the east coast.  The same route one in this case that leads to the major Delaware beaches.  However we won't be turning south onto it just yet.  Our travels will continue onto the remainder of this little highway 16 which literally dead ends at the Delaware bay and is site to our family seaside getaway, Broadkill beach, where the little clapboard house sits snuggled next to the beach.

This beach, this house, these trips are special for several reasons. The memories of childhood vacations with friends and family and being at my favorite setting, the beach.  But no memory is as strong as memories of my Uncle Frank.  You see this is his house.  This was always his dream, to vacation here.  Sadly, I never asked him what was so special about this place for him, before he passed, but you could see the joy on his face.  He seemed to have a different spirit when he was at this house.  I miss seeing that look he had when he was at Broadkill and I miss the lessons and debates he gave me.  Still, I am great-full for those lessons, especially about being a good father.  Those lessons are especially impactful to me now that I am a father and I get to bring my munchkin her to continue a great tradition, vacations at Broadkill.  What is terrific is that she loves this place just as much, maybe even more than I did.  

The big draw at Delaware undoubtedly is Rehobeth.  It is the biggest beach.  It has the boardwalk, it is the quintessential beach experience while visiting here.  Over time, I would come to like Cape Henlopen and Lewis just as much, but truthfully, none of the other beaches provides the boardwalk, food, people and water experience like Rehobeth Beach.  It is certainly not the longest boardwalk in the world, but this is the place to be for stronger waves, bogey boarding, body surfing and swimming with a few wild dolphins.  It is the place to get some of the best boardwalk fries, a good hot dog, and a Delaware favorite, Grotto's Pizza.  Oh yeah, there is that saltwater taffy stuff that everyone brings home as a souvenir, but seemingly almost no one actually eats the stuff.  

I am amazed at how much this place has been transformed over the past few years.  I can still remember the times when there weren't a lot of people at any time of the year.  When there were pretty much only t-shirt shops, boardwalk fries, and browse-about-books.  Now there are throngs of people.  Another thing that I believe has changed over the years, for the better I might add, is the diversity of the people.  Now, Rehobeth beach is a sea of Black, White, Brown, Yellow, Gay, Russian, rich, poor, somewhere in the middle, and probably more.  Continuing on the theme of days gone past, there was a time that in the area of cuisine, Rehobeth only offered what  most American seaside resorts did, fries, hot dogs, taffy, and soft serve.  As the times have past and the crowds have grown in size, diversity and thus sophistication, the cuisine has expanded to fine dining.  In fact, I had the pleasure of eating at one these fine dining establishments, Pig and Fish.  It's hard to pass up a restaurant named after two of my favorite foods and I am curious to know how the chef will use his imagination with these two wonderful ingredients.  A quick glance at the outside menu does not dissapoint.  Pork shank with a barbeque reduction and sweet potato smash is the appropriately named 'pig of the day' and a crispy rockfish with blue crab salad is 'the fish of the day'.  You can't get more eastern shore than rockfish and blue crab.  I am sold, feed me your fine vittles and a pint of your finest ale.  A closer look at the menu reveals several starters that seem just as enticing as the entrees.  There is a crab fondue, mussels(always a winner for me), fall off the bone baby back ribs with cornbread and bbq chips.  Geez, is that really a starter or a main course.  I am torn, many options to choose from.  After some deliberation, negotiation with my wife and some intense consulting from the waiter, we settle on the clam chowder(made with applewood smoked bacon of course) and the crab fondue.  Both by the way were good.  Not knock your socks off, but a solid starter that didn't dissapoint and set a good stage for the main course.  Ah, the main course.  The aformentioned pig of the day was just as nice looking in its presentation as it was in its outstanding taste.  The beast was standing on a plate in all its glory with the reduction dressing the bottom of the plate and serving as a natural accompaniment to an awesome leg of perfectly smoked pork shank.  It was moist, succulent and flavorful.  It takes real talent to take a lesser cut of meat and make it taste like a first rate cut.  This dish may land in the top 5 of all time for me.  The crispy rockfish was also a good dish.  The crab salad that topped the rock fish ended up figuratively doing the same, topping it.  The salad was a combination of of blue crab with fresh herbs and lemon or maybe it was a light vinegar.  Even my daughters fish sticks were delicious.  At this point I was mostly stuffed, but everything was so good so far and there were a few things on the desert menu that caught our eye.  I have only recently started to like both bread pudding and carrot cake.  Both were on the menu, so we figured, let's give it a shot.  The bread pudding was amazing.  The carrot cake was not.  Now I am really full, the baby is getting cranky, so its time to take leave of this restaurant.  Truth is, over the past five years or so, I have had some pretty good meals in restaurants not serving Thrashers fries at Rehobeth.

No trip to Delaware would be complete without getting a dozen or more of freshly steamed and seasoned crabs.  This was a ritual for us and it was about more than just the food.  Eating crabs is a social event, a time to sit around the table, talk trash, and feast on a special delicacy.  That ritual that I referred to for crab feasting is real in our family when we are in Delaware.  There was a certain preparation that needed to be done, only a few sanctioned places to buy the crabs, and everyone had their part.  There were tables to be lined with newspaper, bowls of water to be filled for hand washing, mallets to be found to crack the shells( my dad and I just used our teeth), and of course the crabs to be purchased.  My Uncle Frank's role, cleanup and commentary.  He would have no parts in actually eating the crabs as he found them gross, but I think he found joy that his family was around doing what they enjoyed and he was happy to oblige.  That didn't mean he didn't also take joy in telling us how gross it was.  The crab feast tradition would continue to this day despite the fact that on this trip I am the only one taking part.  Well, to be accurate, my three year old has developed the taste for crab, so I'll end up doing some extra picking for her.  At 75 bucks for a dozen of X-Large, I ain't lettin' a three year old rummage through these delicate delights only to waste valuable morsels.  Yeah, I did say $75.  That's another thing that changed.  I can remember my parents complaining when I was a kid about $40 crabs. But like everything I suppose, prices have gone up, significantly.  

