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Git Introduction January 2015

February 14, 2015 Agile / Experiences / Meeting / Retrospectives
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Paul Williams presenting Git.

Paul Williams gave a great introduction to the group on version control basics with Git

There was a great vibe this January; our first meeting of 2015. Paul Williams opened the year with a great session introducing Git. The session served as a useful introduction to those new to Git as a version control mechanism and incorporated rebasing techniques for those with intermediate skills. We experienced a wide spread of issues related to version control; what else would you expect with up to 20 people trying to do the initial commit? We also had a sneak peak how others are using Git in professional ventures. It was a great fun! Agile Staffordshire enjoyed an enthusiastic turnout; it was lovely to see everyone. Thank you, Paul.

The session provoked some good discussion and even set the scene for our first quarter topics. In March 2015, Agile Staffordshire will hold a session on Vi (the editor that appeared mercilessly upon commits) and more advanced Git techniques in April 2015. February’s session will focus on project management, with a specific discussion on Kanban in relation to software development. Keep watching our blog for upcoming events or join our meet-up group.

Group working at Agile Staffs January 2015

Ad-hoc team trying to commit to repositories in ad-hoc ways! What could go wrong? Not much really!

Enjoying Git session - January 2015.

It’s amazing how a bit of Git can make people smile.

I would like to add special thanks to Staffordshire University for hosting our event and providing wireless Internet connectivity throughout the session. Super stuff! Another special mention to Mel for taking photographs!

F# and Functional Programming Wrap-up

August 28, 2014 Languages / Meeting / Programming / Retrospectives
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Agile Staffordshire were fortunate to have Ian Russell talk to us about functional programming. Ian’s session on functional programming really got us fired up with something new. I was swept away with Ian’s abundant enthusiasm for the discipline; thank you, Ian! If you get the chance to meet Ian and discuss F#, I think you’d be wise to do so.

I find being a novice entirely satisfying. I really enjoy picking up a new language and playing with it. Every single breakthrough changes your world and feels like a giant leap in understanding. I believe to be quite addictive. I know some members of the group have had some experience with functional-first programming languages and felt obviously at ease with the differences to our usual weapon of choice – object oriented programming. Others were like me, arriving at the subject without any information. I know it is good to have a fresh perspective, but sometimes I think we need to organise sessions to develop fresh perspectives more often. There’s a big difference between appreciating other perspectives and having them. I left the session with a buzz, eager to figure out how I could use the material and make something real!

I look forward to our August session – The Gilded Rose kata. I apologise for tardiness of this follow-up post. I’ve been working (with agility) on getting my house to stop leaking into itself – it has been one of those months!

 

June 2014 – Is TDD Dead?

June 19, 2014 Agile / Kata / Meeting / Programming / Refactoring / Retrospectives / Testing
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Is TDD Dead?

Here lies TDD…

Date: Thursday 26th June 2014
Time: 19:00
Venue: Staffordshire University – Stafford Campus (Octagon building, K102)

Fear not, TDD is not dead, although it’s certainly been talked to death this month. This catchy title has been doing the rounds on the web recently since the Kent Beck + Martin Fowler + David Heinemeier Hansson talks. This month we are going to take a look at it ourselves, try out some different approaches and share our experiences.

For me it all started about 2 months ago when I watched Ian Cooper’s talk on TDD, Where did it all go wrong. I’ve been told over and over, that unit testing gives you the freedom to change code with the safety of maintaining functionality for the customer. So refactoring is the process of changing code without changing functionality, and those like Kent Beck would advocate your test suites allow you to safety refactor to design patterns as they emerge in the system. Yet this video struck a chord, I struggle to refactor code without breaking tests, and so lose confidence that the functionality is unchanged as the tests are now different.  Ian’s video addresses these points by highlighting different approaches and definitions to unit testing, and asks is the way some of use do TDD slowing us down.

We are going to explore this issue by scratching an itch many of you had during last months lean coding challenge, Refactoring! After a quick summary of Ian’s video, we are going to pair up and refactor a completed C# implementation of last months Checkout Code Challenge. It will be covered by two test suites. One set focusing on implementation per method and another suite on behaviour of the system. After an hour of coding we will break for a retrospective to find out how everyone’s refactoring was influenced by the different test suites, the advantages each way of testing has to offer and insights into TDD for agile development.

As we’re going to be writing code in C#, bring your laptop with visual studio set up – Project Code on GitHub

If you’re interested, please sign up on meetup.com

See you there!

