The joy of Refactoring – Reveal intentions
This is a slide I made for a workshop on Refactoring Legacy Systems I ran yesterday. I love the puzzled look on their faces.
The photo was made in the open space at agile2007, featuring JB Rainsberger and two others (sorry, remembering names at large events like agile200* is difficult for me – the guy in the middle was a volunteer in a session I co-hosted at agile2006).
The agile2008 call for participation is out, to give you an idea what is going to happen. Major change for next year is the idea of stages, each stage with a specific theme.
Close to my heart is of course:
Agile and Organizational Culture
Producer: Marc Evers; Assistant Producer: Linda Rising
Agile is not only about changing the way you work and changing the way you think – doing agile in a sustainable way requires changing principles and values. An agile initiative doesn’t take place in a vacuum, it has to interface with the existing organizational culture. It will influence the organizational context and the other way around. This stage provides a space for discussions, teaching, learning, and sharing experiences about agile and organizational culture.
Space for new session organisers and pushing the envelope:
Breaking Acts
Producer: Laurent Bossavit
Agile as it stands today is still a work in progress. For Agile software development to remain relevant, it must incorporate new ideas continuously. This stage is for speakers who bring a fresh and surprising look to aspects of Agile we thought familiar, and speakers interested in ideas that are relevant to Agile but not accepted yet as “mainstream”. First-time speakers are particularly welcome.
And of course, another Open Space 
Open Jam
Producer: Esther Derby
The regular program presents a wide range of presentations and experiential sessions. The Open Jam stage is a place to share questions and quandaries, talk to the experts, demonstrate software and techniques, and experiment with emerging Agile practices and ideas.
There’s also a francophone stage, hosted by Emmanuel Gaillot, since Agile2008 will be in Toronto, Canada. I will be visiting Toronto December 6 through 9 for an agile alliance board meeting – that way, board members involved in the conference organisation can combine two things in a trip. Let me know if you’re in the area and would like to go for a beer
November 7th, 2007 at 8:55 pm
Hi! That person on the left is me, Corey Haines. This was a really great time at Agile, as I was sitting on the couch, trying some new stuff in Ruby, and it wasn’t 2-3 minutes later that someone (in this case, Joe, on the left) sat down and said, “Hey, what are you working on?” Next thing I know, we’ve got a couple people looking at it.
The agile conferences are fantastic for this sort of thing.
November 7th, 2007 at 10:23 pm
Hi Corey, thanks for that! I thought you were one of the two Cor(e)y’s I saw in the room (the other was I think Cory Foy, I took a shot of him in the coders’ dojo ).
Sarah Rainsberger e-mailed me – she mentioned your name and said the guy in the middle is Dan from Minneapolis.
November 8th, 2007 at 12:20 am
The extra-puzzled guy in the middle is me. Thanks for posting the photo.
November 9th, 2007 at 5:03 pm
carnival of the agilists, 9-nov-07…
Welcome to the latest edition of the Carnival of the Agilists, the blogroll that skims the cream from the top of the agile blogsphere. This week’s theme is: a bumper bag of liquorice allsorts…
Brian Marick has posted the transcript of his OOPSL…