Session_07

Tracer Bullets Reloaded

Organiser(s): PaulSimmons, RobWestgeest

Session duration: 135 minutes

Session type: Simulation

Session language: English, Dutch, mixture if required

Session Summary:

"There are two ways to fire a machine gun in the dark. You can find out exactly where your target is (range, elevation, azimuth) and the environmental conditions (temperature, humidity, air pressure, wind), determine the specification of the cartridges and bullets and the actual gun you are firing. You can use tables to calculate the exact bearing and elevation of the barrel and then, if the environment doesn't change, your bullets should land close to their target. Or you could use tracer bullets. Tracer bullets are loaded at intervals in the ammo belt alongside regular ammunition. When they're fired their phosphorus ignites and leaves a pyrotechnic trail from the gun to whatever they hit." -- quoted from The Pragmatic Programmer

It's not about hitting a target, but rather constantly checking that you are heading in the right direction. It is better to try early and take small steps to improve your aim.

In this workshop attendees will experience an extreme simulation of building software using the principle of extensive feedback and evolution, which is at the core of XP. Teams will have to build a product from things like wood, sticky tape and pins in a non-software game within a short timeframe.

In our experience of working within agile teams, we have found that it is just as important to apply the principle of extensive feedback and evolution to the development process as it is to the software itself. We have found that a team applying XP will use the core practices as a recipe to create a specific XP flavour within its environment, and use feedback to adjust this recipe.

The workshop is structured so that we investigate and apply this principle and, through coaching and reflection, we expect to draw conclusions that show how to make the process itself as agile as the software developed.

What will participants learn?

Tracer bullets challenges you to think differently about the way you work, and assists a team to build an agile process of their own recipe, and through extensive feedback follow an evolutionary path towards a solution.

Who should attend?

The workshop is open to both technical and non-technical people. You need not have direct experience of XP or agile processes to attend. We expect a mixture of developers, team leaders, analysts and a mix of non-XP and XP-users.