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and this mini vacation is about over for me.  For my time, there is no better way to spend it than at the beach.  The sound of the ocean crashing into the shore is hypnotic and relaxing all in one.  The smell of the air is like aromatherapy for me.  The rush of the water over me is as soothing as a massage.  The beach, almost any beach is my favorite place to be.  Combine being at the beach and spending time with my family and friends and you may now understand why I continuously say, this place is so special.   

I am embarrassed to say, but I have never visited Washington D.C. to visit our nation's capital, at least as a tourist.  I have lived within 2 hours of D.C. all my life having grown up in Richmond, VA and for the past ten years have lived within 20 miles of it.  Ok, so I have been to a museum or two.  I have been to the zoo.  I have been to countless numbers of bars, restaurants and neighborhoods.  However, I have never visited any of the monuments.  Today that changes.  

Washington D.C. our nation's capital.  Thought to be the center of the free world, perhaps the most powerful city in the world.  In my travels, D.C. offers a strange mix of people, cultures, classes and power.  I have always been struck by visiting almost any D.C. neighborhood and noticing that literally from block to block, there is a distinct change in socio-economic class and race.  Having said all that, those topics aren't the focus of this piece.  I am taking the Fodor's tour today.  The stuff and places you read about in the standard travel guides.  First things first, mode of travel.  You see in the Washington Metropolitan Area, your mode of travel and the time of day can govern quite a deal of how much will be accomplished.  Traffic and getting around here is hellish.  I've been to New York in rush hour, I've been to San Francisco crossing a bridge in rush hour and I've been to Mexico City in rush hour.  Non can hold a candle to the frustration, noise, and delay that is rush hour of Washington D.C.  So, I'll plan my trip between rush hours thank you very much.  I honestly wanted a different experience in commuting, which for me, meant parking my car and riding the METRO.  METRO or the Washington Metropolitan Transit Authority is the areas rail and bus system, which by most accounts is clean, efficient and goes to most places of popular interest.  However, my dreams of being an urbanite would be dashed as starting the day after traffic means that almost all suburban METRO station parking is full by that time of day.  Thus, a driving we will go.  Honestly, driving worked out pretty well, as there is almost no traffic after about 1030 and parking isn't so bad either.  We decide to park at the Capitol since we know that will be a major portion of our trip today.  The meters are plentiful and while bothersome to feed every 2 hours, they do beat parking in a garage for 20 bucks.  Since we parked near the Capitol, we notice the Native American Museum, which i am told has an outstanding cafeteria/restuarant called Mitsitam, featuring as one would suspect, Native American food.  So, first stop, a bite to eat.  

When you enter this place, you quickly grasp that this is no ordinary cafeteria where old ladies with hair nets mixing mystery meat work, but there is some actual fine cuisine being made here.  The food is arranged in a stylish American motif complete with actual carving stations, all are doned in chef's whites and everything is prepared fresh.  There is a vast assortment of food ranging from Buffalo prepared several ways, fresh stream caught trout, cedar plank baked Salmon, Blue Crab Salad, freshly prepared Tamales and more.  I wander around the place for about 10 minutes mouth salivating trying to basically decide what not to get, because everything looks good.  After a few impatient looks from my wife to hurry up and make up your mind already, I settle on the pulled Buffalo sandwich with a side of something called Indian Pudding and the obligatory salad for ruffage sake.   Still pondering what Indian pudding is? It is a mix of cornmeal and molasses mixed together and baked in a cast iron skillet.  Think cornbread meets molasses with a custard texture.  Sounds weird, looks not so appetizing, but it taste amazing.  It is one of those comfort foods that you wonder how it has never been front and center in the American food psyche at the very least featured at every Thanksgiving dinner.  As we pay for our food and wander to the seating area, we notice the large picture window that gives a tranquil view of the rock and waterfall sculpture just outside.  While eating this wonderful food and watching the water flow like ribbons over the marble and granite outside, you forget that you are in fact in a museum.  Filled with really good food and our energy revitalized, we decide to head over to the Capitol.  We don't really know what to expect next as rumors fly about whether the Capitol can actually be visited by mere mortals.

I should mention that the day we went, it was September 11th.  It would be the 7th anniversary of our country's darkest days.  As we approached the Capitol the Marine Corps band was just finishing up a stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner accompanied by what seemed to be an impromptu grouping of ordinary citizens singing along.  It was a moving moment for a special day that has changed this country and because of our influence and standing, has changed the world as well.  Politicians were still on the steps of the Capitol giving speeches and interviews presumably reflecting on the day.  After security loosened, we were able to proceed to the welcoming station where tickets were given to take the tour of the Capitol.  It was amazingly easy, we walked up to the tent, where we were given a ticket for the next guided tour which started in 10 minutes and off we went.  A few simple instructions about what to do and not to do while in the Capitol including the typical speech of contraband.  No weapons, blah, blah, blah.  While in line and waiting to pass through security I am struck by the excitement of those in line who spoke languages other than English. The presumption is that these were our foreign guest here to get a glimpse of American democracy in action.  This builds my excitement as well.  As we enter the Capitol rotunda, it is a sobering experience to see the history of our country.  To know that this place was built brick by brick by my ancestors who at the time were not free, but slaves. And now in 2008 to be potentially on the eve of electing it's first African American President to take the oath of office at just this place, reminds me how special this country is.  The words of Reagan and Jordan's King Abdullah resonate through my head about America being the shinning beacon on the hill, serving as a model for how people of different backgrounds can come together to make something special.  I will always remember King Abdullah's words that he spoke so eloquently when remarking on the tragedy of September 11th.  Looking up at the dome in the Capitol is a strong reminder of the greatness of America, where we have come from and where we are now.  

