It's Tech Up North

An Extreme Hour At Agile Yorkshire

2012-01-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

The qualities that the audience brings — enthusiasm, energy and engagement; experience, knowledge and ideas — are the keys to a successful participatory session. So, thanks to all the Yorkshire Agilists who braved the January gloom for our Extreme Hour. And a special shout from me to Grant Crofton, who paired-up with me as co-host.

An Extreme Hour is a process miniature illustrating facets of XP. Famously XP leavens a tiny process with practices and philosophy, tools and techniques. XP teams often add optional extras into the mix, for example iterations, which occasionally obscure XP's essential simplicity.

One hour flows by fast: it makes sense to select themes and arrange the focus on them. This time, we stripped down the process to essentials and set out to challenge communication and collaboration through user stories in the planning game between customers and developers. Our rules-for-today required that each story be written on one card using the classic "As a, I want" template.

Team building happened first and fast: focusing relations within, and limiting ties between, teams. Next, customers were separated and grouped, presented privately with an open, undirected product challenge, then left to brainstorm. This set up customers as domain experts — limiting independent developer knowledge.

The twist thrown into the mix this time was paper prototyping. Teams were challenged to create dynamic interfaces from paper, card and stickies using scissors and pens. This went really well — though testing wasn't feasible, pair programming was: with the driver operating the pens and scissors, and the navigator owning the story card.

I left happy.

Materials are available to remix and reuse under the CC-by-3.0.

XP In 10 slides

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Some Extreme Programming

2012-01-09T00:14:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“Software development fails to deliver, and fails to deliver value. This failure has huge economic and human impact. We need to find a new way to develop software.”

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained

Extreme Programming (XP) is a lightweight, incremental method, influential not only as a highly successful process (for smaller projects) but for the innovative practices (tools and techniques) described and the agile philosophy espoused.

XP values

“For small projects, Agile, extreme programming and high-level programming languages are key practices because coding is the dominant activity for small applications.”

Capers Jones, Software Engineering Best Practices

XP believes in

rapid feedback,
assuming simplicity,
incremental change,
embracing change and
quality work.

“The exact limits of XP aren't clear yet. But there are some absolute showstoppers that prevent XP from working — big teams, distrustful customers, technology that doesn't support graceful change.”

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained

XP practices

pair programming,
the planning game,
short releases,
simple design,
metaphor,
testing,
refactoring,
collective ownership,
continuous integration,
40 hour week,
with (at least one) customer on-site and
coding standards.

“We can drive ourselves crazy with expectation. But by preparing for every eventuality we can think of, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the eventualities we can't imagine.”

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained

XP separates traditional project management into

coaching and
tracking.

“XP is a lightweight, efficient, low risk, flexible, predictable, scientific, and fun way to develop software.”

Kent Beck, Extreme Programming Explained

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About Business Value And Issue Trackers

2012-01-01T06:06:00.000-08:00

Pull scheduling allows developers to grab work from a backlog. This way of team working is efficient — flowing around impediments — and effective — developers understand software — but is not necessarily well aligned with the business.

Maintaining A Backlog

“I hear many people complain that it is hard to define business value. So they won't do it. Or they won't try any harder to do it.”

Joseph H. Little, Defining Business Value

Software features vary in value (to the business). To align the flow (of features) to maximum business value, empower a product owner with decisiveness to prioritize the backlog. Healthy software has business value, so factor in gradual repayment of technical debt. Over time feature valuations drift, either in response to an evolving business environment or as domain knowledge is won. So, review valuations regularly.

Tracking The Backlog

“An information radiator displays information in a place where passersby can see it. With information radiators, the passersby do not need to ask questions; the information simply hits them as they pass.”

Alistair Cockburn, Agile Software Development

For co-located teams, the physicality of a Kanban board is great, acting as an information radiator. Where distribution favours a software solution, use a big screen to radiate backlog and activity feeds to those co-located.

A good issue tracker is a flexible tool, and convenient for backlog tracking. When used so, invest in careful configuring: though similar in structure, an Agile backlog is not a list of defects, differing in several subtle — but significant — semantics.

As the team learns to create higher quality software, the number of defects should fall over time. As the team delivers business value, demand — and the backlog — should increase. Successful teams should expect these queues to move in opposite directions over time: defects shrinking but the backlog growing.

Issue Priority Is Not Business Value

Most issues trackers include a priority quality. For example, JIRA priority is selected from BLOCKER, major, minor, trivial and so on. These traditional names carry with them baggage from conventional bug and release management.

This issue priority may differ radically from business value. Behaviour considered unacceptable when wearing a test- and release-hat might reasonably be given a high issue priority, but only the view under a business hat shows the business value delivered by work on this issue.

Avoid conflating these concepts: add a new business value field. Whimsical names (for example gold >> silver >> iron >> paper >> blue skies) are memorable, and help avoid misunderstandings and misuse.

An Example

5 minutes might sound like a long time to wait for a screen to load. From the testing perspective, this might be a seen as a major issue.

However, this does not necessary mean that improved start-up time would bring major business benefit. A business might expect an employee to open the screen in the morning, and then go to make their coffee. The screen would remain open all day, closing again only at night. For this business, value lies in responsiveness and stability but not start-up time. Lengthy start-up would then be a major issue with paper business value.

In this case, reasonable valuations reached wearing tester and business hats would result in seemingly opposing assessments — until understanding that each measures a different quality. Fitting both qualities into a single field encourages wasteful conflict where there should be harmony.

A Charity Day of Agile Coaching

2011-12-22T11:25:00.000-08:00

The magnificent Grand Central swept me to London last week for my first charity day.

Thanks to Rob Dyke for inviting me to visit Tactix4 and for generously pledging £250 to The Woodland Trust, and to the NeovaHealth team for such a warm welcome in this cold weather.

Tactix4 sustains the eHealthOpenSource community, so we share interests in the open source health space (as well as Agile). Rob and I met through the oss-uk-health group. Exciting times, with doors starting to open.

The Hub, King's Cross is a funky space, a stones throw from the famous station.

We were booked into the board room — an interesting space with plenty of glass for drawing on.

The board table filled most of the space, imposing some physical limits on our activities. We improvised and adapted to this physicality.

The NeovaHealth team are just starting Scrum. Our morning focused on building skills and knowledge. The inaugural planning meeting followed, after lunch.

An Agile Pick-N-Mix

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For the morning, I brought along pick-n-mix. Before each session, we played decision poker to pick one from five themes:

process, featuring scrum and lean;
design and architecture;
planning and estimation, featuring story points, velocity and planning poker;
ecosystem with open design and continuous delivery; and
tests.

Thumb voting then picked one activity from the themed mix. One red card session on user stories was included.

We hit our timeboxes, squeezing in five sessions each structured as {5m plan, 20m do, 5m reflect}, with time for breaks. The physicality of my ladybird timer proved popular: personal, quirky and fun.

After lunch, I observed the meeting, and offered some feedback, before we all left tied but happy.

Some Testing

2011-12-22T09:23:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“Optimism is an occupational hazard of programming. Feedback is the treatment.”

Kent Beck

TDD seemed so revolutionary when it test infected Jakarta (and most of the rest of Apache). This test automation proved a notable factor in the later success of Tomcat, Struts, Ant, Maven, Commons (and all the rest).

Tests bridge the gap between the language of the customer and the languages of software. Test first encourages alignment by starting with the customer then working inwards towards code.

Fine-grain unit tests execute fast, exercising a unit in isolation. Loosely coupled, cohesive designs are easier to unit test, so unit testing rewards good object-scale design.

Coarse-grain tests, exercising integrated components execute much more slowly, even with appropriate techniques (for example, switching to an in-memory store). Component-scale integration tests encourage cleaner, more reusable API designs.

The outermost layer exercises assembled applications. Fidelity to customer configuration is essential, and often means filling heavyweight stores with data. Set up and tear down costs are almost always high for enterprise applications.

Reasonable coverage using slow running integration and application layer tests costs. Avoid disrupting development flow: separate integration and application suites, and run them outside this flow. Consider triggering continuous integration after each commit. To avoid maintenance issues, integration test selectively, invest in good fixtures and use the language of the customer.

A wide variety of open source tools continue to emerge, with sweet spots spanning the space. So spike.

Tools like Cucumber and Fitness use the language of the customer, a fine match for outer (application and integration) layers. Mocking frameworks efficiently create test doubles to isolate the unit from its environment, and to efficiently verify behaviour (but not at the same time as state).

Efficient tools for special topics abound, for example web applications, load testing, performance testing, Swing, data access, JavaScript and so on...

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Daresbury Workshop: IT in Health Care

2011-12-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

In early December, I took the train to
Runcorn and a cab to the Daresbury SIC for the workshop on ICT Opportunities in Health Care organised by techcelerate.org. The doors are closing on a decade of failure, and starting to open for agile, lean and open source ideas. I went to raise awareness that change is coming.

Public Sector: Agile and Open Source

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Health sector IT is hot here in England, as our NHS starts to open up. I had a great time, hearing about exciting innovations and meeting some interesting people.

Some Evolutionary Design

2011-12-16T02:54:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams. ”

A Principle, The Agile Manifesto

Good design — perhaps a loosely coupled, appropriate blend of expressive, cohesive components — speaks for itself.

When XP arrived, democratising design — empowering the developer crowd — seemed radical. To some it still does.

Agile design bubbles up, just-in-time. Complementary practices, tools and techniques facilitate design evolution and mitigate risks.

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Some Emergent Architecture

2011-12-13T06:58:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“Architecture is about the important stuff. Whatever that is.”

Ralph Johnson

Just-in-time approaches to design fit well into agile development.

Evolutionary design reduces waste from over-engineering and design stock-piling; at the cost of some future reworking — a traditional focus of software architects.

Just-in-time approaches to architecture blend harmoniously with agile.

Let architecture emerge incrementally with no big upfront process.
Pay off pressing technical design debts before they become critical.

“Architecture is the decisions that you wish you could get right early in a project.”

Ralph Johnson

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Who Needs an Architect?

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Some Story Points

2011-12-13T06:28:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“velocity is a useful long-term predictor but is not a useful short-term predictor”

Mike Cohn

Story points are an artificial, relative unit of measure for development effort, often combined with timeboxed agile methods to estimate velocity.

Story points are coarse and atomic, arising from intuitive inductive judgement. Trade accuracy for speed, at the possible cost of future rework.

Teams may use tools — such as planning poker — to reach collective consensus valuations.

Estimates for
epics — supersized stories not yet decomposed — are almost always inaccurate.

So avoid unfounded perceptions of precision by limiting point values to a sequence — often inspired by Fibonacci.

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Some Continuous Delivery

2011-12-13T06:07:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“Release Early, Release Often”

Eric Steven Raymond

Agile development finishes features to a regular cadence, a rhythmic flow of potentially releasable versions.

By Christopher Little

The DevOps movement seeks a stronger but more dynamic relationship between upstream teams and downstream consumers in operations.

Continuous delivery engineers a pipeline for the last mile, extending from integration through proof to delivery.

“move from delivering services using projects to delivering them as products”

Jez Humble

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Some Open Design

2011-12-13T02:58:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“ Open source is chaotic. With its special magic comes a different reality. ”

James Duncan Davidson

Issuing open source an license is not enough. The benefits ascribed arise from opening the development process to a broad community.

Open design extends domain driven, consensual, emergent design beyond the agile team to engage a wider ecosystem.

Community building is non-trivial.
Sustainable communication and cooperation needs space to build and maintain relationships.

