You probably know the story: 13 years ago, 17 people gathered at a ski lodge in Utah to discuss software development and the direction the industry was taking, and the Agile Manifesto was born.
Fast forward to 2014, at ReThink in Dallas: Almost 300 of the brightest minds in Dallas tech converged to reflect on what has changed in the last 13 years, what we’ve learned, and what ‘agile’ means today. Great ideas come from across the world: some from China, some from Europe, and on this day it was from Dallas.
It’s simple: it’s impossible for us to cultivate great ideas without participating actively in our local communities. Dallas’ own Market Technical Principal Brandon Byars shared his perspective on what agile means inside an enterprise.
Everyone’s favorite Pragmatic Programmer Dave Thomas rallied the audience with a humorous, insightful talk about the death of agile. Finally, Martin Fowler and Thoughtworks’ Market Technical Principal Molly Bartlett Dishman took the stage to discuss the future of agile software architecture.
Watch the talks online: https://www.thoughtworks.com/conferences/rethink-dallas-2014
Some Great Quotes from the Talks:
- “Over-customization of software is one of the biggest wastes we have in the enterprise.” - Brandon Byars
- "Agility at scale is trust at scale." - Brandon Byars
- "Good agile practices delay not prevent entropy in software." - Brandon Byars
- “Be a mindful and humble developer.” - Prag Dave
- “How to sell to developers: make it cool, make it bright and shiny - just look at JavaScript frameworks!” - Prag Dave
- “Too many companies focus on ‘doing’ agile rather than ‘being’ agile.” - Prag Dave
- “T-Shape skills. You’re a full stack developer with knowledge across all layers but have a further depth of skills in 1 or 2.” - Martin Fowler
- “Architects have to travel up and down the abstraction levels like an elevator in their day to day work.” - Martin Fowler
- “If you’re a technical lead, you need to be coding.” - Martin Fowler
- “Sacrificial architecture. Sometimes it’s the fastest way to learn things.” - Martin Fowler
- “With agile, you do have a plan - the benefit is, it can change.” - Molly Bartlett
Audience Response:
“I have to say, #twrethink was the best half day conference I’ve ever been to” - @g00fygrin
“Excited to see female badass dev, @mollyelise, speaking w/@martinfowler at #TWRethink” - @coridrew
Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the positions of Thoughtworks.