Agile Philly

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Agile Philly Conference October 2018

Monday October 22, 2018

The Agile Tour is back

Attendees, please RSVP on the calendar event page to show your interest.  Those who register at http://www.agilephilly.com/events/agiletour-2018 will be the first notified when the ticket window gets opened.

For Speakers, submitted a Topic Idea to

mailto:AgilePhillyCoordinators@YahooGroups.com?subject=Oct22.All.Day.Conference.Topic

and the collected Submissions are here

http://www.agilephilly.com/page/fall-2018-conf

THE THEME of this year's October Conference is METRICS and MEASUREMENTS but this is only a suggestion.  Speakers do not have to adhere to the theme.  It just felt like a natural emphasis after our concentration on Impact & Outcome in the talks at our monthly meetings. 

 

 2018  Agile Tour Conference - will be on Monday October 22, 2018 - 9:30 am to 4:45 pm

ATTENDEES:

* Attendees and Speakers - our Shuttle Van.  If you are coming from Downtown Philly to Malvern on the train, we have a Shuttle Van to get you there and back.  Let us know about your travel plans beforehand so we can help you ( or find you a carpool).

* If you have special dietary needs, let us know.

* Be sure to RSVP at the webpage http://www.agilephilly.com/events/agiletour-2018  Those who RSVP at this webpage get first notice when the ticket window opens.  Tickets do go fast, so don't get left out.

* Your RSVP on the webpage is NOT a guarantee of a slot or a ticket to attend. You must register at the TicketLeap website to attend. But you are first in line by entering your RSVP.

* There is a limit of 100 attendees for the conference.

* Cost of the conference is only $20  This pays for the lunch provided by the dining service at Frontline Education.

* The location is CERNER, Valley Stream Blvd in Malvern.  For those using the PA Turnpike, it is Exit 320 - which is an EZPASS-ONLY exit and entrance.  Otherwise, get off Rte 202 at Rte 29 North.

* From 8:30 to 9:30 am is a LEAN COFFEE.  This is optional, and many attendees choose to skip it and use the hour for a leisurely drive to Malvern.

SPONSORS:

* Local companies are welcome to be sponsors for the conference.  The conference is our annual fund raising event to pay for the webpage www.AgilePhilly.com

* Sponsorships are a flat $100 

* Sponsors get 

  • their logo on the webpages 
  • their logo and company writeup in the Session Grid PDF
  • the privilege to share some SWAG for the raffle.

SPEAKERS:

* Submissions for a talk should have been sent by July 31.  Be sure to include:

  • A catchy title
  • An abstract ( 3 lines )
  • Speaker Bio ( 3 lines )
  • Indicate if the talk is a Full Hour which will include Q&A at the end -or- Is it a Lightning Talk (indicate the length in minutes)

    mailto:AgilePhillyCoordinators@YahooGroups.com?subject=Conference%20Topic

* Talks must NOT go over one hour.  That includes Q&A time at the end.

* Lightning Talks of less than an hour are welcome too.

* You are welcome to submit more than one talk for the conference.   Last year we had more speaker-topics than slots, and we limited talks to one per speaker, just so more could participate. If enough are received, we will have a one per speaker limit again so everyone gets to present.

* We must fill 15 session slots.  Lightning Talks of 10 to 15 minutes are OK, too.  

* The membership votes via SurveyMonkey for their interest in topics.  This is used mostly for room assignments. 

* If you have any concerns about the time of day for your talk because of your travel plans, let us know and we will accommodate your travel requirements.

* Speakers get in for free, and get lunch on us !

* We cannot reimburse speakers for travel, fees or accommodations for speaking.  This is a grass-roots conference.

* Areas to consider for a topic if you are stumped and want to address this year's Conference Theme which is Measurements. . . 

   Measuring Units like Tee Shirt Sizes . . . Dollars . . . Value Determination . . .Intangible Value

   What we measure . . . Function Points . . Risk . . . Velocity ?

   Should we measure everything ? . . . like how should we Measure Employees ? Should we in fact Measure Employees? Should we measure Teams ? . . .

https://coalition.agileuprising.com/t/measuring-teams-how-what-when-why/1369/2

   How should Agile as methods be measured ? How can "progress" be measured ? How can we measure the progress of Agile in a changing industry?