Walking the fine balance between technical leadership and openness to crowdsourced design ideas is an art.

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Some Planning Poker

2011-12-13T00:38:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“The estimates are a useful by-product, if your organisation values such things, but actually the most important benefit you get from planning poker is the conversation.”

Matt Wynne

Playing planning poker exploits physicality, consensus and team collaboration to improve agile estimates.

And it's a fun way to get the work done.

Buy, make or take a set of cards.

Numbered each with story points, Fibonacci sequenced or not.

Each player is dealt cards with every number for each hand.

To play a hand, all reveal a card with their private estimate then discuss
outliers.

Until consensus - or timebox - repeat.

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Some Kanban

2011-12-12T23:39:00.000-08:00

Essentials

“All kanban systems are designed to limit work-in-progress, because the more work-in-progress, the slower the flow.”

Leading Lean Software Development

Kanban exploits physicality and pull scheduling to improve flow, and so throughput.

Downstream consumer demand pulls through the stages of a processing pipeline.

Progress may be visualised through a grid, visible to all players, showing the work in progress.

To improve flow, limit work in progress by focussing on bottlenecks. Eliminate waste.

A good solution for complicated processes, and a useful tool for complex problems.

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Leading Lean Software Development

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Some Velocity

2011-12-10T12:11:00.000-08:00

“Responding to change over following a plan”

The Agile Manifesto

Software development is complex, developers are not an interchangeable commodity and teams scale chaotically.
Domains with these flavours favour
empirical estimation techniques, such as velocity.

This technique extrapolates estimates from historic team velocity — story points done per unit timebox.

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Mike Cohn @mikewcohn

Some Scrum

2011-12-10T00:28:00.000-08:00

Essentials

Scrum is an agile, iterative and incremental framework for teams developing complex products, that is simple to describe but hard to master.

A scrum team has one product owner, one scrum master and 6±3 cross-functional self-organising developers.

Each sprint begins with one planning ceremony and ends with one review and one retrospective. Every day begins with one daily scrum. These events encourage inspection and adaptation.

Product and sprint backlogs are recorded. The orthodox school insists on burndown charts that are optional in the reformed school.
Rules relate these roles, events and artifacts into a prescriptive but extensible framework.

Of course, this description captures the mechanics but not the spirit.

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Charity Days: Spiking, Coaching, Mentoring, Training, Facilitation, Knowledge Transfer And Whatnot...

2011-11-28T02:59:00.000-08:00

As 2011 draws to its close, I offer a limited number of opportunities for businesses (or people) to book a day (or half) of (well) me for charity. My experience is broad and deep, filled up with Agile (development and training), open sourcery at Apache and elsewhere (not just coding: community, licensing and organisational stuff too), plus cool academic topics (machine learning, semantic web, reasoning, concurrency and more) fresh from the University of Manchester. It's been a long road back since injury forced me to drop out; hard core 24/7 coding may still be in the distant future but I'm just about ready now to start adding occasional days of pair programming, training, coaching, mentoring, facilitation or knowledge sharing to my recovery mix. See below for illustrative samples doable in a day...

Sound good? Interested? Then get in touch.

So: What's The Deal?

Cover my train (or air) tickets (as appropriate). Agree a task for me but nothing longer than just one full day at this stage.

If you're pleased, donate something suitable to charity. Suggested donations are £100 (full day) or £50 (half day). My charitable suggestions are Literacy Bridge (innovative, technological hope for poor rural villages in developing countries), The Woodland Trust (creating a more green and pleasant land in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too) and The Free Software Foundation Europe (for digital freedom on this rainy side of the pond). More details below...

I'll blog (here) about my experiences and even throw in some link love (if you like).

Want To Know More...?

About The Injury...

In mid 2010, nerve and tendon issues in my hand and wrist forced me to drop out from (the ACS Masters at) the University of Manchester. Since then, my life has arranged itself around physiotherapy and building computer time. From zero, I now have over 8 hours a day (excluding regular breaks). The tendons are fine now, the nerves okay in normal use and the muscles stronger. The next stage is to prove my progress by taking on some isolated days in the field.

About Ideas Doable In A Day...

(some illustrative examples to get those creative juices flowing)

Agile Workshops

Want to give Scrum or XP a go? Need new ideas on retrospectives for the New Year? Do your team's tests need just a little more polish? Need more comfort and confidence when creating user stories? Or just want to learn the basics of Agile development? Each doable in a day...

Agile Coaching And Mentoring

Way back in the '90s, my masters dissertation featured qualitative research examining the way mathematicians learn mathematics. Qualitative and observational methods from anthropology and sociology fascinate me, and I've found this perspective surprisingly relevant for subjects Agile. It's tough to step back from day-to-day performance, and take time to observe and reflect. Mastering observation may take a lifetime but just a day of one-on-one coaching or mentoring is enough to take the first steps.

Talkin' About Agile Quality Assurance

One myth too often repeated holds Agile incompatible with QA management; but quantity is not quality. Lightweight methods focus attention on quality by pruning back unnecessary process and documentation. Back in the '90, I coded VB in a company in transition: committed to recovering ISO9000 certification and rebuilding their development team from nearly nothing. DSDM achieved both goals. Maybe we could talk about where your business is, continuous improvement and how to move towards building higher quality software the Toyota Way.

Open Source: An Inside Track

Whether incoming (building new products from open source components) or outgoing (open source engagement as business tactic or strategy), open source is now a distinctive feature of the technological landscape relevant to most enterprises. All the noisy openness sometimes obscures more subtle stances adopted by corporate players using development, licensing and business models for tactical and strategic advantage. I've contributed at Apache for over a decade (elected a committer first in 2001 and a Member in 2005; served since 2006 on the Incubator PMC and on the Legal Affairs committee from 2007 to 2010), am ranked in the top 500 by Ohloh and (through the Apache Commons) contributed to some of the top 50 most widely installed libraries. I have interests in incoming and outgoing license wrangling and in community building. Whether one-on-one mentoring, a team workshop or freestyle, finding the inside track is doable in a day.

Tech Spikes

Like the idea of big data but want a gentle introduction to Hadoop, MapReduce, BigTable, HBase, Mahout and the rest of the family? Need to get up to speed on techniques for concurrent Java, from locking to non-blocking and beyond to transaction memory? Need a fast track to enterprise Java? Heard about NoSQL, REST and document centric storage but are waiting for an excuse to get up close and personal with CouchDB? Need an introduction to machine learning in the enterprise or to the science behind the semantic web? Maven and Ant? OSGi? Subversion, Git and controlling versions? Enterprise mail with James? Cryptography? Micro libraries, the Commons way? Take a look for more ideas. Either a workshop for the team, or pairing up for a series of one-on-one dojos would be doable in a day.

About The Charities...

Literacy Bridge is just about the most innovative charity I know. The Talking Book project uses cheap, sustainable, viral technology to connect poor, rural villages without electricity in the developing world. The pilot has great results. Not quite 5 years old, but I'm not the only one to have great expectations for the future of Literacy Bridge.

The Woodland Trust works towards a country rich in native woods. Help to

create the largest new native forest in England near St Albans
plant 86,000 native tree and engage 3000 children at Low Burnhall, Co Durham
(much closer to my home) improve paths and access in Skipton Woods, Yorkshire

The FSFE fights for freedom in this emerging information age. The Free Software Foundation's younger European cousin.

Timeboxing And The Pomodoro Technique

2011-11-15T05:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks to everyone who made Agile Yorkshire November so special, and my particular thanks to all those who arrived early enough to get involved with my lightning talks on The Pomodoro Technique and Timeboxing. More links and information may be found here.

Apache Retreat, Knockree 2011

2011-05-21T00:50:00.000-07:00

Apache Retreat, Knockree Hostel

Thanks to the staff for friendly smiles and hard work. Kudos to everyone who made it happen.

2011-05-07T00:47:00.000-07:00

Had lots of fun co-hosting An Evening On Retrospectives last month at Agile Yorkshire with Mark. Thanks to everyone there: it's the people make or break participatory sessions like this.

I've updated a 10 slide introduction to Retrospectives, complete with notes (at the end). It's CC-By-3.0 so feel free to remix and share :-)

Retrospectives In 10 Slides (With Notes)

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Retrospectives

2011-04-12T03:53:00.000-07:00

(Or Avoiding The Blame Game)

A Brief Introduction

Do Reflect Repeat

A positive feedback loop lies at the heart of the iterative methods popularized by the agile movement. Millions of words must have been expended on the do. Effective reflection is equally essential but often seems to be neglected. Retrospectives are a tool for reflection advocated by agilists, helping teams to build and bond, and to continuously improve their technique.

Do, Reflect, Repeat

A Longer Introduction

The Blame Game

Teams bond and learn by doing together. If the only time that a team reflects together happens after things have gone so wrong that something must be done, then the team is likely to lack the collective experience required to succeed under pressure with this review. So reflect regularly and work hard to continuously improve.

Are All Retrospectives Agile?

When failure is both likely and costly, individuals start to think about themselves first and the team last. Post-mortems (and related forms) applied after failure risk reduction of team morale and reinforcement of failure, substituting blame for reflection. Retrospectives (by contrast) are concerned with positive collective reflective, not negative individual blame. If you must play the blame game, use different tools (for example, semi-structured interviews with individuals).

Developers Have Feelings Too

Retrospectives verses Reviews

An emphasis on the emotional is a distinctive aspect of retrospectives, and sets them apart from more conventional review methods. Given popular beliefs surrounding technologists, encouraging them to talk about feelings might seem - at first - an unintuitive tactic but it's time to stop reinforcing these stereotypes by acknowledging that developers have feelings too.

Making Good Teams Great!

Modern tools popular with agile developers present plentiful information about what happened: version control systems track (in a finely grained and irrefutable manner) individual contributions to the collective work; build plugins exercise and assess the code; continuous integration servers collect, collate and correlate these metrics; every issue pulled from a task tracker creates a record. By contrast, review meetings seem a wasteful substitute.

San Francisco Agile User Group

Agile techniques specify the process side of why: stories recorded in the language of the customer domain are translated to statements in course grain controlled vocabularies; harnesses bind and automate empirical validation of these statements; finely grained tests close to the code in the language of development discover regression.

Use The Language Of The Customer

Agile tools and techniques reduce waste by automatically creating a quantitative record of the iterative. This allows more time to be devoted to reflecting on the qualitative, human aspects. So agile approaches are a better match for reflective tools which play well with the emotional side - such as retrospectives - than more conventional reviews.

All this adds up to an increased emphasis on maintaining and continuously improving the health of the team.

Form Follows Substance

Bringing Structure To A Retrospective

Collective ownership is critical for successful agile retrospectives. Retrospectives should be by the team, for the team, and so should be structured by facilitation (and never directly managed). Always appoint a facilitator early, allowing plenty of preparation time. Teams with retrospective experience often find that rotating the facilitation role helps to build confidence and knowledge, as well as keeping retrospectives fresh.

Facilitation Basics

The form taken by a retrospective should be flexible, and should follow from the expected substance. Think about the aims of the retrospective, and about expectations. Then choose an appropriate form.

Stand Up Meetings

I find stand up retrospectives are surprisingly successful, especially when learning, building teams, or using short iterations. When time is short, or when the project is progressing well, I find it better to use this form than to skip the retrospective.

Learning Using Stand Ups

When the content is expected to be more substantial (for example, at the end of long sprint), prepare a more structure form. Use physical exercises to gather data, generate insights and move forward. But prepare to be flexible, and adapt the form to the emergent substance.