The tour continued through a few more rooms featuring the statues donated by each state as well as an incomplete statue of Lincoln.  Then something really strange happened.  The tour ended and were were allowed to tour the Capitol unguided.  I don't know why this struck me as being so strange, I just figured that everything was so secure nowadays.  However, we were told that we could even go into the House and Senate gallery to view sessions of both arms of our fine Legislature.  It was an opportunity to see the sausage being made.  Our democracy in action as only seen on C-Span.  We could see arguments being waged based upon passionate issues to help American lives better.  We be able to bear witness to phenomenal and stirring speeches that would bring tears to everyone's eyes.  Well, we wouldn't see that today, only a few speeches about transportation bills and a few heart felt acknowledgements about those who fell on September 11th.  but this is the place where State of the Union speeches were given, the Civil Rights law was passed, and wars were declared.  Again, this is history, living and the past.  It is a place that has shaped this country and will continue to with each new Congressional class.  Walking out of the Capitol, it was pretty cool to pass by Senators and Congress men and women who I have only seen on television.  Next on our tour of D.C., the Newseum.

A short walk from the Capitol brings us to the new Newseum.  The building just re-opened in its new location on Pennsylvania from its old location in Arlington.  I was excited about going to the Newseum as I had a blast on my last and only visit to the old building.  The Newseum brings to life all things about the News media in this country and around the world.  In this town, news rules everything, so it is a befitting shrine to our de facto fourth branch of government.  Even looking at the building from the outside is stunning.  It is a monument to modernity with it's almost all glass walls and metal beams.  Walking on the inside, there is more of the same.  This is truly a 21st century building.  There are digital displays everywhere and of every size ranging from the smallest that could probably fit in your palm to the theater size screen hanging in the middle of the building.  And, it is huge.  There are several floors each with almost its own theme. With memory of the last Newseum trip ever present, I want to first visit the Pulitzer Prize photographs.  Being an amateur photographer, I love to be inspired by the professionals.  These photographs were truly the best in the world.  The Pulitzer is a prestigious prize, one to be cherished.  For these photographs, they can jerk the emotions through the entire spectrum of anger, despair, inspiration and pure joy.  The new display of the photographs is truly befitting of these images.  With lights dimmed, the images displayed tastefully around the the walls and a small open theater that shows on repeat a short documentary film interviewing the photographer and sometimes the subjects of the images, it is a moving experience.  The boxes of tissue that sit on the benches are well used as the stories that accompany the images just like the actual pictures can pierce, haunt and touch the soul.  The photographs tell amazing stories of how cruel, imaginative and special humanity can truly be.  I gained a true appreciation for these people who go out, sometime with their lives at stake, to capture some of lifes truly heinous acts.  Most of the time with the altruistic thought that to capture the story is to shed light on it, so that it may never happen again or in the case of something good, to make sure it does happen again.   Whether it is the young girl running down the street in Vietnam screaming in agony from being napalmed or Corretta Scott King consoling her young daughter in her lap at the funeral of Dr. King, these are the stories that must get told.  Still, I do not believe I could have the courage or skill to capture the stories I have seen in these photographs.

Carved into the front of the Newseum is, '...All Things First Amendment'.  I think it is something that as Americans we take for granted.  We underestimate just how important to right to free speech is and should be a basic human right.  It is also galling to know just how little of it there is in the world.  There is a global map in the Newseum that vividly displays, country by country which honors free speech and which do not.  Red designates the absence of free speech, Green denotes the presence of it, Yellow show a mix.  The map is a sea of Red and Yellow.  Looking at the countries where there is red and yellow, it is notable that these are the same countries where conflict consumes the peoples existence.  Coincidence...I think not.

While I didn't get to all the places I wanted to, it was a good trip.  Besides, I live here, there are always possibilities for a Washington D.C. Part II.  Not to mention, in the end, this was an emotionally draining day.  Visiting the Capitol and the Newseum inspires me to continue contributing to this country.  As someone said, Democracy and Freedom are not free.  It is something you have to contribute to and fight to maintain, for if we don't, we too slip into the darkness that so many other places around the world find themselves.  

Every now and then, it is a good idea to pull your head out of the sand from the daily grind to get a fresh perspective. I have been officially coaching teams using Agility for several years and have attended a few small conferences, but never before had I attended what is considered the premier Agile conference – this year titled “Agile 2008.” This was my year to attend.

As I understand it, the conference began its current incarnation in 2005. Agile 2008 brought together, for the first time, the worlds of Scrum and Extreme Programming (XP) – where previously they held separate conferences. Considering the obvious points of intersection and potential cross-learning opportunities between the two methodologies, combining them was a wise and forward-thinking decision.

The Agile 2008 conference, held in Toronto, was an opportunity for “Agilists” from around the world over to convene, collaborate, hone their agile skills and have a little fun. Just peeking through the conference guide, I was inspired to see the vast number of lectures available to participants throughout the week. The conference was held at the Toronto Sheraton, a comparatively large venue for this type of event, and the extra space was needed to accommodate the more than 1,200 attendees.

The conference was organized into sections called stages, which gave attendees the ability to focus on specific aspects of the Agile world. There was a technical track, a management track, various experience reports, and my favorite, “Questioning Agility.” In addition to the sessions, there were keynote speakers and social events promoting collaboration and networking among participants. The conference seemingly offered something for everyone, whether you were a newcomer to Agile or if you had been practicing it for quite some time.

Initially, my strategy was to focus on topics with which I was unfamiliar and curious to know more about. That meant I would spend a good deal of time learning more about “Lean” and testing strategies and Agile in the enterprise.

The first event of the conference represented a special moment for those of us who attended from Blue Collar Objects. It was the first keynote address of the conference and it featured James Surowiecki, author of The Wisdom of Crowds: Why the Many Are Smarter Than the Few and How Collective Wisdom Shapes Business, Economies, Societies and Nations.