-== And some quotes to make us think long and hard about measurements  ==-

“People don’t do what’s EXPECTED. They do what’s INSPECTED. “

- Mark Yarbro https://www.scruminc.com/waterfall-doesnt-scale

But conversely, let's remember what these wise men actually said:

 "It is wrong to suppose that if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it – a costly myth."

- W Edward Deming quotes.deming.org/10147

“Data are of course important in manufacturing, but I place the greatest emphasis on facts.”

– Taiichi Ohno

 

 and in support of the scientific method,

"There are two possible outcomes:

If the result confirms the hypothesis, then you’ve made a measurement.

If the result is contrary to the hypothesis, then you’ve made a discovery."

- Enrico Fermi, Italian Physicist

-====================================================================-

Talks that were submitted on July 31st

http://www.agilephilly.com/page/agiletour-2018-session-details

-====================================================================-

    Theme of the Conference - and Who Shall This Conference  Honor ?

 

Last year we celebrated the 130th Dedication of the General Meade Statue in Philadelphia.  This year we must note that the International Agile Tour which our Fall Conference is part of, is now celebrating its eleventh year anniversary.  http://www.agiletour.org

And to whom shall we honor with our attentions this year?

* The Date we really wanted for the Conference fell on the anniversary of the last Lincoln Douglas Debate, Oct 15, 1837 in Alton, Illinois a mere 181 years ago.  But we pushed our date back to not collide with Agile DC.org

* October 15 is National Grouch Day, so it is good we moved our day.  But October 22 is both National Feral Cat Day and National Bosses Day.  Coincidence? https://www.theodysseyonline.com/136-national-days-celebrate-october

 

* The Great Sanitary Fair in Chicago, Oct 27, 1863 when Lincoln donates the original draft of the Emancipation Proclamation that sold for $3000.  Wooo, Doggy, that's a lot of money for them days.

* There is the date of October 22, 1301 when Haleys Comet reached periheion.  The 1986 appearance of the comet was disappointing, but we will just have to wait until 2060.

* And forsooth, the new date falls very close to the Feast of Saint Crispins, October 25 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Crispin%27s_Day 
where Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red
of Harry the King's speech before his team of men
on that Feast Day of Crispin & Crispian
at Agincourt in 1415
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Crispin%27s_Day_Speech 

* The death of Marie Antoinette on Oct 16, 1793 ( 225 years ago ) She was the Queen Consort of France until the Monarchy was abolished the prior year.  Perhaps a question about her title will one of this year's trivia questions.  As always, the popular "Define Your Agile Term" raffle will be emphasis of our raffle questions.

 

* Also looking overseas, the Battle of Trafalgar was Oct 21, 1805.  In London's Trafalgar Squard, Admiral Horatio Nelson's column was completed and statue was raised in November 1843, which would make the statue 175 years old.  It is surrounded by 4 bronze lions, each weighing 7 tons.  The square includes 4 pedestals or Plinths, of which one is kept empty for contemporary works of art - due to indecision and lack of funds.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trafalgar_Square

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nelson%27s_Column

* And when we are talking about metrics and measurements, our honoree of last year, the Valiant and Victorious General George Meade of Gettysburg is also known for his measurement of the Great Lakes in the mid-1800s.  So perhaps a question of his work will sneak in.

* Or instead, shall we honor a more recent American event in Boston -

and note the 60th year of the SMOOT measurement system

https://slice.mit.edu/2009/06/04/smoot-plaque

We might commemorate the first use of the SMOOT measurement system developed by MIT back in October 1958.  For background, Oliver Smoot was but a lowly freshman at Lambda Chi Alpha when he and friends developed the SMOOT measurement system.

He graduated in 1962, but his fame lives on.

http://web.mit.edu/smoot/history.htm

(It was the fraternity brothers of Oliver Smoot who measured the Massachusetts Ave. bridge using the body of Oliver Smoot ’62 as a yardstick to measure the bridge.

Smoot, who was at the time the shortest pledge in the Fraternity's pledge class at 5ft 7in, went on to become chairman of the American National Standards Institute and president of the International Organization for Standardization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smoot

 

P.S. Our current project this year is to find out the equivalent measurement in SMOOTS of the 38th Street Bridge on the Univ of Pennsylvania Campus here in Philadelphia, so stay tuned.

ATTENDEES REMEMBER: Make an RSVP at the event webpage on the calendar to be informed when the ticket window for the conference opens. Your RSVP on the website is NOT a guarantee of a slot or a ticket to attend. You must register at the TicketLeap website to attend. But you do get to be first in line by entering your RSVP.

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