A Minimal Structure

Regardless of form, a minimal lightweight structure helps a meeting to flow and the team to focus. A good patten is for the facilitator to start the retrospective by setting the stage, establishing the tone and engaging the team; to stand back (metaphorically and physically) and observe, measuring interventions carefully; and to close the meeting at the end of the timebox, bringing everyone together to create a clear collective memory.

Space Physicality Location

Retrospectives benefit from a less directed, participatory style. For those with less confidence and experience in this style, the loss of direct managerial control may seem intimidating. So, I'd like to close by considering how direct control can be traded for influence.

Cafes In Space

I like to think of facilitation acting at the meta-level. Direct control over the proceedings is traded for the ability to step back from participation and observe. The psychological distance created between the facilitator and the group of participants creates a separation of concerns. The facilitator deals with process layer aspects (such as timeboxing, flow and engagement) whilst participants deal with the substantive content.

Meetings With Tables

But a key influence on the health of a retrospective is the environment - the space, ongoing physicality and the location chosen. And this is within the control of a facilitator. Consider location and choose appropriately. Prepare the space carefully. Observe team physicality during the meeting, and step in quickly to remove impediments.

And Finally...

Some Agile Humour

West Yorkshire Tech

2011-02-15T04:37:00.001-08:00

Events blogged for northern technophiles.

Agile Development Masters

2011-01-01T00:34:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Mark for asking me to contribute to agile development content in the masters at the University Of Manchester earlier this year.

And thanks to Dave, Chiara, Giles, Far, Mandi, Shamim, Sadia, Yuanjing and all the students for making this such an interesting experience for me. Good luck to one and all, and hopes for a happy new year.

And some feedback...

Systems Thinking Sheffield, Inaugural November Meeting

2010-12-23T04:23:00.000-08:00

An unusual and interesting mix of technologists and business thinkers. One to watch in the new year.

Graduation Day, Manchester 2010

2010-12-19T10:14:00.000-08:00

Snowy Thursday for the graduation (party), cold but good to catch up. Postgraduate diploma in Advanced Computer Science (with distinction) expected by post early new year.

and some more...

Apache Retreat, IBM Hursley

2010-12-02T23:56:00.000-08:00

littering dark the winter snow memories of colourful summer

and some more ...

Javascript Leeds december meetup

2010-12-01T00:42:00.000-08:00

sam foster to geekup 4:12 PM (16 hours ago)

Time/Date: 6:30 -8:30pm, Wednesday December 8th
Place: Mr Foley's Cask Ale House, 159 The Headrow, Leeds

url: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7411672/WY/Leeds/Javascript-Leeds-December-Meetup/Mr-Foley39s-Cask-Ale-House/
web: http://leedsjs.org
twitter: @leedsjs

This month (only) we'll meet at Foley's for Javascript-related
chatter. I'm not planning a formal talk, but feel free to bring a
laptop/portable thing if you want to share something. It's been a busy
month in Javascript-land so there's lots to discuss.

I'm not going to cross-post and spam communities I don't know
personally, but if you're on a list with people you think might be
interested, *please forward / tweet / mention* etc.

In the New Year we'll be back to our regular Old Broadcasting House
location, and I'm lining up a couple speakers I think should be of
interest.

Hope to see you there,

/Sam

[Wylug-announce] ShefLUG - December 2010 Meeting

2010-11-30T03:40:00.000-08:00

Richard Ibbotson 2:47 PM (20 hours ago)

Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)
Meetings are free and open to anyone to attend
Saturday 4th December 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
We thought that our December meeting might go down well at the
Walkley Cottage. The address is...
Walkley Cottage Inn
46 Bole Hill Rd
Sheffield, S6 5DD
0114 234 4968
http://www.walkleycottage.co.uk/
http://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/timetables/

If you don't have a car then you might like to know that the No: 94
and 95 buses run from High Street and Church Street (across from the
Cathedral) through the city centre to the pub. This is a frequent bus
service every 10 to 15 minutes during the day. Call 01709 515151 for
bus information. Use Google maps if you don't know where the Walkley
Cottage is. Tea and coffee is available. There is a good selection of
beers which are well looked after. Look out for someone sitting next
to an Hewlett-Packard penguin with a laptop in front of him.
http://sheflug.org.uk/indexpage/?page_id=69

The topic of the meeting will be a general discussion or we can fix
some hardware or software. If you need some help with that we can
most likely point you in the right direction. If you want to know
more about anything else come along and ask questions. We seem
to have a keen and interested band of EeePC and other netbook people
who bring them along to meetings. Also some GNU/Linux and Android
tablets. We can discuss any version of GNU/Linux that you might be
interested in such as Fedora 13 or openSuSE 11.3. Possibly even
Ubuntu 10.10. A quick look around Distrowatch should give you some
idea of what's happening just now...

http://distrowatch.com/

If you want to know about firewalls or related network security we
can answer those sort of questions as well. Have a look here first...
http://sleepypenguin.homelinux.org/blog/?page_id=174
Always worth talking about. Any version of BSD is also
welcome. Hope we see you at our meeting.

--

Richard

http://www.sheflug.org.uk

OpenCoffee {December}

2010-11-30T03:31:00.000-08:00

Imran Ali, Nov 29 (1 day ago)

OpenCoffee {Leeds} Logo

Hey everyone, we wanted to remind you all about December's edition of OpenCoffee Leeds, coming up next week from 10am to 12pm! Our hosts are nti Leeds at Old Broadcasting House and we'd love to have you join us for some Xmas cupcakes - remember these bad boys!
RSVP @ Eventbrite / Facebook
{ 10am-12pm; Tuesday 7th December 2010 }
Following OpenCoffee, Old Broadcasting House's coworking and hot-desking areas will be free to use for all OpenCoffee visitors wishing to work privately, continue the conversations, setup a meeting or just hang out and meet the other residents.

I hope we'll see everyone turnout to share, demo & network! Let us know if you're coming at the Eventbrite or Facebook listings and see you next week!

--
Imran Ali
imran@ali.name ∙ www.imranali.name ∙ @imran

[Fsuk-manchester] MFS Christmas Party. Madlab. Tuesday, 14th December

2010-11-28T23:36:00.000-08:00

Michael Dorrington, Nov 27 (2 days ago)

Please feel free to forward this to those that would welcome it.

December 2010 starts on a Wednesday, causing the 3rd Tuesday of the
Month to be very near Christmas, so we will have our December 2010
meeting a week earlier, on Tuesday, *14th* December.

This meeting is our Christmas Party but we will use the opportunity to
review the year gone and discuss next year.

* Discussion: MFS: Review of year gone. Discussion on next year.
* Participants: Michael Dorrington and other interested parties
(hopefully that's you!).

* Location: Madlab. (Manchester Digital Laboratory). Upstairs.
* Address: 36-40 Edge Street, Manchester. M4 1HN.
"(Between Thomas St and the Craft Centre, opposite A Bar Called Common)"
http://madlab.org.uk/
* Date: Tuesday, *14th* December 2010 (*not* 3rd Tuesday of the month)
* Start time: 19:00
* Finish time: 20:30

Details
-------
The purpose of Manchester Free Software is to promote the Free Software
philosophy. So how did we do in 2010? What can you do in 2011?

Location
--------
The meeting will take place at the usual time (but a week earlier than
normal!), 7pm, at Madlab on Edge Street in the Northern Quarter.
"(Between Thomas St and the Craft Centre, opposite A Bar Called
Common)". We will be located upstairs. The venue provides wifi.

Transport
---------
Parking: Around the venue there are parking meter bays that become zero
cost after 6pm on Tuesday but get full up. There are paid parking lots
around the venue, the light blue P in this OpenStreetMap centred on
Madlab
.
A lot of them, perhaps all, are are owned by NCP
. If you can't decide otherwise then park in
Manchester Arndale .

Public Transport: Manchester Victoria (MCV) train station, Shudehill
tram station and Manchester Piccadilly bus station are all fairly close
to Madlab, see OpenStreetMap centred on Madlab
.
Manchester Piccadilly (MAN) train station and Manchester Central Coach
Station are not too far either.

Further details at .

More Information
----------------
General information about Manchester Free Software meetings can be found
on our website.

* http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Manchester/Meetings
* http://libreplanet.org/wiki/Manchester/2010-12-14

Lightning Talks
---------------
If you would like five minutes to tell us about something, please
contact us at .

_______________________________________________
Fsuk-manchester mailing list
Fsuk-manchester@nongnu.org
http://lists.nongnu.org/mailman/listinfo/fsuk-manchester

TEDxLeeds2010

2010-11-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

Serendipitous meeting with Imran led me to TEDxLeeds2010. Very cool.

[GeekUp] Open Data Manchester - 30th Nov - Madlab

2010-11-25T01:49:00.000-08:00

Julian Tait to geekup 11:15 AM (22 hours ago)

There is an Open Data Manchester meetup at Madlab on Edge Street, Manchester on Tuesday 30th November at 6.30 pm

http://madlab.org.uk/content/open-data-manchester-4/

Come along if you are interested in doing stuff with, or getting hold of Open Public Data. At the moment, with the cold weather coming we are trying to get hold of Gritter information.

There will Christopher Osborne from ITO World will be showing some of the stuff that they have been doing Open Street Map and various bits of transport data and Ric Roberts will talking about Linked Data.

There have been a lot of developments over the last couple of months especially with the mooted Greater Manchester Datastore.

Cheers

Julian

--
http://geekup.org/ | http://geekup.org/wiki/ | http://jobboard.geekup.org/

[Wylug-announce] Christmas / Birthday Meal: Monday 13th December 2010

2010-11-23T02:32:00.000-08:00

James Holden (to wylug-announce) Nov 16 (7 days ago)

All,

The next meeting will on Monday 13th December 2010 and will be the traditional
Christmas / birthday meal (13 years old!).

We have used various venues in the past, some satisfactory, some less so. This
year, following some discussion at the last meeting, the venue will be
determined by a poll.

The possible venues are listed below, chosen by location and prior experience
or recommendation.

* Brio Pizza, The Light (Italian)
* Bianco, Great George Street (Italian)
* Chaophraya, Swinegate (Thai)
* Red Chilli, Great George Street (Chinese)
* Spice Quarter, Millennium Square (Chinese / Italian / Indian / Thai Buffet)
* Akbars, Eastgate (Indian)

Please vote on the website at http://www.wylug.org.uk/ where there is more
information about each restaurant including links to their respective websites
and pricing information.

To ensure that there is time to book, the poll will close at 11pm on the 29th
November 2010.

Cheers,

James

[agilist] Agile for Embedded Systems Development Workshop

2010-11-23T02:29:00.000-08:00

Zoe Stephenson, Nov 17 (6 days ago)

Hi gang,
Some of you will no doubt remember Nancy van Schooenderwoert from a little while back. I've arranged a much more extensive 2-day hands-on workshop here in York at a very affordable price, and SMEs in the region should be able to apply for additional funding through the European Regional Development Fund. We're pretty keen to get a wide spread of businesses represented, so do please get in touch if you're interested. Thanks,

-
Agile for Embedded Systems Development Workshop
A practical, hands-on two-day workshop: 15-16 December 2010
Presenter: Nancy van Schooenderwoert

This workshop will enable you to envision real, practical Agile planning for embedded systems development, including for safety-critical applications. Many of the practices that work for desktop software systems do not work well for embedded system development, and this workshop will show you:

* How Agile methods must differ when developing embedded systems
* How user stories pave the way for you to complete ALL the work you commit to in each iteration
* What Agile "story points" really are, and why you need them
* How to estimate a large Agile project several years long.

