Thursday, November 6, 2008

One Lecture Down, One To Go

So I gave my first of two November Agile-related university lectures today. This was for a 2nd year Computer Science class (I'd mistakenly thought it was a 1st year course but was happy to learn my mistake!) and the goal of the presentation was to introduce about 20 - 30 young minds to the notion of doing development in an Agile organization.

In the fifty minutes that I had available to me, I covered the following:
  • Why do most software projects fail?
  • Where did Agile come from?
  • How are the Agile methodologies different than traditional (Waterfall) ones philosophically?
  • How do Agile and Waterfall contrast each other more specifically?
  • What does life in an Agile environment look like?
  • Where might Waterfall be better, and where would Agile be more appropriate?
I was pleasantly surprised by how interested almost all of the students were in what I had to say, and I got a lot more questions at the end than I'd gotten the last time I did this dog-and-pony show. I asked how many of them think that, when they've graduated and are out in the work force, they'd enjoy working in an Agile company. As far as I could see, they were all nodding in response to that question (nodding in agreement, that is... not nodding off)!

I also put a push in for my former employer, telling them that they should all apply there when they graduate, if they want to stay and work in the same city where they attended university.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable and rewarding hour for me.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Word from the inside tells me that your presentation was well received.

It's good to get another perspective in the department on software development. Agile approaches weren't well known when I was there.

Kimota94 aka Matt aka AgileMan said...

Hey Geoff, thanks for the feedback!

Don Hey said...

When is your next lecture? I know some Computer Science folks at UWO who would probably like to attend if there's room!

Kimota94 aka Matt aka AgileMan said...

Next lecture - on the topic of Agile Project Management - is scheduled for the evening of Nov 19th, but anyone thinking of "crashing" it should first check with Prof Beauchemin to make sure that he's OK with that.

And please, if you are attending, then for pity's sake: leave your rotten fruit and vegetables at home that night!

Anonymous said...

Knowing Beauchemin, it is highly unlikely it will be a problem. that said, it is courteous to ask before showing up.

I'll book the evening off now.