Jon Willis

Lean Code Retrospective

June 12, 2014 Experiences / Programming / Retrospectives
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It’s great to consider concepts around a practical challenge. Lean code is best considered with a working example. It doesn’t take a complex/large problem to highlight the issues and this session hit home. Paul Williams gave a ‘lightning talk’ on Lean Code based on slides by Chris Parsons, and quickly got us in front of our IDEs and started the ‘Fresco’ challenge. To briefly explain, the challenge comprises a fast cycle of iterations (about 10 minutes each), where each pair delivers the requirements as per the specification and acceptance tests.

One might say the challenge is intentionally trivial, but it’s a great exercise because it neatly encapsulates many of the challenges in software development; especially in a rapidly changing context. Producing some code to address the problem was relatively simple, but how about the Lean principles? For convenience, I list the points that the group considered:

  • Eliminate Waste
  • Focus on value
  • Deliver fast
  • Decide late

The exercise prompted a valuable, albeit short, discussion of the Lean principles in regards to software development. In particular, where the Lean manufacturing and engineering principles perhaps do note related directly to software. Specific topics of note:

  • Waste is not simple to recognise/define in regards to software.
  • Development environment / platform / tools matter – especially version control.
  • Is there an upfront design / deliver fast trade-off? How would we know?
  • Context matters. Producing a car for a fixed and familiar environment. A car does not eventually turn into an aeroplane.

We have a lot to think about for our future sessions. Our post-exercise discussion could benefit from more time. We had a super turn out this month and some great ideas. I look forward to seeing everyone in June! Lean code gave plenty of food for thought.

Open Data Institute Retrospective

April 30, 2014 Experiences / Retrospectives
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Stuart Harrison, ruby developer for the ODI, introduced us to the ODI’s mission and how it facilitates ‘openness’.

I think for many Agile Staffordshire participants, including me, it was a great introduction to an organisation of which only the name may have been familiar. Stuart provided a spirited talk on the rationale for open data and shed some light on how open data has already gained some traction.

It is possible I am really late to the ‘open data game’, but I find the idea profound. I first encountered open data systems being realised during Brooklyn Beta 2013. Since then I have been interested in how applications can make use of available open data to overcome information hoarding. I think this is relevant to Agile Staffordshire, many of us being involved in software development for the web. How many great projects have stalled due to unavailable data; and particularly data that could really benefit society by being open, authoritative and reliable? Public information could be stored in several data stores, with no external access to the organisation responsible and with no arbitration or authority. Stuart explained the situation by way of a scenario involving an app designed to provide information on public transport.

The introduction to ODI provides Agile Staffordshire with a number of things to think about:

  • How can we become more open? Would it help attract more members if we were?
  • Could we make our projects open, inviting other interest groups to make use of the fruits of our labour?
  • Is there scope to making our event planning open? Again, some transparency may assist us with reaching more people in the local area.

Overall, for me the main message seems clear. Great software, great business and great people all seem to share one particular trait. They all create more value than they take. ODI embodies this principle and I think we are better off for their endeavours. Software that provides a great experience and service, but also provides opportunity for others to build on it and create value elsewhere is good for everyone.

September 2013 – Retrospective

October 10, 2013 Agile / Meeting / Retrospectives / Software Craftsmanship
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Click for full size

Mind Map (click for full size)

Following some discussion on the Google Groups, and offline, we decided to do an ad-hoc group retrospective during Septembers meet up. We didn’t follow the normal retro questions – what’s gone well, what can be improved etc.

Rather, we brainstormed future session ideas, tabled the possibility of changing venues. We’ve been challenged on how to attract new members and speakers and pondered the symbiotic relationships between them.

We’re currently moving all the great ideas from a mind map into two Trello hosted kanban boards. The key areas discovered were future sessions and marketing – you will find a board for each area. If you would like to contribute to the boards, simply let myself or Neil know your Trello username and you’ll be added.

In particular, we’re moving back to basics with subject matter – more TDD, more pairing. In particular, more sessions on experiences – how agile does / doesn’t work. However learning evolves etc. Also, more lightning talks etc to promote collaboration and introducing new ideas.

As a tactical move to promote Agile Staffordshire at other community events, Neil and myself are sorting t-shirts to wear at Software Craftsmanship. Neil – order me a large!!

Finally we plan to get blog posts out earlier, with a session follow up post each month followed soon after by a post promoting the next session. We need to increase the volume and always welcome new members.

Regards,
Paul

Tag Cloud

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