Through a project simulation exercise, you'll experience Agile estimation, release planning, and execution of two iterations. You can also submit some of your actual project requirements to be transformed into Agile user stories as a class exercise.

Each place is just Ł175 per person for the two days, including refreshments.

We currently have funding of 60% from the price of this workshop for SMEs based in Yorkshire and the Humber region. SMEs are those with 250 employees of less. Please contact Alex King on postgraduate@cs.york.ac.uk for more details on how to book a place with this funding.

You can book through our online store, or call 01904 325402 or email postgraduate@cs.york.ac.uk to ensure your place. See the event website for further information:

http://www.cs.york.ac.uk/cpd/agile/

and the store to book your places:

https://store.york.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&modid=5&prodid=318&deptid=124&catid=36

--
Dr Zoe Stephenson, Research Associate zoe.stephenson@cs.york.ac.uk
High-Integrity Systems Engineering Group,
Department of Computer Science, phone:01904 325424
University of York, Deramore Lane, York YO10 5GH fax:01904 325599

[agilenorth] Free Event - 10th Dec 2010

2010-11-23T02:26:00.000-08:00

From: katieuclan
Date: 19 November 2010 12:41

Friday 10th December 2010 - Adelphi Conference Room - UCLan, Preston

Welcome from 9.00 am with 9.30 am start

A highly interactive and practical day allowing delegates to experience a number of Agile techniques and practices. Feedback and reflection together with experiences from others with a range of implementation know-how should make this a useful day for anyone contemplating or at the early stages of Agile adoption.

Whilst no prior knowledge or experience is assumed, it is required that delegates are prepared to get involved, take part in practical exercise and contribute to feedback sessions.

This is a free event but numbers are strictly limited due to the team focussed approach of the day, so book your place now. More details on www.agilenorth.org

[GeekUp] Digital Christmas 2010

2010-11-23T02:21:00.000-08:00

GeekUp is joining Manchester Digital, Northern Digitals, CING and Social Media Cafe to celebrate a year of hard work.

16th December at Mint Lounge in Manchester. There'll be DJs throughout the night (and until the small hours) plus a few special surprises. Best of all, it's free.

Details and Tickets http://digitalchristmas.eventbrite.com/

Best,
Andrew Disley
Freelance Front-end Web Developer

07921040857
andrew@simplified.co.uk
http://simplified.co.uk/

Systems Thinking Sheffield

2010-11-21T01:58:00.000-08:00

Wed Nov 24th is the first meeting of the new group Systems Thinking Sheffield[1]. Here's a bit of intro before the details.

Systems Thinking is a way of looking at organisations as cohesive units with a goal. It lets you ask questions such as "do the departments in our company work together, or do they fight?", "do we reward the behaviour we actually want, or something else?", "how do we learn and adapt as a group to be more effective?". Alternatively, a much better explanation is a short and very entertaining video someone linked to me recently of Russell Ackoff[2] called "Beyond Continuous Improvement".

Systems Thinking encompasses a whole range of subjects, including Theory of Constraints, Lean, Action Science, Cybernetics and and many areas studying the behaviour of people in organisations. It's gaining a lot of interest in software lately, but it has been successfully applied in many diverse situations.

Enough blurb - our first meeting[3] is in two weeks, and runs from 6.30pm-8.30pm at the GIST Lab in Sheffield. As it's the first meeting, this is mainly to get to meet each other, find out everyone's interests, and plan future content. So it's a great time to get involved :)

If you're coming, please sign up on the Eventbrite page[4] so we have an idea of numbers. (You don't *have* to, but it helps us plan.)

Many thanks to the GIST Foundation[5] for providing the venue and for helping kickstart the group.

See some of you there :-)

Cheers
Ash

[1] http://www.systhinksheff.org.uk/
[2] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DOqEeIG8aPPk
[3] http://www.systhinksheff.org.uk/meetings/systhinksheff-0/
[4] http://gistsysthink0.eventbrite.com/
[5] http://thegisthub.net/about/

http://www.patchspace.co.uk/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleymoran

http://geekup.org/ | http://geekup.org/wiki/ | http://jobboard.geekup.org/

18th June –NWRUG Code Surgery and an introduction to Zsh

2009-06-11T01:40:00.000-07:00

This month is the second NWRUG Code Surgery. Submit some code (See
below) and we will have an evening of code reviews and our own little
version of The Rails Way, NWRUG style. Ashley Moran will also be
giving a short introduction to Zsh.

I am currently seeing if we can get sponsorship for this month, so
nothing is confirmed yet but I will update the site and mailing list
if this changes.

Schedule
• 6:00pm :: Welcome & Pre-session bar visit.
• 6:30pm :: Introduction to Zsh (http://www.zsh.org/) by Ashley Moran
• 7:00pm :: Code Surgery – see the mailing list for details on
submitting code.
• 8:30pm :: Drinks at the BBC bar afterwards, then somewhere else
nearby after that closes at about 21:00.
If you want more information email nwrug@willj.net, call Will on 07939
547 962 or tweet @will_j

Sign Up
If you would like to attend this event please email me as the BBC need
a list of attendees before the event and I really need to know the
numbers so I can order the right amount of food and drink if we have
sponsorship. This month I shall be publicly coating people with
marmite who turn up without emailing me. You have been warned.

Location
This meeting is being held at one of our regular venues, the BBC
Manchester main building on Oxford Road in central Manchester (http://smallr.com/967
). If you get lost call Will on 07939 547 962

Submitting Code

Add your code to either http://gist.github.com/ or http://pastie.org/
including any comments about how you think you need help and send the
resulting URL as a reply to this email.

Hope to see you all there!

17 June NW Hackspace - Liverpool

2009-06-11T00:54:00.000-07:00

Full details

NEW VENUE! Now at Mello Mello rather than FACT!

Fortnightly meet-up at 7pm at Mello Mello for anyone interested in connecting the internet to the real world, breathing life into inanimate objects and creating new ways to interact with things.

We'll be working on our hardware projects, explaining what hardware hacking is to anyone who's interested, and chatting about finding a more permanent location to break out the soldering irons and finding somewhere where hacking and creativity can bloom.

We're looking to create a hackerspace where anyone interested in technology, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and collaborate.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of ability or experience. Sign up to the mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/NW-hack-space & introduce yourself. If you're really shy, you could just follow announcements on http://Twitter.com/hsNW - or subscribe to the data feed for announcements from http://nwhackspace.wordpress.com/feed/

Want to know more about hackspaces? Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

17 Jun GeekUp Leeds - 2nd Birthday Party [CakeUp]!

2009-06-11T00:51:00.002-07:00

Full details

GeekUp Leeds is celebrating turning TWO this month! In true tradition, we ask GeekUp folk to bring along a cake, preferably hand-crafted in some way, with an optional geeky theme ! PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGE OF VENUE. We've moved temporarily to Mr Foley's as the Lounge terrace is getting a makeover. Regrettably, this means there will be no wheelchair access this month.

Apart from there being lots of cake, we will be following the regular format with some 20:20 presentations... if you have something you'd like to present on, please do let us know

Deb & Rob are soon to be out of action for a while and are looking for your help in organising GeekUp Leeds for the short-term future (either hosting a specific event, or general organisation help appreciated!). Again, please let us know if you think you can help out.

What is GeekUp?

GeekUp is a community of web designers, web developers, and other tech-minded folk from the North. Our socials take place once a month in Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Preston and Manchester and are always a lively place to share ideas and spread a little knowledge. GeekUp Leeds takes place every third Wednesday of the month.

Who can attend GeekUp?

While the focus for GeekUp is predominately web related anybody involved in the technology industry is more than welcome to attend a GeekUp. The monthly events are free, we just ask that you buy your own beer.

Drupalcamp Manchester 2009

2009-06-11T00:51:00.001-07:00

Full details
The first Drupalcamp to be held in Manchester, brought to you by the organisers of the North West Drupal User Group. BBC Manchester are very generously providing us with space at New Broadcasting House.

The first event is strictly limited to 120 attendees, so please use the ticket link to register yourself as attending. Tickets are FREE!

16th June Manchester Free Software Talk - Jon Spriggs, Introducing Microblogging (Identi.ca, Open Microblogging, Laconica and even Twitter!)

2009-06-11T00:48:00.000-07:00

Manchester Free software's next meeting will be on Tuesday 16th June 2009.

*Please note the change of venue*

Talk
------
This month’s talk will be given by Jon "The Nice Guy" Spriggs. He will
be talking about Microblogging (uBlogging), specifically citing
Identi.ca and Twitter, some of the conventions used in microblogging,
microblogging services and how you can use microblogging in your
projects and social networks. He'll then open the floor to questions.

Jon can be found on identi.ca at http://identi.ca/jontheniceguy, so
feel free say 'hello' to him!

Location
----------
The meeting will take place at the usual time, 7pm, at the Lass O'
Gowrie pub on Charles Street in Central Manchester. We will be located
in the Salmon Room upstairs, although there will be people
around a little earlier downstairs(probably sampling the food and drinks on
offer). Just ask at the bar if you can't find us. Their website[1] has
full details of how to get there and the
fine selection of food and drink available. The venue also provides wifi.

General information about Manchester Free Software meetings can be
found on our website[2].

If you would like five minutes to tell us about something, please
contact us at .

[1]: http://www.thelass.co.uk/
[2]: http://manchester.fsuk.org/blog/meetings/

6th June Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)

2009-05-29T07:47:00.001-07:00

Meetings are free and open to anyone to attend

Saturday 6th June 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For the past two years we have held meetings at Starbucks coffee shop
at Western Bank next to the University. We thought that our June
meeting might go down well at the Walkley Cottage. The address is...

Walkley Cottage Inn
46 Bole Hill Rd
Sheffield, S6 5DD
0114 234 4968

http://www.walkleycottage.co.uk/

If you don't have a car then you might like to know that the No: 94
and 95 buses run from High Street and Church Street (across from the
Cathedral) through the city centre to the pub. This is a frequent bus
service every 10 to 15 minutes during the day. Call 01709 515151 for
bus information. Use Google maps if you don't know where the Walkley
Cottage is. Tea and coffee is available. There is a good selection of
beers which are well looked after. Look out for someone sitting next
to an Hewlett-Packard penguin with a laptop in front of him.

http://www.sheflug.org.uk/meeting.html

The topic of the meeting will be a general discussion or we can fix
some hardware or software. If you need some help with that we can
most likely point you in the right direction. If you want to
know more about anything else come along and ask questions. We seem
to have a growing band of EeePC people who bring them along to
meetings. We also see other netbooks such as Acer, Dell and Elonex.
Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and it's associated operating
systems have been released. We can discuss this release and how
to install it. Also any other version of GNU/Linux that you might
be interested in. Most people who come along to our meetings have
used most versions of GNU/Linux and the BSDs.

3 June Exposure Leeds #4 - The Technology Special!

2009-05-29T06:27:00.000-07:00

Full details

Exposure Leeds is series of monthly events in a user-group format aimed at helping those serious about their photography to improve and develop.

This months' event will tie in with Leeds Web Festival, LSx09, and deliver a special technology focus. Because of this we are going to run the evening in a mini-photocamp format - with simultaneous workshop / presentations. Because of this I am asking for speakers / workshop leaders to volunteer to deliver sessions of a more 'technical nature'.

