Agile Complexification Inverter

Sharing is a FUN way to learn!  And play is the context for the brains most creative moments of learning. Reading " Gamestorming " (book by Gray, Brown, Macanufo)  this morning and reflecting on last weeks sharing of techniques and ideas of a Scrum immersion workshop with my colleagues.  We had great conversations on various topics in launching teams on Scrum sprints.  One important piece of the week for me was to iterate on exercises in real time, with people that could both play a game and then "go meta" and discuss the game from a game design aspect. The workshop's Meta-Backlog, a list of topics to cover, both to learn Scrum and to do work preparing the team to sprint ( photosynth panorama of meta-backlog ). Here's a Photosynth panorama (it's a flat whiteboard mapped to 360 degrees) of the Team's Work Product wall . <br><br><br>The There were many opportunities to learn and iterate on exercises. One great moment

One hot topic in education circles this fall is using the iPad as an interactive whiteboard. Oh - the days of teacher's pets getting to clean the blackboard erasers are long gone. An interactive electronic whiteboard is a very expensive piece of equipment.  But with modern hardware we have seen the price point drop dramatically.  With a bit of hacking and mash-up skills the do-it-yourselfer can create a comparable system for $30 - $100. Perhaps one of the first mash-ups was Johnny Chung Lee's Wii Remote Whiteboard software. Now the iPad has gotten into the mash-up game.  Using various software tools one can share a Mac/PC whiteboard program and then use the iPad as a second visual screen that is remote and a user input device.  The portability of the iPad lends itself to the classroom where the students may interact with the projected (or large screen) image in real time. With iOS 5 coming this fall, Apple will update Air Play, allowing any iPad display to be

I enjoy the T-shirts that are seen at the conference, but when one requires you to interact, pick up a sharpie and write on the board - well that just takes the prize. The SolutionsIQ Agile 2011 T-shirt.  The back is a white board. This is my coaching groups idea of "Scrum is..." We did this as a group activity at the brew pub, so perhaps they are not the deepest thoughts on the topic. A past winner of the best T-shirt award (Agile 2007).

WOW - what a fun week at Agile 2011 (Salt Lake City, Aug. 8 - 12). In the sudo-pattern language of " Language Hunting " I'm full! When I got home, and after sleeping for 15 hours, I pulled out one of my favorite gifts from the conference - a TDD glass from James Grenning .  Poured some milk into it for breakfast and got this surprising response.

Will you buy an iPad?  That was the question in March 2010.  Here is the answer - iPad sales over 14 months. 8 reasons to buy an iPad for your team room. Easy to carry to meeting (compared to laptop and power supply). Makes a person look smart compared to the person with the laptop, power supply, wired mouse, wired web cam that needs to get up and walk around the conference table to get a close-up shot of the white board. Apps that are designed to work instantly and quickly give the information you need without minutes of drill-down menu clicking and searching. Instant on (compared to opening a laptop that has its lid shut - because shutting the lid is a sign that you are present and paying attention to the meeting). Early adopters have acted - now you can hop on the bandwagon. Smiles on team members face's is a sign of a performing team. Have a need - there is an App for that, 65000 of them. Facetime - video calls that just work.  And with iOS5 sync to the big scr