I have a two year old tradition of going to TGA with a friend of mine. Its usually the only trip to Tampere each year for both of us. So I thought since going there is a tradition, why not writing a blog summary about the event as well.
I was really tired this year after only a few hours of sleep the night before so it might have brought some bias, but I didn't feel quite the same level of good vibes and community as last year. I'm thinking the venue (Tampere-talo) might have something to do with this. The place is ultra clean and areas between presentations weren't really good for sparking ad hoc discussion.
So here are the presentations that I saw and what inspired me.
Note I didn't see all of the presentations and who knows how amazing things I missed. Not being mentioned here is not a sign your favourite presentation wasn't great in my opinion.
Science!
Laurent is the author of a book I intend to read, called The Leprechauns of Software Engineering. Superficially it looks very similar to the book What We Actually Know About Software Development, and Why We Believe It's True which I did read earlier this year. I believe the topic is important, but Wilson's and Oram's book was more like a collection of academic papers demanding more academic research about software engineering. Which is good and great, but honestly not a very useful read for a practicing engineer like myself. So I'm really looking forward to reading Laurent's book and will get back to the subject once I've read it.
Lean!
Next interesting presentation was by Marko Taipale. He was a presenter last year as well and did a very similar presentation about Lean Startup methodology. This time Marko drilled deeper and specifically into how his own company uses lean startup tools in developing their own business models. Lean thinking and Lean Startup -movement is a huge topic and I will not go much deeper here. Instead, I'll just provide a link to Marko's presentation.
Ok I will say one thing about Lean Startup -movement after all. Its starting to get real criticism as well which is always a good sign. It means its being used and people have opinions and hopefully even hypothesis about if and how well it works. To balance things out a bit, read for example some good critique by Dan Norris. Would love to have Marko Taipale and Dan Norris in a panel discussion about Lean Startup!
I'm hereby officially giving the Best of TGA 2013 prize to Antti! I might return and write a whole blog entry about the topic, but for now, here is Antti's presentation.
Contracting and how the dynamics in it are built right now will end up hurting everyone in our industry at some point. Delivering warmed seats instead of identifiable value and treating each developer as seat warmer for which the hourly price needs to be minimised, is a doomed model and needs to change at some point.
I was honestly too tired to have a chat about this with Antti at TGA, but I will definitely do so at some point if I get the chance.
Ok I will say one thing about Lean Startup -movement after all. Its starting to get real criticism as well which is always a good sign. It means its being used and people have opinions and hopefully even hypothesis about if and how well it works. To balance things out a bit, read for example some good critique by Dan Norris. Would love to have Marko Taipale and Dan Norris in a panel discussion about Lean Startup!
Contracts!
I'm a freelance contractor myself, been for about 3 years now. And even before that I was a consultant for 10 years doing hour-based contracting for various companies. Antti Kirjavainen from Houston Inc did a very thought provoking and important presentation about the current state of manhour-based contracting work and why it sucks so much for everybody.
I'm hereby officially giving the Best of TGA 2013 prize to Antti! I might return and write a whole blog entry about the topic, but for now, here is Antti's presentation.
Contracting and how the dynamics in it are built right now will end up hurting everyone in our industry at some point. Delivering warmed seats instead of identifiable value and treating each developer as seat warmer for which the hourly price needs to be minimised, is a doomed model and needs to change at some point.
I was honestly too tired to have a chat about this with Antti at TGA, but I will definitely do so at some point if I get the chance.
#noestimates
Nice to have a word for what I've done intuitively as a team lead if there has been no pressure for strict Scrum or other Methodology! Henri Karhatsu did a very inspiring presentation from a real life project he had been leading, transforming the process from poorly working traditional agile planning to a much more streamlined custom process without estimates.
I got a few new ideas to try out from Henri's presentation. I really can't say if my next project will use estimates or not. Sometimes they are good. Sometimes they aren't that useful. There is no predefined rule on how to determine which is the case beforehand.
What I really liked about Henri's presentation was advocation of thinking for yourself. This worked for him, but might not work for you - at least not copied blindly.
What I really liked about Henri's presentation was advocation of thinking for yourself. This worked for him, but might not work for you - at least not copied blindly.
What often most ticks me off about Methodologies in software engineering, is that they are essentially attempts in externalising thinking. "Read this book and follow the steps and you won't have to think for yourself. We have solved this for you".
Do what makes your developers happy and result in correct business need being fulfilled
This needs to be fine tuned and figured out in every company, in every project of any significance. That's just how it is. Learn to live with it. Hire a Henri to figure these things for you :)
And finally...
Very much thanks and hugs for the wonderful people who organised this free (!) event and the sponsors who paid for it all!
My sincere suggestion for next year is that the event wouldn't be entirely free anymore. Now apparently over 60 people who had registered never showed up. Make it 50e a pop and people might not reserve a seat just in case they feel like going.