This could be more obvious computer/web-related issues such as...
- Flickr secrets (Greasemonkey, anyone?)
- Websites
- Photoshop
- HDR :-)
- Lightroom
- Capture NX or
- Photosynth

Or could be otherwise 'technical'; but whichever you choose - it should be easy to cover (you'll have 60-90 minutes) and would be best if those in the workshop can get involved. Do you have ideas? Think you can help? Have some technical passions? We may also run a new short session of 'my top tip' - if you have one you'd be happy to share then please let me know! There will be time given over for networking and socialising - including continuing the evening at a nearby hostelry. www.exposureleeds.org

3 June NW Hackspace - Liverpool

2009-05-29T06:26:00.001-07:00

[Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2495877/ ]

Fortnightly meet-up at 7pm at FACT. Join the efforts to make a hackerspace where hacking and creativity can bloom. It's a start to getting together a crowd to open a North West Hackspace in Liverpool.

We're looking to create a hackerspace where anyone interested in technology, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and collaborate. Everyone is welcome, regardless of ability or experience. Sign up to the mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/NW-hack-space & introduce yourself. If you're really shy, you could just follow announcements on http://Twitter.com/hsNW - or subscribe to the data feed for announcements from http://nwhackspace.wordpress.com/feed/ Want to know more about hackspaces? Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

2nd June OpenCoffee Leeds {June}

2009-05-29T06:24:00.000-07:00

[Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2750703/ ] If you're working in the creative or digital industries, we'd love you to come hang out, chat, demo or just network with others...usually around 20-25 people each month...sometimes more :)

OpenCoffee itself runs from 10am to noon, but Old Broadcasting House has an open house in the afternoon with plenty of hotdesks available for those who wish to work into the afternoon and stick around for the company :)

SQL Server Performance Troubleshooting Techniques

2009-05-29T06:23:00.000-07:00

Leeds Area SQL Server User Group Meeting, Leeds - Wednesday 3rd June - Sponsored by Quest Software

End-to-End SQL Server Performance Troubleshooting – Iain Kick

When attempting to diagnose a problem in a SQL Server application, there's no right or wrong way to go about troubleshooting. However, certain techniques yield much better results when used for end-to-end troubleshooting.

This presentation will teach you the best practices for finding the root cause of a problem in a SQL Server application, correlating that root cause to a specific set of activities being performed on the server, and tuning the problem activity for maximum performance-all using the native SQL Server tools. We will then compare and contrast those techniques to Quest Software's performance management and query tuning tools. All examples and syntax are verified for Microsoft SQL Server 2005.

See http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/events/182/SQL-Server-Performance-Troubleshooting-Techniques-Sponsored-by-Quest-Software.aspx

Jun 03 End-to-End SQL Server Performance Troubleshooting by Iain Kick of Quest

2009-05-29T06:21:00.000-07:00

This presentation will teach you the best practices for finding the
root cause of a problem in a SQL Server application, correlating that
root cause to a specific set of activities being performed on the
server, and tuning the problem activity for maximum performance-all
using the native SQL Server tools. We will then compare and contrast
those techniques to Quest Software's performance management and query
tuning tools. All examples and syntax are verified for Microsoft SQL
Server 2005.

For more details and registraton look at
http://www.sqlserverfaq.com/events/182/SQL-Server-Performance-Troubleshooting-Techniques-Sponsored-by-Quest-Software.aspx

June 10th AgileYorkshire@ThePub - Slim, The Future Of FitNesse,

2009-05-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

The next meeting of AgileYorkshire which is on the 10th June when we have Gojko Adzic coming to talk about Slim. Slim is the next step in the evolution of Fitness which itself was the de facto standard tool for executable specifications and agile acceptance testing.

See here for more details.

Note - 6:30 sharp start for this presentation.

27th May North West England Perl Mongers - Manchester - Social meeting

2009-05-26T03:06:00.001-07:00

This months North West England Perl Mongers social meeting is in
Manchester at The Salisbury pub next to Oxford Road station
(http://manchesterbars.wordpress.com/2006/11/16/the-salisbury/) Cask
ales and Perl will be consumed from around 19:00, though some people
might be there slightly earlier - look out for Pingu. Further details
along with directions can be found on the North West England Perl
Mongers web site (http://northwestengland.pm.org/meetings/005.html).

Remember, North West England Perl Mongers covers the largest
geographical area for any Perl Mongers group in the world! If you
want us to bring the camel and penguin to your area and you can
organise a venue, please do let me know. We're looking to organise
next months technical talks in the Manchester area and would
appreciate any assistance in finding a suitable venue (projector, bar
or close proximity to, room for twenty people?).

23rd May Howduino

2009-05-19T05:38:00.000-07:00

[Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2126491/ ]

Howduino is a free, one day event about connecting the internet to the real world, breathing life into inanimate objects and creating new ways to interact with things. It's for artists, programmers, designers, hobbyists and anyone else interested in robotics, technology, communication and interaction.

The event was initially inspired by the Arduino platform, a cheap and easy way to introduce intelligence into objects. The focus of the talks and support will be on using Arduino, but don't let this limit your imagination. All platforms and tecnnologies are welcome.

Where: FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) @ 88 Wood Street, Liverpool, England L1 4D UK

21st May NWDUG May Meet-up

2009-05-19T05:36:00.000-07:00

This month's Drupal meeting is on Thursday, 21st May from 6pm at
Manchester University's Samuel Alexander building, off Oxford Road.
See http://groups.drupal.org/node/22287 for directions.

Whether you're a long time Drupal developer or just starting out,
you're more than welcome.
Expect plenty of discussion about the upcoming DrupalCampUK [1] this
month!

[1] http://drupalcamp.org.uk

2nth May, NW Hackspace - Liverpool

2009-05-19T05:33:00.000-07:00

Full details
Fortnightly meet-up at 7pm at FACT. Join the efforts to make a hackerspace where hacking and creativity can bloom. It's a start to getting together a crowd to open a North West Hackspace in Liverpool.

We're looking to create a hackerspace where anyone interested in technology, or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and collaborate.

Everyone is welcome, regardless of ability or experience. Sign up to the mailing list at http://groups.google.com/group/NW-hack-space & introduce yourself. If you're really shy, you could just follow announcements on http://Twitter.com/hsNW - or subscribe to the data feed for announcements from http://nwhackspace.wordpress.com/feed/ Want to know more about hackspaces? Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackerspace

May 20 GeekUp Leeds

2009-05-19T05:31:00.000-07:00

Full details

We have an action-packed schedule this month with three very cool 20:20s:
* "Creating iPhone apps with PhoneGap" - Clare Lindley
* "What your BIG-IP can do for you" - Phil Helliwell
* "Hack Spaces, and why having one in Leeds will be awesome" - Jonathan "Squigfried" Powell

What is GeekUp?

GeekUp is a community of web designers, web developers, and other tech-minded folk from the North. Our socials take place once a month in Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Sheffield, Preston and Manchester and are always a lively place to share ideas and spread a little knowledge. GeekUp Leeds takes place every third Wednesday of the month.

Who can attend GeekUp?

While the focus for GeekUp is predominately web related anybody involved in the technology industry is more than welcome to attend a GeekUp. The monthly events are free, we just ask that you buy your own beer.

Where?
The Lounge @ St. Johns House, Merrion St, Leeds, England LS2 8JE UK

21st May NWRUG Going for a Ruby

2009-05-14T13:22:00.000-07:00

21st May Going for a Ruby

No talks this month, we’re taking a short break though talks should be back on next month. Feel free to bring a laptop and anything ruby or just turn up and have a beer and a chat. Thursdays is always Curry night at The Paramount and the food is pretty good.

Schedule

18:30 :: Social meeting in The Paramount

Sign Up

If you want more information email nwrug@willj.net You can sign up on the Upcoming event page if you want, but it’s not necessary.

Location
This meeting is being held at one of our regular venues, The Paramount pub on Oxford Street in central Manchester (Directions). If you get lost call Will on 07939 547 962

Monday May 18 GeekUp Preston

2009-05-14T05:09:00.000-07:00

Monday May 18, 2009 at 7:00pm
Forum Bar
17 Winckley Street
Preston, England PR1 2AA Get Directions
We're going to be discussing and planning Barcamp Blackpool!!!

There will be the usual socialising, chatting about new technology, techniques and non-geeky stuff in addition to cake and booze (buy your own!)

Sign up

You'll find us sat upstairs
Website:

May 18th Dojo In Manchester

2009-05-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

If you are working with - or just curious about - the Dojo Toolkit
(http://dojotoolkit.org), please join us next week:

May 18th in Manchester, 6pm @ Code Computerlove:
http://dojomanchester.eventbrite.com/

It'll be myself and Dylan presenting a short talk on building great
apps with Dojo. Dylan is a dojotoolkit co-founder, runs the
cometdaily.com site and CEO/Founder of Sitepen Inc.

We're being hosted by Code Computerlove Ltd to whom we're enormously
grateful. I'd love to meet up with anyone dojo-curious in the area, or
wanting to talk javascript/ajax, in whatever shape and form you like
it. Following the talk, we'll adjourn to a pub for a jar or 2.

If you fancy stepping out but have no clue what Dojo is... Dojo is an
100% opensource javascript toolkit, in the family of YUI, jQuery etc.
It provides a fast, extendable and highly useful api for building
responsive web UIs, with a package system, animation system,
standardized api for data retrieval, powerful and accessible UI
widgets, cross-browser charting, and lots more. Dojo is
server/framework agnostic, but has been adopted and integrated with
the Zend Framework, Django among RoR among others. Its also seeing a
lot of use on the Adobe AIR platform, and finding a niche with rich
mobile apps via phonegap

If you plan on coming please register w. eventbrite (its free), but
also feel free to just drop in, or follow dylans or samfosteriam on
twitter for updates on where we're at.

19th May Manchester Free Software Talk - Steven Flower, Plings (Places to Go, Things to Do)

2009-05-12T23:55:00.000-07:00

Talk
------
Substance, a local cooperative, are working to free local government
and other data so that the information can get to the people who
really need it. The project is called Plings [1] and Steven Flower
will be talking about about their experiences over the past two years
and their plans for the next two years. Free software and freedom of
data are the goals - but they have to jump through and negotiate a few
hoops along the way!

Location
----------
The meeting will take place at the usual time, 7pm, at the Lass O'
Gowrie pub on Charles Street in Central Manchester. We will be located
in the back room on the ground floor. As normal, there will be people
around a little earlier (probably sampling the food and drinks on
offer). Their website[2] has full details of how to get there and the
fine selection of food and drink on offer.

General information about Manchester Free Software meetings can be
found on our website[3].

If you would like five minutes to tell us about something, please
contact us at .

[1]: http://www.plings.co.uk/
[2]: http://www.thelass.co.uk/
[3]: http://manchester.fsuk.org/blog/meetings/

13th May Agile Yorkshire - Ralph Williams: Exploratory Testing

2009-05-12T23:52:00.000-07:00

Details

In this session, Ralph will provide an overview of some techniques that bring Agility into the world of testing. (The world of testing is a strange place: regarded by most people as a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there, it is an unmapped wilderness where the waterfall methodology still roams unfettered.)

The main focus will be on one such technique, Exploratory Testing. It is defined by many as "simultaneous learning, test design and test execution", but Ralph will attempt to be more helpful. After the presentation many of you will claim this is what you have been doing all along, but now it has a fancy name you can use it without shame and companies can sell you high-priced consultancy in it.

Speaker

Ralph Williams is a Test Consultant at the Yorkshire Building Society, based in Bradford. The Society develops much of the application software used throughout its 140 branches and offices, and Ralph is responsible for managing the testing for some of these systems. He has previously worked in various management, testing and development roles at Erudine, Wanadoo and British Telecom, and specialises in Agile Testing and chocolate.

