21 November 2003

NAC BREDA "MyCom" Football stadium, Breda, The Netherlands

The XP Day Benelux is a one day conference about all aspects of Extreme Programming and other agile software development methods like DSDM, Scrum, Feature-driven development, and Crystal. See the "Agile Manifesto" for the principles of agile software development.

The XP Day Benelux conference is aimed at software developers, project leaders, IT managers, testers, architects, and coaches. It will provide a good opportunity for exchanging ideas and sharing experiences, and is suited for both experienced participants and beginners in Agile Software Development. The focus of this conference is on practical knowledge, real-world experience and active participation of all attendees. We aim at 50-100 participants.

This event was organized by members of the Belgian XP users group and the Dutch XP users group and took place in Breda, the Netherlands (near Belgium) on 21 November 2003.

• See the conference Program for a list of sessions and presenters. There is also a printable version

• The ConferenceLocation page tells you all about the location and acces by car and public transport.

• Download the flyer.

• RelatedEvents

XP Day Benelux is an Organisation of AgileSystems vzw

For more information, the organizers can be contacted at: xpdayinfo]]> pascal 16 January 2004 17:25 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003Story.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003Story The day before

Organizing a conference is all about preparation. What were we up to on the day before the conference? Xpday2003StoryTheDayBefore

Before the conference

Get up in time to be early at the conference venue to set stuff up before the attendees arrive: Xpday2003StoryBeforeTheConference

What is the role of a project leader in an agile project

WillemvandenEnde and MarcEvers session about the role of a project leader in an agile project. Lots of audience participation: Xpday2003AgileProjectLeader

Break

In between session, one needs to relax a bit Xpday2003StoryBreak1

The Gumption Traps session

RachelDavies and IvanMoore teaching how to demotivate your team: Xpday2003StoryGumptionTraps

Lunch

Already midday. Off to have a healthy lunch: Xpday2003StoryLunch

The Customer Inside, handle with care session

RobMaijers session about the interaction with customers and other stakeholders: Xpday2003StoryCustomerInside

The Tracer Bullets Reloaded session

RobWestgeest and PaulSimmons organized the Tracer Bullets simulation: Xpday2003StoryTracerBullets

The Build your own acceptance testing framework session

SeanHanly explains and shows how to develop an acceptance testing framework: Xpday2003StoryAcceptanceTesting

Break

In between session, one needs to relax a bit Xpday2003StoryBreak2

Joseph Pelrine on Scrum

JosephPelrine talks about supporting XP development with SCRUM: Xpday2003StoryScrum

How to fail at XP?

KeithBraithwaite and SteveFreeman ask us how to fail at XP in Xpday2003StoryFailingAtXP

How did we do? The Retrospective closing session

At the end of the conference day we look back. What did we do well, what would we change next time? Do we want another conference? Xpday2003StoryRetrospective

The closing drink

And then, finally, we serve drinks and snacks. Plenty of discussion and smiling faces! Xpday2003StoryClosingDrink]]> pascal 10 January 2004 17:18 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryLunch.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryLunch Xpday2003Story: Lunch

Have something to eat, sit down a while and chat with the other attendees

JosephPelrine enjoyed the food a lot...

Lots and lots and lots of attendees having lunch

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 17:07 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryClosingDrink.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryClosingDrink Xpday2003Story: the closing drink

Off to the bar again. This time for drinks and snacks.

And discussions

And lots of smiling faces. If was fun. Let's do this again!

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 17:03 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryRetrospective.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryRetrospective Xpday2003Story: Conference Retrospective

All day long, Vera and Nynke have been collecting items for the time line

And people examine the timeline in detail

And then RachelDavies leads the conference retrospective

Everybody filling in their evaluation sheets. Thanks for the great feedback.

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:56 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBeforeTheConference.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBeforeTheConference Xpday2003Story: Setting things up before the conference starts

You can't work on an empty stomach. First a good breakfast. But, where is everybody? Is nobody going to join Erik at breakfast?

Setting up the Robocode session...

Rachel, Vera, Erik and Marc having a quick standup meeting

Putting up the final program. That's the agile way to schedule sessions. Good thing too, as we had to make last minute changes...

Everything ready? We're off!]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:54 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryTracerBullets.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryTracerBullets Xpday2003Story: Tracer Bullets Reloaded

RobWestgeest and PaulSimmons led this simulation. The goal is to discover what's in the bucket. The players are not allowed to look.

The teams must devise a process and develop tools to discover the object. They need to use feedback and teamwork to succeed.

Each team is only allowed a limited team to use their tools.

The teams devise a process and try to draw what they think is in the bucket on the flipovers.

So, what can we conclude from this?

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:53 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryAcceptanceTesting.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryAcceptanceTesting Xpday2003Story: Build your own acceptance testing framework

SeanHanly explains acceptance testing tool building

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:51 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryFailingAtXP.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryFailingAtXP Xpday2003Story: How to fail at XP?

KeithBraithwaite and SteveFreeman ask the attendees how they failed at XP

The attendees each tell stories of failures they have experienced

So that we can learn from our experience and succeed next time. Or at least fail in different ways... :-)]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:44 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryScrum.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryScrum Xpday2003Story: Supporting XP with SCRUM

Joseph Pelrine asking questions and telling stories about the combination of XP and SCRUM

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:39 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBreak2.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBreak2 Xpday2003Story: Afternoon break

Phew! Another break. Vera, Nynke and RachelDavies chatting. And preparing the Agile Retrospectives closing session

And back to the bar, for more coffee, tea and discussion.

DavidLPutman explaining

Christ and Erik from Philips Research

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:22 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryCustomerInside.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryCustomerInside Xpday2003Story: Customer Inside, handle with care

Looking out the window to the NAC Breda football pitch

And the session starts. The session format is that of a "goldfish bowl".

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:12 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryGumptionTraps.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryGumptionTraps Xpday2003Story: Gumption Traps

The attendees discussing a systems diagram

IvanMoore explaining with gusto

The session location was a bit cramped, but at which other conference can you participate in a session, propped up at the bar.

Note to these people's employers: we didn't serve alcohol. Not then...

Demotivation and gumption traps can be fun.

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 16:05 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBreak1.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryBreak1 Xpday2003Story break

Pfff. Taking pictures is tiring work...

Is there any coffee left?

Yes? Great! Marco from ZeelandNet at the bar.

And Vera relaxing in front of a computer

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 15:58 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003AgileProjectLeader.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003AgileProjectLeader Xpday2003Story: the role of a project leader in an agile project

Marc and Willem's session had participants discuss various statements about the true role and tasks of a project leader in an agile project.

]]> pascal 10 January 2004 15:46 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryTheDayBefore.html Xpday2003/Xpday2003StoryTheDayBefore Xpday2003Story The Day Before the conference

There's a lot of waiting. Marc and Pascal relaxing in the lobby of the Mastbosch hotel waiting for the others to arrive. Looking happy and relaxed. For now...

And a lot of last-minute phoning around, getting people to the right place, making sure everything is ready. Marc and Vera phoning around, instead of enjoying their dinner:

And finally, we get everyone where we need them and we can enjoy an excellent dinner, drinks and chat:

]]> vera 07 January 2004 16:25 GMT http://www.xpday.net/Xpday2003/XpDay2003Pictures.html Xpday2003/XpDay2003Pictures