That was special to us because, as you know, “wisdom of crowds” is the principle guiding virtually every important decision we make within the company. The wisdom of crowds theory asserts that the best ideas comes from a diversity of thought – an independent-thinking group of individuals among whom an aggregation of collective wisdom occurs.

When those elements coalesce, a wise crowd can outperform the wisdom of a select few of experts on a topic. Mr. Surowiecki's presentation of his book was phenomenal in my estimation. It was a powerful reminder of the principles of the theory and how well it fits with the ideals and practices of agility Blue Collar Objects seeks to employ.

We see the Wisdom of Crowds approach at work throughout the Agile world, whether it is using planning poker when doing team estimations, or stressing interaction between individuals. Surowiecki illustrated the clear synergy between those two worlds, and for he rest of the conference, instructors and attendees alike were quoting the book to draw parallels. Having been sufficiently motivated by the Wisdom of the Crowds, we began the first session.

There were too many sessions for me to recount significant highlights of each. However, I will share some insights from the sessions that had the greatest impact on me. It turns out there were a few patterns to the sessions I attended, which included networking with other practitioners, renewing the fundamentals of agility, learning new techniques and looking outside your domain.

The next few sections explore those patterns.

Networking with other Practitioners

This is one of the most valuable aspects of attending conferences. One of the many interesting exchanges I had occurred after a session called “For Agile Leaders - Exploring the Hard Bits” by Bob Galen. The session was set up in such a way that the attendees were grouped in teams to discuss the challenges we face transitioning to Agile and sharing potential remedies to those solutions.

I found this session to be quite enlightening in that it allowed people to talk and work through issues they were facing by sharing their problems and potential solutions to them. My group had such a good conversation around our issues that we ended up going past the end of the session. An hour later there were just three of us who remained. One man was from a Swedish company, the other was a guy from a California-based IT shop who shared amazing stories of his company’s transitions to Agility in their seemingly large enterprises.

We all had opportunities to share how our operations worked, and how techniques we have used on our projects could help each other. There were many instances of this mind-sharing during lunch, at some of the many icebreaker events, or even while checking email at the hotel’s cyber cafe. That type of networking and sharing is invaluable.

Renewing the Fundamentals of Agility

What better way to understand the fundamental beliefs of a process than to ask “Why?” I was extremely impressed that there was an entire stage in the conference dedicated to questioning Agility, named as such.

Through a few sessions, I was able to remind myself that Agility really goes back to the Manifesto, where those four short lines shaped what true Agility is all about.

One of my favorite sessions fell into this category of questioning Agility. Besides, how could I resist something with a title of, “Why So Little Questioning? Skeptical Humanist Seeks Same for Discrete Afternoon Encounters.” Catchy title aside, this was a very substantive session that started with exploring what a skeptic is and how we should all be skeptics when approaching things in our daily lives – not to be constant contrarians – but to remind ourselves what it is that we are trying to achieve with a certain technique, methodology, doctrine or process.

During this session we explored Agility by listing some of the techniques, slogans, words and procedures that are typically associated with Agility by using an exercise called the Tetrad, pioneered by the author Marshall McLuhan? .

Using the Tetrad we looked at how the techniques we listed have Reversed, Obsolesced, Retrieved or Enhanced Agility. The results from the group were an interesting exploration on the effects of these Agility techniques as expressed by the group in the session. It was also, again, a reminder of what we really are trying to achieve by doing things like Test Driven Development, Daily Stand-ups and the like in an effort to prevent these techniques from becoming dogma.

Learning a New Technique

Recently, I have been doing a lot of work coaching large enterprises to use Agile techniques in addition to individual projects. The conventional wisdom is that Agile at the enterprise level uses Lean software development techniques. Lean Software Development, pioneered by people like Mary Poppendieck, was translated from the Lean Manufacturing processes used by Toyota. There are seven principles of Lean which are Eliminate Waste, Amplify learning, Decide as Late as Possible, Deliver as Fast as possible, Empower the Team, Build Integrity In and Optimize the Whole.

In addition to the principles, Lean introduces a technique called Value Stream Mapping that seeks to map out processes or value streams for an enterprise in an effort to identify the waste in those value streams and consequently to remove or reduce that waste. I attended Alan Shalloway's session on Value Stream mapping. Alan did a great job of making the value stream exercise simple by allowing participants to identify a value stream from their project or company and work in teams to map the value stream. Eliminating Waste to focus on highest business value is something critical to Agility since its premise is that a team will regularly deliver the most important features according to a prioritized list. The theory is that waste, defined at least in one way, is that which is not used often or always used.

Looking Outside Your Domain

Throughout the week, there was constant mention of books and techniques that seemingly had nothing to do with Agility or software for that matter. The keynote address on The Wisdom of Crowds was just one example. After going to these conferences, I always find that my list of books to read increases. This year, my book list increased to include “Beginner's Mind” and “PeopleMaking” by Virginia Satir. “Beginner's Mind” is a Buddhist technique to approach all situations with a blank slate to help appreciate new ideas. Satir developed a model to address how change impacts organizations.

One of the things I like to do after attending a long conference such as this is to pose three questions that help crystallize important takeaways from the experience. Here are my answers to those questions below.

What did we learn that we would use?

• Value Stream Mapping
• Adding Context and Personas to User Stories
• Spending time grooming the backlog

What did we learn that we would stop using?

• Excuses for not building in more quality. One of the more moving moments of the conference was listening to "Uncle" Bob Martin talk about a topic very dear to him – test driven development. If you have never seen Bob talk, it’s an entertaining experience whether you’re a software geek or not. Bob offered that if he was to add a fifth thing to the Agile Manifesto, it would be "Craftsmanship over Crap." He also had a moving story that went along with it that I will not try to reproduce for fear of losing its original impact. The moral of the story, however, was that as practitioners, we must do better and not offer excuses to shirk our responsibility for providing quality work, all the time.

What do we now call into question?