4th June Manchester Girl Geek Dinner 3

2009-05-12T08:29:00.000-07:00

When:
4th June 2009 at 7pm

Where:
Old Abbey Inn
Manchester Science Park
61 Pencroft Way
Manchester, Manchester M15 6AY
United Kingdom

What:
Girl Geek Dinners are organised all over the world. They are great fun
and provide a welcoming atmosphere for women to talk about technology
in an informal environment. A Girl Geek is simply a female with a
strong interest and passion in a subject (in this case Science,
Engineering and Technology). You don't have to work in a technical
role to come along. Just be prepared to enjoy some great food, drinks,
atmosphere and to meet some fantastic, engaging and like-minded
ladies!

Talks:
We have a talk by Lesley Allger! Come and listen to the experiences of
an older girl geek who has worked for nearly 30 years in BAE SYSTEMS.
Give her some inspiration to make the final 15 years as exciting and
rewarding!
I'm also pleased to welcome Dominic Hodgson from North Hub who will be
introducing us to all the technical events in the north.

Who can attend?
Any lady who wants to come along to a great evening of food, drinks,
fab atmosphere and the chance to socialise with other inspirational
ladies! Even though the event is for women, men are very welcome to
come along, as long as they are invited by a girl geek! This is to try
and keep the numbers even.

Details:
Sponsored by BAE Systems, there is a charge of £5 which includes a
drink and a BBQ at the lovely Old Abbey Inn in Manchester's Science
Park (http://eweri.com/Jm0 ). There's plenty of
free parking around the venue and it's not far from Oxford Road (taxis
will cost you a few quid or there's lots of buses to drop you off
outside the University or Infirmary).

I hope with this event we can introduce you to some more interesting
events and people in the area.

Tickets are available for £5 here:http://manchesterggd.eventbrite.com/

For more information visit the
websitewww.manchestergirlgeekdinners.co.uk/
follow us on twitter @mancggd, read our blog:http://
mancggd.wordpress.com

May 12th GeekUp Manchester

2009-05-07T13:58:00.000-07:00

Details for next Tuesday's GeekUp Manchester: http://geekup.org/events/130/

When
6:00 PM Tuesday May 12th, 2009

Where
Revolution Deansgate, Deansgate Locks, Whitworth St, Manchester M1 5LH

Google Map: http://is.gd/2cLX
Extended Google Map: http://is.gd/2cL0

Description
We have a private area (The Lounge) reserved at the rear right of the
venue, just ask at the bar and they'll direct you.

Attending?
Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2415589/

28th May UKNOF13

2009-05-06T14:12:00.000-07:00

http://www.uknof.org.uk/

Registration is now open for our next
meeting, UKNOF13, which will be held in Sheffield on Thursday 28th
May.

This is being sponsored by regional development agency
Yorkshire Forward ,
at the Electric Works .

We are still finalizing the agenda, but it will include talks
on the IWF/Wikipedia incident, DNSSEC, Quagga, and Internet growth
data.
For the regular Internet history slot, we are very pleased to confirm
Postel award winner Daniel Karrenberg will be speaking.

We still have room for some additional presentations, please let the
PC know ASAP (most of us will be approachable at the RIPE meeting next
week) if you'd like to give or suggest one.

If you are planning to attend, please can you register for the meeting
as early as possible at:

http://www.uknof.org.uk/uknof13/regform.php

We have arranged discounted accommodation with the nearby Mercure,
Novotel, and Best Western hotels for the nights before and after the
meeting, if you wish to take advantage of this they need to be
booked by phone by the 11th May, using the code "2705UKN".

Note that we are planning connectivity at and a webcast from the event
once again. As we had nearly as many people attending by webcast last
time as in person, for the first time we are asking remote attendees
to
also register. This carries no obligation other than to help us get a
handle on numbers, please check the relevant "webcast" box on the
registration form.

We are also still open to a second sponsor for this meeting and/or
any social event afterwards - please get in touch if your organisation
is interested in contributing.

Girl Geek Dinner {Leeds}

2009-05-06T12:54:00.000-07:00

Full details

Part of this month's LSx - The Leeds Web Festival (http://lsx.dotnorth.org), the evening's speakers will include:
* Reshma Sohoni, CEO of Seedcamp (http://www.seedcamp.com) a pan-European seed fund for technology entrepreneurs. Reshma's previous roles included venture investments at 3i and Softbank, as well as Vodafone's commercial strategy team.

* Jennifer O'Grady, founder of Democracy PR (http://www.democracypr.com/), a new agency created to blend traditional PR skills with social media opportunities. Jen will be speaking about the personal PR skills needed to manage your own personal profile online,

For just £15, you can enjoy some drinks, nibbles and the chance to hang out with the city's brightest creatives, technologists, programmers, entrepreneurs, marketeers, PR professionals and creative/digital girls - oh, and some boys too :)

8th May, GeekUp East Coast

2009-05-06T12:52:00.000-07:00

Full details

What is GeekUp?

GeekUp is a community of web designers, web developers, and other tech-minded folk from the UK. It's a grassroots knowledge sharing and networking social for folks involved or interested in the web, design and technology industry. Monthly events take place in Chester, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Sheffield.

GeekUp East Coast was created so that the Creative Types, Developers and Tech folks on the East side of the country had somewhere to get together without braving the Pennines! This is the Inaugural Event, and if it's successful, we'll do it some more.

Who can attend GeekUp? While the focus for GeekUp is predominately web related anybody involved in the technology / design industry is more than welcome to attend a GeekUp. The events are free, we just ask that you buy your own beer.

7th May, Yorkshire Digital Awards

2009-05-06T12:50:00.000-07:00

Full details

Are you bowled over by some of the talent you have seen in the Yorkshire digital and creative sector? Perhaps you work in the sector itself, and feel the project you are working on at the moment, or the piece of technology you are developing, really needs wider attention. Even if you don't work directly in the industry, perhaps you have seen a mind-blowing website that establishes a new benchmark in quality, or a new digital equipment you think could really make a difference to our lives or the way we do business.

Whatever your situation, if you wonder why so many companies still seem to think they have to go to London for creative work done when so much excellent work goes on up here, then the Insider Yorkshire Digital Awards are for you. Whether you are in the industry or just an interested observer, we want to hear from you.

This successful awards programme, now in its tenth year, acknowledges and promotes digital companies in Yorkshire and the Humber who are really pushing the bar in creativity and technological prowess. There are clearly benefits to winnng too. Huddersfield-based Liquid Accounts, for example, won the Best Application of Internet Technology category in 2008.

May 13th, Agile Yorkshire Ralph Williams: Exploratory Testing

2009-05-06T12:48:00.000-07:00

In this session, Ralph will provide an overview of some techniques that bring Agility into the world of testing. (The world of testing is a strange place: regarded by most people as a nice place to visit but you wouldn't want to live there, it is an unmapped wilderness where the waterfall methodology still roams unfettered.)

The main focus will be on one such technique, Exploratory Testing. It is defined by many as "simultaneous learning, test design and test execution", but Ralph will attempt to be more helpful. After the presentation many of you will claim this is what you have been doing all along, but now it has a fancy name you can use it without shame and companies can sell you high-priced consultancy in it.
Speaker
Ralph Williams is a Test Consultant at the Yorkshire Building Society, based in Bradford. The Society develops much of the application software used throughout its 140 branches and offices, and Ralph is responsible for managing the testing for some of these systems. He has previously worked in various management, testing and development roles at Erudine, Wanadoo and British Telecom, and specialises in Agile Testing and chocolate.

Venue: Victoria Hotel, Central Leeds
Date/Time: Wednesday, 13th May, 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start.
More details: http://www.agileyorkshire.org/

Anyone welcome.

4th June Manchester Girl Geek Dinner

2009-05-06T07:24:00.000-07:00

When:
4th June 2009 at 7pm

Where:
Old Abbey Inn
Manchester Science Park
61 Pencroft Way
Manchester, Manchester M15 6AY
United Kingdom

What:
The event is sponsored by BAE Systems, however to cover costs there is
a charge of £5 for tickets, which include a drink and a BBQ.
We have a talk by Lesley Allger, an employee at BAE Systems from 1980
working in all areas including manufacturing, software and finance.
She will be sharing her exciting career with us.
I'm also pleased to welcome Dominic Hodgson from North Hub (http://
www.northhub.co.uk/) who will be introducing us to all the technical
events in the north.

30th-31st May BarCamp Leeds

2009-05-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

BarCamp Leeds is the city's third 'unconference', a event where the folks that attend create the programme of sessions themselves. BarCamps are open, participatory, democratic, 'workshop' events; the organisers and sponsors simply provide wireless broadband, a venue, beverages and food! The attendees provide the content - and the buzz :)

BarCamps are a great opportunity to network, lean and share...plus generally a lotta fun too. We're hoping our stack of Nintendo Wiis will break the ice and we know Old Broadcasting House will be a fun and inspiring venue.

We'd love for you to come - if you're a creative, an artist, a writer, blogger, technologist, or a developer, geek, entrepreneur, academic researcher, gamer or investor please join us. If you're just curious and interested in digital culture or social media - we'd love to meet you too :)

Come and demo, talk, share or just hang out!

12 May Digital Britain Unconference Manchester

2009-04-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

URL: http://digitalbritainmcr.eventbrite.com/
Email: info@manchesterdigital.com
Dates:12 May 2009
Venue: MDDA, 117-119 Portland Street, M1 6ED

Itinerary:

18:00 registration
18:30 unconference
20:00 drinks and networking

A chance tell the Government what the Manchester digital community thinks about the Digital Britain ideas.

This is one of a series of events across the UK to respond to the Digital Britain Interim Report from Stephen Carter.

Come along and join the discussion.

More details to follow soon.

Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)

2009-04-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)

Meetings are free and open to anyone to attend

Saturday 2nd May 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For the past two years we have held meetings at Starbucks coffee shop
at Western Bank next to the University. We thought that our May
meeting might go down well at the Walkley Cottage. The address is...

Walkley Cottage Inn
46 Bole Hill Rd
Sheffield, S6 5DD
0114 234 4968

http://www.walkleycottage.co.uk/

If you don't have a car then you might like to know that the No: 94
and 95 buses run from High Street and Church Street (across from the
Cathedral) through the city centre to the pub. This is a frequent bus
service every 10 to 15 minutes during the day. Call 01709 515151 for
bus information. Use Google maps if you don't know where the Walkley
Cottage is. Tea and coffee is available. There is a good selection of
beers which are well looked after. Look out for someone sitting next
to an Hewlett-Packard penguin with a laptop in front of him.

http://www.sheflug.org.uk/meeting.html

The topic of the meeting will be a general discussion or we can fix
some hardware or software. If you need some help with that we can
most likely point you in the right direction. If you want to
know more about anything else come along and ask questions. We seem
to have a growing band of EeePC people who bring them along to
meetings. Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope and it's associated operating
systems have been released. We can also discuss this release and how
to install it.

9th May UNsustainable Unconference@FACT

2009-04-28T07:16:00.001-07:00

"UNsustainable UNconference (May 9, 12.00pm, free admission) relies on
the knowledge of its audience-participants as the core programme.

A Manifesto for Change

An unconference is a participant driven face-to-face conference that
set's its own agenda and facilities inclusive debate.

