J. B. Rainsberger and Bill Wake invite you to join us in OpenSpace at XP Day DC on September 24th, 2005 to explore the advanced practices that complement and complete XP's programming practices. Come to network and swap ideas, and join with our invited experts to influence what happens on a local scale. And bring your questions: you don't have to have the answers to join in!

Extreme Programming, Scrum, Crystal Clear, and other methods have codified and improved our understanding of agility in software. They have directed our attention to the importance of communication, team-managed projects, and refined programming skills.

By the end of this meeting, we want to have identified new and important ways that the whole team can support the "XP Customer" / "Product Owner" in creating extraordinarily valuable software

Agility in software goes beyond programming and beyond project management. How can we best equip the whole team to deliver extraordinary value? For example: The role of the XP Customer is vitally important, but incredibly challenging. Much energy has gone into the technical challenges in developing with XP. Better supporting the product owner can pay off even more.

Have you reached improved productivity by addressing non-technical aspects of your work? Particularly in relation to your relationship with your Customer / Product Owner? Come and share your experiences. Or do you face challenges that the XP practices don't address? Come with your questions, it's the perfect place to discuss and brainstorm out answers, together with experienced professionals willing to help.

We have invited members of the international Extreme Programming community via various XP-related mailing lists, as well as local software communities in the DC area. To help bridge the gap between industry and academics, we have also invited DC-area software companies as well as faculty and students from area universities and colleges. And we anticipate that our invited speakers will drop in to Open Space lend their experience to various discussions. Note that respected Agile writer and practitioner Sanjiv Augustine will be joining us in Open Space (more below) - just one of the experts with whom you can exchange ideas!

The agenda for our conversations in OpenSpace will be up to you, based on your perception of the challenges and opportunities in using  XP and Agile practices to make your work productive. You will also be asked to take responsibility for reporting your ideas and proposals. Your initiative will be essential to our success. Organizations have used Open Space Technology successfully across Canada and around the world to enable spirited and productive dialogue. This approach will allow you to focus on those issues for which you have a passion to discover solutions and strategies. 

An interest in software development is all that you need to bring to the event. Familiarity with Agile methods, or a desire to know more about them will be helpful. A desire to learn what you can, and to contribute what you can, is essential. It's not necessary to be practicing XP or any Agile method to attend. There are no magic bullets here, just people with valuable experiences and a desire to do better in the future.

Your facilitator will help you set the agenda and organize into discussion groups. The meeting then runs on "self organizing" principles, just like the Agile methodologies. Open Space runs on four simple principles: 

1) Whoever comes is the right people. 

2) Whatever happens is the only thing that could have happened. 

3) Whenever it starts is the right time. 

4) When it's over, its over. 

It sounds weird, but it really works, and has been used successfully for almost twenty years now! 

You will be putting in a full day of your time. In return, as organizers, we make the following commitments to you.

• We'll give you a chance to learn and contribute, according to your own interests;
• Individual discussion groups will have an opportunity to post their results for all participants to review;
• Proceedings of the sessions will be published on the web within 10 days;
• A voluntary directory of participants will allow further collaboration between participants after the event.

To find out more about Open Space as a meeting approach you might like to check out: www.spiritedorg.com, the site maintained by Toronto's foremost OST trainer. The meeting approach will be new for many of you, so expect some pleasant surprises. An interesting story about what happened when Reebok used Open Space for Product Development can be read here: You never know who'll bring in your next 20 million dollars.

Bill Wake, our Sponsor, is an independent consultant and coach. He's the inventor of the XP Programmer's Cube, several Agile teaching simulations, and the author of "Extreme Programming Explored" and the "Refactoring Workbook." Bill, as our keynote speaker, will be setting the stage with his Keynote Speech at the beginning of the day, they joining us here in Open Space.

You can catch up on Bill's blog, and look at his XP games and resources online at xp123.com.

"I look forward to collaborating with you on the XP and Agile topics that interest you most!".  -- Bill

J. B. (Joe) Rainsberger is the author of JUnit Recipes: Practical Methods for Programmer Testing, and has spent the last four years becoming a better programmer by learning how to be a better tester. He is a prominent member of the JUnit community, but also a regular contributor to the XP community at large. He will be shaping the program of the Agile 2005 conference in Denver, Colorado as the chair of the tutorials committee. J. B. has recently launched a new web site, www.MasterProgrammer.info, which brings together resources for programmers to move along the road from apprentice to master.

"I am thrilled to make Open Space a part of XP Day DC 2005. Tutorials are an important part of any conference, but the real magic happens in the hallway conversations that dot the landscape of most conferences I have attended. With Deborah Hartmann as our faciliator and Bill Wake providing the inspiration, this promises to be an enjoyable and productive event". -- Joe 

Sanjiv Augustine is the Practice Director, Lean-Agile (SM) Consulting at CC Pace, and a leading agile management consultant. In over fifteen years in the IT industry, Sanjiv has performed in a variety of roles. Driven by a holistic organizational view and customer value focus, he has led the industry in combining Agile and Lean methodologies into a unique and powerful hybrid. As both consultant and practitioner, he has led agile and lean projects for project communities up to 100 people. He is the author of the excellent book Managing Agile Projects, founder and moderator of the Yahoo! Agile Project Management discussion group, and a co-author of the "Declaration of Inter-dependence for Agile and Adaptive Management".

Deborah Hartmann is an active proponent of Agile practices, and is a Certified ScrumMaster (Practitioner). Deborah has persevered in the software industry since the early 80's, and during her extended consulting experience often thought "there's got to be a better way!" Deborah promotes approaches like XP, Scrum and OpenSpace as means to produce better ideas, teams and products. Deb sponsored the "Growing Agile Practices" OpenSpace event held in Toronto in 2004. This is her second appearance at XP Day North America, having facilitated the Toronto OpenSpace event.