Monthly Archives: October 2010

This mess started long, long time ago

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My son borrowed Asterix and Cleopatra from Claremont Library last week.  It’s been ages since I read anything from that series.  But page 2 really had me chuckling.  There is an image of the page online, but it’s bit hard to read.  So, here’s the dialog.

The scene: Cleopatra has been challenged by Julius Caesar to build a grand palace that will prove that the Egyptians are an advanced nation.  She summons Edifis, her architect.

Cleopatra: Edifis, I have summoned you because you are the best architect in Alexandria – which is isn’t saying much.

Edifis: Oh!

Cleopatra: Don’t answer back! Your buildings are flimsy.  You can hear every word the neighbours say.  The ceilings fall in!

Edifis:  It’s these modern materials… Actually, what I really want to do is build pyramids and …

Cleopatra: Silence!  You have just three months to make good.  You are to build Julius Caesar a magnificent palace here in Alexandria.

Edifis: Did you say THREE MONTHS?

Cleopatra: If you succeed, you will be covered in gold!  If not, you will be thrown to the crocodiles!  You may go.

(Edifis walks out)

Edifis: (thinking) Three months!  I’d need supernatural powers to do that!  I’d need someone who can work magic.

Edifis: (shouting) Got it!  I know the very man!  He can work magic!

Now, where have we seen that before?

(And just get the original book and read on about mule-driving the slaves to haul huge blocks of stone … classic!)

Øredev 2010

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I am really, really thrilled to be speaking at Øredev in November, when I will be giving two talks.  It’s also a chance to spend time with good friends and just talking with amazingly, inspiring people – those people that always leave me feeling like I just slipped back a few rungs on the ladder.  Then I realise that the ladder was much higher than I thought.
You can check out the full program details here, but here is a personal perspective on the talks.

Architecture in an Agile World: On the agility track, this talk will have a distinctly technical flavor.  At the JCSE in July I gave a similar talk, but this will be more technical than that, I think.  There are many things that I observe in teams, but one screams at me most often.  Some  process/methodology is hauled in, some discipline is put in place.  People are set free, slavery is abolished.  Everyone is agile.  But the code is still imprisoned.  Then, you flatline and then you start the decline.  Agility is a lot about design too, and how you constantly need to find ways to move from ignorance to knowledge, and again, and again, and again, …

Truth and Reconciliation: Agile Lessons from the Rainbow Nation: In the S.African community I talk almost exclusively about agility at the code face, but there is another side with which I assist teams without casting labels – that is dealing with the social aspects of software development.  This talk is very personal, semi-biographical maybe, but something that I don’t see teams in S.Africa recognising, yet it is part of our history.  Ooops, that’s presuming a lot — it’s part of MY history, not yours.  This talk is on the collaboration track, largely about trust, but there are one or two twists and turns too.

And it’s time that Øredev heard some vuvuzela music!