• Anything that causes Agile not to be a lightweight process

We often forget about the first line in the Agile Manifesto, we are always seeking better ways to deliver software. Going to conferences, lectures, reading books is one way to do personal improvement. This being my first trip to the conference was a wonderful experience to learn more about how Agility is being practiced around the world. It is also a good reminder of some of the practices we often forget.

Agile 2008 proved to be an amazing gathering of smart, diverse people from around the world to figure out how we build software better and in doing so potentially make the world better. To those who think that last line is a flourish in words, ask yourselves what the world would look like without Microsoft.

Rejuvenation is a word that comes to mind when I reflect on those four days… I felt rejuvenated to be reminded that Agility is still a great way to build software. 

Nothing excites me more than experiencing a different culture.  This trip brings me to Toronto, only my second time out of the country.  What brings me here isn't some tractor beam to learn more about hockey or maple syrup, but something even less exciting if you can believe that...work.  A conference centering around my main gig, coaching teams toward Agility.  However, it is my hope that in small interludes between learning about how much I suck as a coach compared to others in the community, I will take in just what our neighbors to the north have to offer.  I must admit, I am not expecting a great deal of difference, in fact, in the days and weeks leading up to the trip, I can't tell you how often I have used the 51st state joke, to the point that I felt tacky using it.  In my very limited research thus far about the 51st state(I just couldn't resist it), I have come to find out how international it is.  Now we are talking, since I am thinking international translates to many cultures, many types of food offerings, colors, languages, attitudes, music, all around flavor.  That's the stuff that excites me.  Au Canada, let's see what you have to offer.

Landing on a Sunday morning in early August I find out that there is actually a Caribbean festival going on that ends this weekend called Caribana.  This is fantastic! I am in luck! Caribbean food, Caribbean music, what's not to like.  I talk to my local concierge who gives seemingly good advice on how I can join the festivities and set off to do as such.  The last day of Caribana is taking place today as I land, and is on one of Toronto's islands on Lake Ontario, which Toronto is nestled next to ever so nicely.  So, a quick 15 minute walk to the HarbourFront to catch a slow boat to the island and I would be in Caribbean bliss, or so I thought.  Alright, so the picnic in the park portion of the festival wasn't so great.  The lines for anything authentically Caribbean were so long, it was even hard to tell what the lines were for, the music was pop top 40 reggae at best, and the costumes being displayed were few and lame to be sure, but the journey was quite nice.  Seeing the many types of people and languages at the festival, even though it was small in size at this point, gave a glimpse at what Toronto had to offer.  Besides, it gave me a chance to take a nice boat ride.  Though I did have to suffer through some pretty bad jokes by a few bored out of their mind tour guides reading from the worst script known to man.  I actually felt sorry for them after a while.  The boat ride also gave me the chance to get out of the hotel and experience the city ground level and not by vehicle.  I have this theory that experiencing a place by literally driving-by, is not experiencing it at all.  

One of the things that I am struggling with so far, is what does Toronto have to offer to the cuisine world?  So far, I am coming up craps as far as food choices in the city.  Every restaurant, small or large has been one disappointment after another.  What is this place known for in the food world?  Could it be that Canada in general has only maple syrup and Molson as a contribution?  My quest goes on, but I am a little nervous so far.  Ok, so this bloody conference is starting in another day and I want to take in as much of this place as I can, so my time is limited.  Another stop at the friendly concierge desk and I find out about the obligatory tourist traps that this fine city has to offer.  I want to take in some of this international stuff I have been hearing about so while looking at a map that this beautiful blonde with the much revered Canadian accent, I discover there is a ChinaTown, Little Italy and an Indian Bazaar. Jackpot!  Stupid me, I get seduced by the accent and looks and decide to go to the CN Tower.  Ok, so the CN Tower does turn out to be a decent little trip and I suppose not going there would mean the equivalent of not going to the Statue of Liberty while first visiting NYC(Did I mention I have never visited the Statue of Liberty?).  Besides, it is the highest free standing building in the world and is part of the seven modern wonders of the world, blah, blah, fill in other typical historical facts.  Alright, so I can knock that off the list.  

And now for a couple of editorial notes on Toronto.  While things seem very similar to my beloved US of A, there are some distinct differences and I am not sure they are quaint little differences.  One difference is that I have noticed either I and my traveling companions are annoying twits or those that are in customer service positions do not appear to be the most cheerful or helpful people that I have encountered.  Each waiter/waitress, cashier and hotel register seems to be annoyed that I am requesting food, asking for my room or asking for a refill of water.  Oh well, maybe it's just me.  There are exceptions of course, Khan at the hotel bar, the really nice lady who cleaned my room everyday, and as I would discover on the way out, the chauffeur for my ride back to the airport.  The other thing is that I still haven't had a decent meal and the main reason is seasoning food seems to be a crime punishable by death.  The funniest conversation we had was actually requesting S & P in a steakhouse on our steaks.  I am no trained chef, but I have cooked a few decent meals in my life, and I know that one of the basic things for cooking is seasoning with a little salt and pepper.  A few nice ingredients and a little S & P can go a long way.  Again, maybe it's just me.  Anyway, back to the tour...

