Through my travels, I get to talk to a lot of people and companies who are interested in adopting agile techniques. While Scrum-ey seems to be very popular, there are some companies that believe in going to the extreme: eXtreme Programming, that is. While I won't say anything bad about companies that don't want to adopt developer practices, as well as the management practices that Scrum introduces, it is always encouraging to see a consulting company that knows the values of good developer techniques. LeanDog is one of those companies, developing software using tried and true XP techniques such as pairing, test-driven development and continuous integration. Plus, as an added bonus, their office is on a boat next to submarine and across from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! Rock on, literally!
Cleveland has not had the greatest time with its economy over the last bunches of years, what with the steel industry going belly-up and Wal-Mart moving in. However, there is one thing that my experience with Cleveland has shown me: there are a lot of really sharp, passionate software developers and technology-minded entrepreneurs. LeanDog's owners, Jon Stahl and Jeff Morgan, are excited about contributing to the local economy by hosting trainings, code retreats, ignite events and being the home base for at least one user group. They are working on helping Cleveland live up to its potential as a technology hub of the area.
I appreciate their generous support of my tour, as well as upcoming Test-Driven Development courses taught by yours truly. Yup, I'm going to be teaching a TDD course on their boat! More information will be coming soon, so keep your eyes open.
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