The UNsustainable UNconference comes out of FACT's response to the
city's Year of Environment, and the urgent need to have a forum to
advance the ecology and dialogue around the sustainability of society.
Held alongside our first project that explores this question, Climate
for Change, the UNconference invites communities of interest who have
been engaged in this project and who are operating through self-
organising networks and alternative models of both capital and
cultural production.

During the course of the debate the participants will generate a
Manifesto for Change; drafted by multiple authors, looking at
envisaging and identifying the principles to adhere to, to live in a
more sustainable world. A People's Plan rather than a Master Plan

There will be invited experts, consultants who are participating in
civic discourse on social change and climate change, and all are are
invited to contribute"

we'd like to ask that yourself (as well as any of your colleagues,
associate groups, participants & friends sign up and come along and
join in the debate)

and to add your/their details to: http://climateforchange.fact.co.uk/unsustainable_unconference

5th May OpenCoffee Leeds {May}

2009-04-28T07:07:00.000-07:00

If you're working in the creative or digital industries, we'd love you to come hang out, chat, demo or just network with others...usually around 20-25 people each month...sometimes more :)

OpenCoffee itself runs from 10am to noon, but Old Broadcasting House has an open house in the afternoon with plenty of hotdesks available for those who wish to work into the afternoon and stick around for the company :)

Full details at http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2408058/

29th April, Bradford LUG

2009-04-27T07:02:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that the Bradford LUG will be meeting this Wednesday
(29th April)

PLEASE NOTE: We do not have access to our regular meeting place for this
month only. Instead we are meeting in the Sir Titus Salt Pub (just up
from the Alhambra Theatre).

It will be a less formal meeting as a result, but you may want to
discuss...

Multimedia - the topic for next time
Ubuntu 9.04
Organising an OpenSteet map weekend
How to make a digital photoframe from an old laptop - (nice one
Richard!)
and more...

Hope to see you there.
--
David Carpenter

Fri 1 May: ManLUG social (currybeer)

2009-04-27T06:49:00.000-07:00

As usual for the first Friday of the month, a group of us from ManLUG (and various other geek groups) will be going out for a curry and some drinks on Friday 1st May. We'll be meeting in our usual venue of Hardy's Well pub[1], Rusholme, from 7:30pm and then heading off for a meal after a couple of drinks. If you haven't been before, one of us will usually be wearing a geek t-shirt of some description, so we should be fairly easy to spot, and we'll be looking out for people anyway.

See you there!

Paul

[1] http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/20/2009/Hardys_Well/Rusholme

P.S. There's also a web site where the details of socials are
announced:

http://www.manlug.org.uk

1-29 May 2009 Leading Lights exhibition

2009-04-22T11:56:00.000-07:00

Leading Lights exhibition

Museum of Science and Industry (MOSI), Manchester
Friday 1 May 2009 - Friday 29 May 2009 10am-5pm
www.mosi.org.uk

Leading Lights is an inspiring new exhibition of portraits by award-winning photographer Richard Cannon. It showcases 19 Ambassadors from all over the UK who are using science, technology, engineering and maths to push the boundaries of what is possible and to make the world a better and more exciting place to live.

http://www.stemnet.org.uk/news/viewitem.cfm?cit_id=382837

13 - 16 May 2009 Social Technologies Summit

2009-04-22T11:28:00.000-07:00

Social Technologies Summit

Contact Theatre, Manchester 13 - 16 May 2009

The Social Technologies Summit is the leading international conference that brings together 500 opinion formers, futurologists, artists, researchers and technologists to explore the latest upgrade affecting today's digital culture.

Pioneering ideas will be presented, which will transform the way you and your organisation operate, innovate and interact. Combining keynotes, critical debates, demonstrations and experiences with open space and participatory sessions, it is an engaging, critical and essential event to attend.

The themes for the conference this year include Environment 2.0, Digital Futures, Identity and Trust, Mobile and Semantic Web: Cultural Algorithms.

22 April NW Hackspace Meeting in Liverpool

2009-04-19T07:55:00.000-07:00

NW Hackspace Meeting in Liverpool
Wednesday April 22, 2009 from 7:00pm - 8:30pm

FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology)
88 Wood Street
Liverpool, England L1 4D Get Directions

A start to getting together a crowd to open a NW Hackspace in
Liverpool:

Starting Weds 22 April, a fortnightly meet-up at 7pm at FACT. We may
try and meet in their media lab at some time, but we'll start with the
bar.

Adrian McEwan will bring along Bubblino (as seen on BBC ;) to the
first meeting. Format will be informal discussion after a short intro
on hackspaces.

One reason for choosing this coming Wednesday is that it follows
straight on from the Small Steps to Sustainability meeting on Creative
Learning [1] - something that very much includes having fun in a
hackerspace. I hope that some people will find themselves staying on
from Small Steps for the Hackspace Meeting (or coming early to the HS
meeting, to take part in Small Steps).

Note that Birmingham hackspace combine regular pub meetings with
occasional weekend hackdays. Help us find a venue and we'll be doing
the same.

Upcoming
Webpage

17th April, Bradford LUG social

2009-04-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

Date: Friday 17th April 2009

Time: 8pm onwards
Place:
*NOTE NEW VENUE* The Courtyard
A bit more information about The Courtyard as requested!

It is the University Student Union bar, and is on the ground floor of the Communal Building on the main campus - maps here: http://www.brad.ac.uk/about/find/maps.php

If coming by public transport, the best thing to do is walk/get the bus up Gt Horton Road, turn right just before the Sports Centre then walk down the ramp past Waterstones, towards the JB Priestly Library. Follow the walkway down the side of the library which overlooks the ampitheatre - this takes you to the Communal Building. Go down the steps (there is also aan accessible lift) and The Courtyard is just on your right.

If coming by car, there will be plenty of spaces and there are no parking restrictions on campus after 5.30. There are no barriers to the car parks off Longside Lane, so that's probably the easiest place to park. Also the right side of campus for the bar then! The Courtyard is at the most 1 or 2 minutes walk from these car parks.

April 25th, DFEY-NW :: Manchester

2009-04-16T10:23:00.000-07:00

DFEY-NW (Digital Freedom in Education & Youth - North West) is a group
focusing on young people and issues of freedom in the digital world,
based in the Northwest of England at the moment.

When
Saturday April 25th 2009 12:30pm -> ~4:00pm

Where
BBC Manchester, New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester, M60 1SJ
Photo: http://tiny.pl/z7bf
Map: http://tiny.pl/z7b1
Nearest train station: Manchester Oxford Road (3 mins walking distance)

Attending?
Due to BBC restrictions, you need to tell us:
http://dfeynw4.eventbrite.com/
or feel free to email us on team@nw.dfey.org to let us know you are
coming...

Ubuntu 9.04 'Jaunty' Release Party
The day before the meeting is the Ubuntu release party in Manchester.
It looks like it's going to be a load of fun. Maybe see you there?
Details: http://is.gd/sKLf

14th April, GeekUp Manchester

2009-04-09T09:09:00.000-07:00

When
6:00 PM Tuesday April 14th, 2009
Where
Revolution Deansgate, Deansgate Locks, Whitworth Street, Manchester M1 5LH
Upcoming
Let us know if your attending on the upcoming.org event page.

15th April, Cloud Computing Event, Manchester

2009-04-08T02:37:00.000-07:00

Manchester is finally hosting a cloud computing event attended by key
players on the 15th of April at eOffice from 6 to 9pm. See here for event details.

The event programme includes an hour of speeches and 40 minutes of
panel discussion followed by our famous StartUp4Slaughter session,
this time featuring ThinSpace, a thin client technology from the North
West.

Our speakers and panelists will offer insight to cloud computing and
how you could leverage cloud computing for competitive advantage.

- Simon Bruzzoni - Amazon Web Services (flying in from Italy)
- Bindi Karia - Microsoft Azure (and BizSpark leader in the UK)
- Ivan Farneti - Doughty Hanson (VC looking actively for investment
opportunities in cloud computing)
- Roy Shelton - H2O Networks (fibre through sewer lines covering the
last mile)
- Lisa Leyzell - ThinSpace (thin client)

8th April, AgileYorkshire Meeting: Crystal Clear Methodology

2009-04-07T13:08:00.001-07:00

In this session Richard Fennell, will attempt to provide an overview of Crystal Clear, an agile project methodology proposed by Alistair Cockburn in his book of the same name. This will be from the view of a novice to the methodology, looking at how it appears to pragmatically match the process in place in many companies that are attempting to be agile but do not match the full rigour of Scrum or XP.

Venue: Victoria Hotel, Central Leeds
Date/Time: Wednesday, 8th April, 6.30pm for a 7.00pm start.
More details: http://www.agileyorkshire.org/

16th April, NWRUG - BDD, you know you should be doing it

2009-04-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

So, you’re testing your code right? Of course you are! But are you
testing your code as well as it can be tested? This month Ashley
Moran, Testing Maven, will be giving a talk and practical session on
Behaviour Driven Development and how it should be done right.
We’re starting 30 minutes earlier this month due to the practical
nature of the session.

This month we have sponsorship from Engine Yard so there will be free
Pizza (and maybe Beer and soft drinks, depending on the numbers)
during the talks.

Schedule
• 6:00pm :: Welcome & Pre-session bar visit
• 6:30pm :: BDD, why you should be doing it and how. Pizzas provided
by Engine Yard will be served during the session
• 8:30pm :: Drinks at the BBC bar afterwards, then somewhere else
nearby after that closes at about 21:00.

Sign Up
If you would like to attend this event please email me
(nwrug AT willj.net) as the BBC need a list of attendees before the event
and I really need to know the numbers so I can order the right amount
of food and drink. This month I shall be publicly coating people with
blancmange who turn up without emailing me. You have been warned.

Location
This meeting is being held at one of our regular venues, the BBC
Manchester main building on Oxford Road in central Manchester

You can find the exact same information on the NWRUG site

April 15th, GeekUp With Dirk Ginader of Yahoo!

2009-04-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

This month, GeekUp Leeds will be upgrading it's regular venue and heading up the hill once again to Old Broadcasting House for a one off special.

This time we've managed to entice Dirk Ginader of Yahoo! fame up from that London to tell us all about the virtues of JavaScript Accessibility.

When
6:00 PM Wednesday April 15th 2009

Where
Old Broadcasting House, 148 Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9EN
Photo
Google Map

Who's this Dirk Ginader then?
In the rough early days of the world wide web Dirk Ginader changed his Passion to his Profession and founded the Unit Interactive of a large Advertising Agency in Mainz, Germany. After nearly 9 Years the Web Standards and Accessibility Enthusiast answered the call of Yahoo! to join the Web Development Team and the Accessibility Task Force in London. In his Spare time he is developing, speaking and blogging about open source accessible JavaScript and Web Development in General.

Attending?
Tell us

Extra
There will be beer (and soft drinks) and a possible visit to the Dry Dock afterwards for yet more beer!

Our Friends
All this would not be possible without our good friends at NTI. They have very kindly paid for the whole event, so a big thanks to them.

7th April, LawCampLeeds

2009-03-30T12:54:00.001-07:00

The bundle of web based technologies popularly known as "Web 2.0" have created opportunities for all sorts of new businesses. But those businesses have already encountered legal issues that inhibit the development of those technologies and the exploitation of those opportunities.

The purpose of this gathering is to identify, analyse and resolve those issues. Since those issues are still largely inchoate the BarCamp formula is particularly for their analysis and resolution. This will not be a legal seminar but a forum for the technical, business and academic communities.

