Date: Wed, 23 Apr 2003 18:57:57 -0400 From: Withall Subject: Boston SPIN Meeting Announcement Reminder Notice - Wednesday April 30 5:30pm - 8:30pm Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN) April Meeting Announcement Please Note: This is a joint meeting with ASQ Boston Section. It is in a different location and on different day of the month than the regular SPIN meeting. APRIL MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT Topic: Agile Software Development -- Why Is It Hot? Speaker: Jim Highsmith When: Joint Meeting with ASQ Boston Section Wednesday, April 30, 2003; 5:30pm-8:30pm 5:30 Social 6:30 Dinner 7:30 Presentation Who: Everyone (Industry, Government, Academia) Location: Sheration Four Points Hotel 420 Totten Pond Rd. Waltham, MA Info: For SPIN info, contact Barbara Purchia, bpurchia@rational.com. Reservations: Please provide the name of each person requesting a guaranteed reservation, with company affiliation as appropriate and a contact phone number. Call 617 755-ASQC (755-2772), 24 hours a day, or make reservations online. The deadline for reservations is April 23. If you must cancel, please do so by the deadline -- otherwise you will be billed for the dinner. ASQ and Boston SPIN welcome non-members. You may attend the presentation itself at 7:30 at no charge and without reservations necessary. Cost: Dinner: $25.00 (no charge for the presentation by itself). Directions: The Sheraton Four Points Hotel is located in Waltham at 420 Totten Pond Road. From I-95/Route 128, take Exit 27A. The hotel is just East of the highway. The hotel^Òs phone number is (781) 890-0100. ________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract: In the past several years, a wide range of publications^×Software Development, IEEE Software, IEEE Computer, CIO Magazine, Cutter IT Journal, Software Testing and Quality Engineering, and even the Economist^×have published articles Agile Software Development. Conferences such as OOPSLA and Software Development have been highlighting Agile talks, tutorials, and panels. Is this extreme interest a fad, or not? Although recently publicized, many of these new approaches have been used successfully for nearly a decade. The main players are: Extreme Programming, Scrum, Crystal Methods, Adaptive Software Development, Feature-Driven Development, Lean Development, and Dynamic Systems Development Methodology. Furthermore, scores of organizations have developed their own ^Ólighter^Ô approach to building software. Agile Ecosystems^×which encompass world view, values and principles, social culture and methodology^×are hot for two main reasons. First, they better address the problem domain characterized by high-speed, high-change, and high-risk projects. Second, the social culture and principles appeal to many developers and managers. This session will delve into the history, principles, practices, and successes of Agile Software Development. About the Speaker: Jim Highsmith is Director, Agile Project Management Practice and Fellow, Business Technology Council at Cutter Consortium; and, Member, Software Development Productivity Council, Flashline, Inc. He is the author of Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems, Dorset House 2000, which won the prestigious Jolt award for product excellence; and, Agile Software Development Ecosystems, Addison Wesley 2002. Jim has 25-plus years experience as a consultant, software developer, manager, and writer. He has published dozens of articles in major industry publications including ^ÓThe Agile Manifesto,^Ô co-authored with Martin Fowler, in the August 2001 issue of Software Development), and ^ÓDoes Agility Work,^Ô in the June 2002 issue of Software Development. In the last dozen years, Jim has worked with IT departments, software companies, and new product development organizations in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, India, and New Zealand to help them adapt to the accelerated pace of development in increasingly complex, uncertain environments. See http://www.jimhighsmith.com/articles/cross_oct02.pdf for an article by Jim related to his talk. ________________________________________________________________________________ Cancellations (including weather cancellations): Starting at 3pm, we'll notify you via email to the SPIN distribution list, we'll post the notice on the SPIN web page, and we'll send the cancellation announcement to Channel 7 TV and WRKO AM 680. ________________________________________________________________________________ SPIN Sponsors: * William George Associates http://www.williamgeorgeassociates.com/ * MITRE Corp., Bedford, MA http://www.mitre.org/ * Raytheon Corp., Lexington, MA, http://www.raytheon.com/ * Edelman & Associates, http://www.edeltech.com/ We thank the Computer Science department of UMass-Lowell for providing support and hosting our web page.