So, it's my last real chance to experience Toronto before I head back home.  I am intent on seeing this whole international stuff in action, so I figure hitting ChinaTown could be the move.  It's only about a 15 minute walk, so we head out from the hotel and within a block discover the Toronto I had been searching for all week.  There are funky little shops, sex shops, and restaurants of all kinds, greek, thai, indian, schwarama, japanese, english, and more.  A few more blocks and we were in ChinaTown and it was all that I expected and more.  Almost instantly I could tell the difference in the smells, the sounds, the people and they weren't all Asian.  It was like stepping into another country.  Walking past the food markets where real, freshly picked produce were in carts open for passers by was a welcome site contrasted to what I normally get to see which is big farm raised produce in nicely stacked row in a huge super market.  Restaurants with whole pigs and whole ducks hung in the windows to entice the true carnivore in me to stop dead in my tracks.  Unfortunately, my traveling companion today was grossed out by the site of recently killed and cooked animals hanging in a window by their feet.  So, I broke my momentary paralysis and continued our quest for culture and now because of the loud growls emanating from my stomach, food.  Almost nothing draws my attention faster than the sweet smell of sugar.  I detected that familiar smell wafting out of this little bakery called amusingly, Ding Dong and with a name like that, you almost have to stop.  With great happiness, it was a stop worth doing again and again.  As I would only find out hours later, the pastries that I ended up getting were simply amazing.  I ended up keeping a few stowed away in a bag to bring home.  The smell must have still been powerful since my three year old found the bag and began munching feverishly on the raisin twist bread.  Once my wife saw the bread she began inhaling it as well.  I think they ended up almost fighting for the last morsels of the delectable delights.  Amazingly, I didn't think that was the best of the three pastries I got.  Well, maybe I should take a step back, because even the process of picking out what I wanted was interesting.  The bakery was a small place, manned by three proprietors.  One very attentive lady behind the register, one guy running between what seemed to be the kitchen and the front of the house, and one very diligent woman stocking new treats in the appropriate bins.  While roaming around drooling about what I wanted, I noticed there were no bags, no pieces of tissue to grab what you want.  Eventually, I noticed that there were trays and tongs at the front of the store.  My assumptions eventually proved correct, place sweet dropfulls of goodness on tray, repeat until finished.  Ah, an interesting yet very different way of collecting your pastries.  I fell in line with everyone else and proceeded to stock up.  For a while, I ended up following the woman who was stocking new stuff, grabbing her newly placed, hot buns(hehehehe).  Wouldn't you know, she was replenishing something that I am a fan of, pork in a bun.  Of course, I had to grab one of those.  Next up, buns with hot dogs in them.  Just a wonderful combination.  After picking out my choices, I proceeded to the register.  Grand total, $2.25.  Next up, something a little more substantial.  What's this, little old Asian ladies making dumplings by hand in the window of a restaurant?  That is something that could not be passed up.  A closer look reveals bowls of minced meat being gently and very quickly being placed into dumplings.  As soon as I sit down, looking at the menu, it is an amazing assortment of dumplings.  Pork with veg, Chicken, Beef, Shrimp, boar intestines.  Even more amazing is that the smallest amount you can get is 12 and that price for that is $5.95.  Has someone just transported me to a heavenly place?  My next signal of a possible good find is that fresh szechuan style pepper sauce is on every table.  I am set.  We are going to be around for a while here.  I tried to warn the waitress that we were really hungry, but I still think the waitress thought we were crazy as we ordered a set of dumplings for each of us, and what turned out to be a Jethro Bodine size bowl of soup each.  Let's put it this way, we could have ordered a bowl of soup and one set of 12 dumplings and still would not have finished.  Yet, we ordered all the food and I was glad, because it gave us a wide variety of food that we passed along to each other throughout the meal.  Once the food arrived, there was lots of silence except for the occasional, this is amazing, bowls clanging and the slurping of soup noodles.  Simply put this was one of the best meals of my life, and I have had some extraordinary food in my short life.  I was a happy man.  The steamed dumplings with pork and green peppers were extremely fresh, flavorful and delicate.  What was truly impressive was the small amount of broth in each little dumpling that added just the extra little perfection as you bit into each tasty little ball of heaven.  The wonton soup had these perfectly formed dumplings that had the intricacy of being twisted in such a way that it was like little balls of art placed in this hearty pool of broth goodness.  So, I have never been a fan of fried dumplings, but these were made in such a way that had I not seem them come from the cast iron skillet, I would not have even known and it was a must that I at least try them.  It was the first time I had seen fried dumplings being cooked as one dish, almost being done as a gallet.  It was wonderful watching the chef flip over the plate of fried nibbles.  Remember that szechuan hot sauce I mentioned?  Not even necessary, it would mess up the flavor that these dumplings blasted in my mouth.  At one point we are both stuffed, with about half our food still sitting in front of us and we both keep pushing on because we think, when is the next time we are going to get a chance to eat stuff this good again.  As the saying goes, all good things must come to and end, so we got the check, grand total, $21.25, and waddled our way out of the restaurant and down the street.  Most times, it doesn't get much better than an experience like that and that day and this trip, it didn't.  So, we had about 30 minutes before we were due to get back to the hotel and take off for the airport, ending our stay in Toronto.  A few pictures to snap, a walk through an Ecuadorian celebration of their independence day in the city's city hall park and we were ending our little tour.  

So, in the end, I did experience exactly what I had been reading about.  Toronto is an international city, full of cultures of all types and much to offer to the cuisine world because of its diversity.  When people of different cultures bring those unique things together and choose to share them with others, beautiful things happen.  We all become a little more enriched and influenced by this convergence of life.  It just goes to show, you just have to do a little exploring, or in this case, walk in the right direction.  

So, I haven't said much about the conference I attended, and I won't, other than to say, it was worthwhile.  I met a lot of cool people, heard a lot of interesting speakers and even learned a few things, not all about software development.  Wanna read more about that, well, that's another article.

Thanks for a good time Canada.

Apparently I am one of the few Americans left on the continent that haven't been to Las Vegas.  It has taken me 33 years to make this voyage.  Even though it is my first time going and I have heard about a thousand stories of my friends adventures in sin city, I am setting my expectations low.  In fact, about the only thing that I am looking forward to is being in a city probably for the first time, with the possible exception of New York where one can experience as many fine dining choices all within a short walk.  There are restaurants from reknowned chefs as Emeril Lagasse, Thomas Keller, Wolfgang Puck, Bobby Flay, and I am sure a few unknown but equally as talented.  I am looking to eat and eat quite well.  

