I have been working as a software consultant for more than 11 years. Because of that I am an eager supporter of lean principles and agile methods.
This is my first JAOO conference in Århus. The main reson for me coming here was the tracks on agile development. Perhaps that’s why I was a bit disappointed after the first day. I should have stayed on the “patterns” track, it came off with a good start, but instead i switched to “improve your projects”. Well, the highlights of the first day were:
- “A Personal History of Patterns“, Ralph Johnson, University of Illinois. One of the co-authors (the gang of four) of the book on Design Patterns, this session was an interesting walk down memory lane of design patterns. It was mostly name-dropping of people that have had a lot of influence on the scene of design patterns until today. Interesting for someone who hasn’t been around as long as some of these dinosaurs. (the book in question: “Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software““)
- “Improve IT Project Management“, Peter R. Hill, ISBSG. This was a great session about software metrics. The International Software Benchmarking Standards Group (ISBSG) provides data for estimation, planning, benchmarking and academic research from a repository of 3000+ projects.
- Conference Party. This was definately a highlight with great food and great music from a danish all female band.