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Update:  please find the xALEc Dashboard here . Last week, I talked with Olaf and Marcin about the possibility of meeting ALE guys online and sharing ideas and problems. But how could it be done? Using Internet communication tools for group conversations became a common practice a few years ago. Skype has been mainstream for this purpose for years. Due to its paid video offer for groups, only the voice system is really used. Google has proposed its Hangout system for a few months with a free video offer for groups. The availability of this function allows everybody to think about free group meetings online. Also, the facilities to use Google Documents in the hangout, provides a full online collaboration framework. Still to come, Google promised, a streaming facility for the people who want to listen to a conversation ( on air ). The open space format is finding more and more advocates in a wide range of communities and contexts. Future conferences will be more a mixture o...

A few days ago, a friend of mine complained about the lack of speed of his products’ user interfaces. Like many of us, he chose to build his user interface using an abstraction software framework. One year later, his products’ web pages are too heavy and his customers complain. It would have been nice not to live in a world where the top Internet giants focus continuously on speed. Without these companies, one second to return the result of a web page would be the norm and browsing would be a peaceful activity. While today, web pages are displayed in less than the blink of an eye (0,2-0,3 second), many desktop applications still seem incredibly sluggish. When you look at the data presented by Stoyan Stefanov at Velocity, you would understand 2-3 seconds to load a view is still acceptable, if the user is working only with your application. But, today most users are browsing and searching while using applications at work. If you listen to Marissa Mayer at Velocity, you will...

The "Read bead experiment" was created by Dr. Edward Deming and aim to demonstrate the ineffectiveness (sometimes effectiveness) of the various management methods. At the end of the experiment, a statistical graphical tool is used to analyse the experiment's results. By following this exercise, you will understand that actions taken by the people playing the managers are detrimental to the employees, but after the analyses are shown to have no impact on the efficiency of the process . The conclusion proposes ways to properly use performance data in a quality environment in order to achieve continual improvement. The several videos by Fluor Hanford (Steve Prevette) posted below, will help you to understand what is really important in a process. Meet the  company  with its "willing workers", quality control personnel, a data recorder, and a foreman. All wish to produce white beads using a 50 holed paddle, but unfortunately there are bad quality red beads....

At the beginning of ALE 2011 , the program sofa (Oana, Olaf, Marcin and myself) proposed an explanation of the organisation. Please find hereafter the session video and the Prezi used during this session. ALE by Example: The Story of Organizing ALE2011 on Prezi ALE2011 is already the past, but every day I learn something new from someone I met there. Sources: OlafLewitz : ALE2011—The Story of Organising with a Purpose

"Babies and young children are like the R&D division of the human species," says psychologist Alison Gopnik. Take a break, watch this video and then step back. Why adulds are so bad about innovation? Could you build a culture based on these considerations?

 During the ALE2011 unconference, a few of us spoke about local communities and ways to improve them through the ALE network. Hereafter, I tell you about what we are doing in Lyon this year and then ask you how we can share tips and get speakers to come here. What we used to do When we started having monthly meetings two seasons ago, we tried to produce slide-shows by ourselves or we took them from the Internet. Then, we presented them to the small group of attendees. We really understood we were missing interaction with people and also that the core volunteers were getting tired. The second year, we mixed games and conferences in different ways. But even though the sessions were improving, we were struggling to satisfy all attendees. Beginners felt the sessions were too high-level, and others were expecting more expertise or a different format. While writing these lines, I feel like we still miss something. Although we want to spread the best AGILE/LEAN practices to...

There are several ways to advertise your products and publishing a video tutorial on YouTube is a pragmatic one. Have a look at the one below from Hamid Shojaee from axosoft to understand the Scrum roles and artifacts.