I stayed at the Palazzo which true to Vegas form, it is big, loud, luxurious and a bit gaudy all in one.  However, the service is great, I get help at every turn.  In fact, it is worth noting that throughout the city I have found passers by,mostly casino workers, willing to stop and give a friendly direction almost every time I looked lost.  

Looking past the fact that I am walking through the pit of a casino, I had to stop and look around to notice, this is actually a really nice freakin' hotel.  Beyond the constant banging of the buttons for the one armed bandits being bashed with force, as though that increases the chances of wining, was an oasis of shops, waterfalls, opulent decorations and towering sculptures.  Hidden in secluded nooks were restaurants that included the likes of Thomas Keller, Mario Battalli, Wolgang Puck and more.  Excellent, something for me to explore, but later, I was tired from the flight and the 30 minute wait to get a cab from the airport to the hotel in 100 degree heat.  Past the casino and up to the 21st floor I went.

I have been in nice hotels and stayed in nice rooms before, but this room wins the prize for me thus far.  Just the size alone was impressive.  I have lived in apartments that were smaller.  The amenities in the room were just as impressive as the size.  A flat screen/HDTV was in every room, and I do mean every room, yes even the bathroom.  There were remotes for almost everything, including the blinds.  And through the blinds was a pretty decent view of the Las Vegas Strip along with a front side view of the Wyndham resort.  Most notable in the living room was the full size, wrap around couch.  Massive, massive this place is I tell you.  Enough with the room already, time to check out what this town has to offer.

It turns out that what I thought was a hotel was actually a self contained little city in itself that connects to another small city, the Palazzo's big sister resort, the Venetian.  Almost everyone is familiar with the sensory mind job that the Venetian plays on you as it truly makes you believe you are outside with the sky painted ceilings and lighted that is adjusted to seem like sunshine.  Ok, I'll admit, it took me a few minutes before I recognized that I was still inside.  Then the ultimate weirdness, singing gondoliers crooning happy couples as they drift down canals that snake through the hotel.  Enough of that, time to check out why this place is called Sin City.  To the streets, that's where I will find hard-core adult action.  Walking down the Strip, what I mostly observed were happy, intoxicated people, drinks in hand having fun.  Then, another welcomed pattern emerged.  Packs of women roaming the streets of Las Vegas seemed to appear from nowhere and once they started, it was an endless parade of short skirts, short shirts, high heels, long legs, breast overflowing from blouses, and hair teased to the heavens.  Good god, I think I love this place.  At night, the entire town becomes one big night club and everyone dresses the part.  Well, all of this people watching is making me hungry and it was time for me to start experiencing some of this good food that Vegas is supposed to offer.

First stop for feeding my face, a quick bite at one of Emeril's lower end restaurants, Table 10.  The appeal for me at this restaurant is reasonable prices and a chance to sit barside in front of the kitchen.  A great opportunity to watch some sausage making, literally.  Fortunate for me, I get a ring side view in front of the grill guy.  This turned out to be a pretty cool experience, not so much for the food, but having an interesting conversation with a real cook, someone who clearly likes his job, is good at it and communicates well about it.  Having real conversations, with real people who love their jobs and are good at it, is one of my turn ons in life, and I never get enough of it.  This guy was happy to be in a hopping place, cooking good food and willing to talk about what he does with excitement.  The food was mediocre, but the experience and service were terrific.  Over the few days that I stayed in Las Vegas, breakfast became my favorite meal, mostly because of the poolside restaurant by Chef Wolfgang Puck, called Solara.  When I travel, especially while on business, breakfast becomes a rushed meal and sometimes almost anything will do, and the choices given in a strange town is usually almost anything is given.  Slop thrown on a plate.  A few runny eggs hastily cooked, a couple of over cooked pieces of meat and some type of weird pancake looking thingees is what many restaurants try to pass as a decent breakfast.  Not at Solara, everything is carefully and tastefully prepared with the same attention to detail and skill that are in a typical lunch or dinner bistro.  I had the best waffle, hands down, no comparison, not even close at Solara and it came with honey, butter walnut syrup.  Even something as sedentary as oatmeal was exquisite.  It was as though someone hand picked the best oats, cooked them to perfection and served them with a smile.  Everything I had at Solara was good and the best part, I could eat there with no shoes on.  I ate there so much the wait staff started to recognize me.  What can I say, when you find a good thing, it's hard to resist return visits. So, what did I eat other than breakfast?  Well, lunch at Solara of course.  But, there were occasions that I broke the pattern and ate a few of the other restaurants, but I have to tell you, I pretty much stayed within the restaurants inside the Palazzo and Venetian. There was a lot to offer, and almost nothing to scoff at.  For a few nights, I had been craving a great steak, and there was no shortage of steakhouses.  I counted at least 5 steakhouses, but I narrowed my focus to Delmonico, Emeril's signature steakhouse.  The restaurant itself was modestly decorated, something I actually appreciate.  It should be about the food.  While the menu offered a good array of food, I wanted the biggest, tastiest steak that Chef Emeril had to offer.  Therefore, it was the ribeye that I would order and at 50 bucks, it better deliver.  I also decided to get a good Cabernet suggested by my waiter and a side of mushrooms.  When it arrived, the steak was an enormous hunk of meat.  I wish that I could say it was the best steak I ever had, but I can't.  By no means was it the worst steak I had, but perhaps my expectations were too high.  However, the mushrooms were perhaps the best I have ever had.  The preparation and taste was out of this world.  A strange thing to say about mushrooms, but they were lights out.  A great combination of well selected woodier, crimini, portobello and shiitake mushrooms, sauteed with butter, garlic and some other ingredients that I still have not figured out but all the same, I appreciated incredibly.  All in all, it was a good meal, nothing that knocked me out of my chair and maybe I was hoping it would for $100.  Without question, the best meal I had was my last.  It was total luck as many things in life tend to be.  I chose to walk around the edge of the casino level in the Palazzo, which is where the high end restaurants are, and decided to get something a little different, Asian.  The restaurant was called, Zine Noodles Dim Sum.  I took a chance and it payed off greatly.  The menu was huge, so much to choose from so many regions of Asia.  Again, some of the best food experiences are combined with the best experiences with the people you meet at the restaurants.  At Zine's, it was the waiter.  I was willing to have a different food experience.  I didn't want the typical asian american, General Tso's chicken.  I wanted to experiment, I wanted something different and he was willing to indulge me.  However, after a while it was quite amusing that for the first few minutes he tried hard to convince me to go the normal route saying things like, " you probably wouldn't like that".  I settled on the chicken noodle soup, that was prepared with whole chicken boiled in a chef's special concoction of juices, herbs and spices.  The food was good.  I had a feeling of eating food that was prepared by some old Asian lady cooking in her kitchen.  The food looked and tasted rustic.  Nothing fancy, just good, comforting, well prepared extremely tasty food. 

There is something about Vegas that is alluring, I get that.  It has this pull that makes you think the strange and maybe even impossible can happen, whether it is cashing in on some big winnings or meeting an exotic women who will show you the time of your life.  I can understand how it can be a world of fantasy for some and that can be a draw, to lose oneself in fantasy and forget everything you left back home, even for a few days or hours.  Having said that, Vegas at first glance can come across as soul-less and kitchie.  A collection of building size knick knacks and caricature like re-creations of the world's icons.  An eifel tower here, a statue of liberty there.  It is a bizarre mashup of things that really should not be together, but I guess that is the point.  I couldn't help but think, is this someone's idea of a practical joke, a frankenstein experiment gone terribly wrong.  After a while, I actually got it.   Vegas provides a chance to eat well, throw away some money on the crap table, see the city folk in their extravagant costumes.  So, while I may think Vegas is a bit strange, it can be fun from time to time.

Family

go to maya's high school graduation

go to maya's college graduation

have children beccome independent and self actualized contributing citizens

leave trusts for family

pay for a two week vacation for closest friends and their family

renew wedding vows at same place we got married with our children, family and friends in attendance

participate in a sporting competition with children as a partner of their choosing

make sure children create a 101 things list when they are in their 20s

make sure children are exposed to community service

Charity

contribute to morehouse Comp Sci department

change someone's life via charitable contribution

start and sustain a charity

find a way to contribute technical expertise to a charity such that it saves it a significant amount of money

give atleast one hundred thousand dollars to alma mater

bequeth 25% of wealth to charity of choice

Financial

own a beachhouse in a tropical location that stays in the family

become an owner of a company

have zero personal debt

have net worth of 10 million dollars

be a part of a company that changes the world in a positive way

be on the board of a company I admire

not work a full 40 hr work week for the entire year

Travel

Visit a National Park in each state

travel to london

travel to all of hawaiin islands

travel to alaska

go on safari with ricky and steven

go to las vegas with solomon, len, and pete

go to india

go to japan

go to egypt

visit all eight wonders of the world

go to bali

go to thailand

go to vietnam with a vietnamese friend

visit a foreign country and be able to speak the language at level 2

travel for a month on the road with shonna

visit disney world with family to view christmas decorations

ice skate at rockefeller center during christmas holiday

visit st kitts and nevis

visit amazon

visit belize rain forest

visit dubai man made islands

visit new zealand

sail on a private yacht

sail on a sailboat

go salmon fishing in the pacific northwest or alaska

go to carnival in brazil or trinidad

go to cannes film festival

go to south by southwest festival

go to sundance film festival

drive to florida keys from Miami

Sports

go to a final four

go to us open final

Fantasy

get interviewed by charlie rose or james lipton or robert wilonsky

go into space

see stevie wonder live

see dave mathews band live

see REM

be a sous chef for one night at a famous chef's restaurant while he/she is cooking that night

give a commencement speech

have a picture of mine published in a major magazine/web site

submit for a patent

have something copyrighted

see U2 in concert

meet/interview Bill Gates

write a movie review that is published in a major periodical

view a live taping of PTI

stay at a 6 star/diamond hotel

go to a taping of emerill live sitting at the bar

be a guest photographer on a penthouse/playboy photo shoot

eat at a 3 star michelin rated restaurant

Political

work on a political campaign

consult a president

visit a top secret room in the pentagon

consult the director of CIA

take a sabbatical to be a political appointee of the POTUS

reduce carbon footprint to less than 50 percent of global average

Hobby

sell a photo that I have taken

place in the top 10 of a photo contest

cater an event that I am getting paid to do

dive the great barrier reef

do a triathlon

get scuba certified

get life guard certified

write a book

make a documentary film

learn how to drive a car like a secret service agent

drive a car more than 120mph

go camping with only a knife, flint, and a water bottle

climb a glacier

become a good marksman with a gun

learn to play a musical instrument

contribute to an open source project

learn a martial art

Spiritual

 have a coherent ideology on my religious/spiritual beliefs

be able to meditate for 1 minute

Possessions

buy a 100 mpg car

Like Most Americans our Carbon Footprint started at 110 tons eq/year.  We are dong the following to reduce our carbon footprint:

Traded our mid-size high performance car in for a Toyota Prius

Recycle everything we can, including our junk mail

Replaced every blown incandescent lightbulb with a compact flourescent

Turn off lights when we are not in a room

Switched each of our computers to go into hibernate after 1 hour of non-use

Discontinued using plastic bags at grocery stores in place of cloth bags.

Stopped using plastic bags to bag our produce at grocery stores

Stopped buying CDs and DVDs.  Instead we use .mp3s and buy digital movies

Grill our food more using propane

Purchased an energy efficient refrigerator with filtered water

Use reusable water bottles instead of buying bottled water

Don’t leave the water running while we brush our teeth

Purchased digital, programmable thermostats

Adjusted our thermostat +/- 2 degrees for the seasons

We have purchased bar towels to dry our hands after washing at home and cleaning instead of paper towels