The venue is ideal for that purpose. Located in one of the UK's most important financial and legal centres outside London and close to two great universities, the NTI is already the meeting place for many of the developers of the new technologies and those who want to invest in them.
Website: http://www.barcamp.org/LawCampLeeds

1st April, Liverpool Linux User Group Meeting

2009-03-30T12:52:00.000-07:00

Liverpool Linux User Group are a group of Linux and open source software users that meet on the first Wednesday of the month. If no talk is organised then we will usually organise a "open stage" for people to discuss projects, current news, or just to rant.

Main Talk
At the moment we have a choice of talks to present at this months meeting, but we'll be confirming the details very soon.

Open Stage
Simon Johnson will be doing a quick talk about high level Python.
Andrew Williams will explain one of his latest projects and why Android development is great for newbies.

We will meet up in "The Old Ropewalk" pub before the meeting, then head out to the event around 7:00pm. The Liverpool Social Centre is two doors up from Forbidden Planet and is the right-hand door at the front of "News From Nowhere". Check the window for a handy Liverpool LUG sign, which will indicate we are there and not still at the pub. Press the white doorbell for access (the one marked basement) and someone will come up and open the door for you.

After the talks we will usually stay in the meeting area for a while then head out back to The Old Ropewalk pub.

If you have any difficulties finding the event, please ring a contact number listed on the website.
Website: http://livlug.org.uk/meetings:2009_april
53.4026340000 -2.9773520000

1st April, Exposure Leeds 2

2009-03-30T12:50:00.000-07:00

Exposure Leeds is series of monthly events in a user-group format aimed at helping those serious about their photography to improve and develop.

-- The complicated act of getting back to basics --

A few years ago I attended a workshop on creativity. Now, as a person who does problem solving creativity on a daily basis, I was stunned at not only how much I'd forgotten but also how differently other people approached 'being creative'.

Based on this I approached Rick Harrison and Mike Wallis and they have agreed to cover their thoughts and experiences with the 'dark arts' of composition and exposure.

There will be time given over for networking and socialising.

www.exposureleeds.org

1st April, Geekup Sheffield

2009-03-30T12:48:00.000-07:00

As you may know, Sheffields very own geekfather, @jagusti, is off touring the world at the moment, but fear not! We're gonna buy a pint of Franziskaner and stand it on the end of the bar for jag, then muddle on as best we can.

Presentations will kick off fat 8pm on the dot. We're hoping people will use the early evening space creatively and do some networking / catch up. There will be a projector and all the usual facilities, so if anyone fancies giving a lighnting talk, you're more than welcom.

First up at 8pm we've got Finbarr Joy, an old hand at agile projects (And singer with Giants Causeway), who's coming to talk to us about project management and contract issues around agile processes. Bring your anti-agile bosses and their questions!

After questions, and a brief pause for glass re-charging, our very own Richard Allsebrook (Twitter) will be up at ~9pm and giving a whirlwind (30 min) tour of Cake/PHP.

Richard will be doing a high-level overview that should be interesting to everyone, and is then going to show a bit of code. If you don't want to sit and look at more php, there will be seats and tables in the breakout area. We really want to try and cultivate that area, so please feel free to peel off into sub-groups and use the space if you don't fancy the code!

Right, thats it. Support your local geek-up! hope to see you there.

24th April, Ubuntu Release Party

2009-03-26T01:41:00.000-07:00

Ian Forrester (from BBC Backstage) has
booked us the BBC Manchester Bar on Friday 24th April for the
Ubuntu-UK Manchester release party. The party will start at 7pm and
go on until late (although after 10pm we may have to move to another
pub on Oxford Road).

If you are interested in attending you need to sign up before 9am 24th
April. You can do this by emailing me, adding yourself to the facebook
page [1] or adding yourself to upcoming yahoo page [2].

The address is: New Broadcasting House, Oxford Road, Manchester M60 1SJ.

The nearest train station is Oxford Road, although it's within walking
distance of Piccadilly and Victoria stations.

For car parking, the Cornerhouse is just down the road and their
website [3] has some useful information.

When you arrive just wait in reception where someone will meet you to
take you up to the bar.

Please feel free to pass this on to anyone you think maybe interested.
It's time to show the London lot some competition!

Rock on Ubuntu 9.04!!

[1] http://preview.tinyurl.com/cy6pgq
[2] http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/2173360/?ps=5
[3] http://www.cornerhouse.org/about/?page=22330

25th March, Bradford LUG Meeting

2009-03-25T04:06:00.000-07:00

Bradford LUG Official Meeting
Date: 25th March 2009 - that's tomorrow!

Time: 7pm - 8:30 ish
Place: Mable Booth Room
Bradford Council for Voluntary Services (CVS)
Voluntary Services Centre
19/25 Sunbridge Road,
Bradford
West Yorkshire
BD1 2AY
tel. 01274 722772

more info at:
http://www.bradford.lug.org.uk/wiki/

We're focusing on Games this month with a presentation about Gaming
past, present and future. It promises to look at how to persuade you're
hard core gamers that Linux is platform for them.

You may also get a chance to rub shoulders with our very own Linux
Format contributor - get a copy and then match the face to the person!
(are you coming John?)

It will also be Document Freedom Day,
http://www.documentfreedom.org/

so we may raise a glass to that following the meeting - probably in the
Sir Titus Salt (near the Alhambra) from about 9pm.

19th March Leadership And Management in the Digital Industries

2009-03-18T09:24:00.000-07:00

In a fast-moving industry dominated by freelancers and SMEs, what does ‘Leadership And Management’ really mean? Why is it important? Where does Project Management fit it? And how do we get better at it?

This event, held in association with BMedia and the West Yorkshire Lifelong Learning Network (WYLLN), seeks to find out! The event takes place at the WOW Academy in Bradford on Thursday 19^th March, 5.30-8.15pm where Dave Pannell from The Design Mechanics and Liz Cable from Reach Further will give their views on this hot topic. Also including free pizza buffet! Contact us on 0845 122 1555 or infoAT ntileeds.co.uk to book your place.

NWDUG 19th March Meeting - Venue Change

2009-03-18T03:53:00.001-07:00

The NW Drupal User Group will now meet at Revolution, Deansgate Locks from 6.30pm

25 March North West England Perl Mongers social meeting

2009-03-16T13:39:00.000-07:00

This months North West England Perl Mongers social meeting is in
Liverpool at The Ship & Mitre pub (http://www.shipandmitre.co.uk/).
Cask ales and Perl will be consumed from around 20:00, though some
people might be there slightly earlier. Further details along with
directions can be found on the North West England Perl Mongers web
site (http://northwestengland.pm.org/meetings/003.html).

Remember, North West England Perl Mongers covers the largest
geographical area for any Perl Mongers group in the world! If you
want us to bring the camel and penguin to your area and you can
organise a venue, please do let me know. We're looking to organise
next months technical talks in the Manchester area and would
appreciate any assistance in finding a suitable venue (projector, bar
or close proximity to, room for twenty people?).

The North West England Perl Mongers is a group of open source and Perl
professionals and enthusiasts in Cumbria, Lancashire, Merseyside and
the Western parts of Greater Manchester. Meeting once a month for
alternating technical and social reasons, we welcome all comers
interested in Perl or not. For more information about nwe.pm, see our
website at http://northwestengland.pm.org/ Feel free to come, have a
drink and tell us why you don't like Perl!

Dragon's Lair II - 26th March at UMIC, Mancheste

2009-03-15T15:47:00.000-07:00

Only 2 weeks left to our next Dragon's Lair with 34 seats already sold
with number of Dragons and pitching companies confirmed. Now is the
time to secure your ticket before the last minute mad-rush starts.

Since the beginning of the year, 58,985 companies have been registered
in the UK with the North West reporting the highest number of
registrations (6,096) outside London. Whilst this is slightly lower
than the same period of last year, these facts proves that
entrepreurship is very much live in the North of England. Dragon's
Lair is your chance to rub shoulders with northern tech entrepreneurs
and their friends.

I am also thrilled to welcome Nic Brisbourne of DFJ Esprit which has
$6 billion under management. This is Nic's second visit - a clear sign
of London based VC's desire to engage and support Northern talent. Nic
will be joined by our own Carl Allen (£200m of funding through 3000
investing Non Executive Directors), Scott Fletcher (Angel Investor and
CEO of ANS Group) and Simon Howship (first time Angel Investor and
Senior Executive of Freeserve, and ex-CEO of Callserve Communicaions
and Vyke Communications plc). We are waiting for confirmation from
number of potential Dragons to increase the overall number to six
Dragons.

Are you a tech startup looking for funding? Are you an Angel Investor
or Venture Capitalist looking for investment opportunities? Are you
interested in attending a lively event on up to 8 tech startups
pitching to a panel of Dragons. Whatever your interest is, I am happy
to announce the return of Dragon's Lair to Central Manchester on 26th March 2009 at UMIC after the successful
pilot in December 2008. The event runs from 5:30pm to 9pm followed
by networking at a local bar till early hours.

Number of Opportunities exists

1. Sponsor this prestigious event - sponsorship starts from £500
onwards
2. Be a Dragon (up to 2 slots vacant) - Business Angels and Venture
Capitalists sought
3. Be a pitching company (up to 6 slots vacant)

Pitching companies confirmed include PostDox, an e-invoicing startup
and RecycleLocal, a startup with recycling theme. If you wish to grab
the remaining pitching slots, act now. Crains Manchester Business is
expected to run a story on the pitching companies on 16th March. We
are keen to hear from startups looking for second round of funding, as
well as those who have a strong management team or proven revenue
streams.

27-29 March 2009 Oekonux free software conference

2009-03-15T15:38:00.000-07:00

Project Oekonux researches the economical, political and social forms of Free Software and similar forms of production we collectively call peer production. In Project Oekonux, different people with different reasons and different approaches get together to build something new. A lot of participants want to know, whether and if so, how, the peer production can serve as a basis for a new society.

For the 4th Oekonux Conference Project Oekonux cooperates with the P2P Foundation. The Foundation for Peer to Peer Alternatives researches, documents and promotes P2P practices in every domain of social life. It's a global cyber-collective and aims to be a knowledge and internetworking platform for open/free, participatory, and commons-oriented initiatives on a global scale.

http://www.oekonux-conference.org/invitation/invitation.html

31st March OpenCoffee Manchester

2009-03-15T15:25:00.001-07:00

OpenCoffee Manchester - a monthly meet-up
for entrepreneurs, investors, inventors, designers, developers,
academics and bloggers.

Taking place on the last Tuesday of each month from 10am - 12pm at
Urbis, OpenCoffee Manchester is an informal forum for collaboration,
networking and good coffee amongst entrepreneurs and start-ups.

The re-launch event is on Tuesday 31st March 2009. Feel free to come
and surf on the free-wireless.

You can RSVP for the event via Facebook -
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/event.php?eid=67979528896&ref=ts

Saturday 14th March 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)

2009-03-12T14:52:00.001-07:00

Sheffield Linux Users Group (ShefLUG)

Meetings are free and open to anyone to attend

Saturday 14th March 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

For the past two years we have held meetings at Starbucks coffee shop
at Western Bank next to the University. We thought that our February
meeting might go down well at the Walkley Cottage. The address is...

Walkley Cottage Inn
46 Bole Hill Rd
Sheffield, S6 5DD
0114 234 4968

http://www.walkleycottage.co.uk/

If you don't have a car then you might like to know that the No: 94
and 95 buses run from High Street and Church Street (across from the
Cathedral) through the city centre to the pub. This is a frequent bus
service every 10 to 15 minutes during the day. Call 01709 515151 for
bus information. Use Google maps if you don't know where the Walkley
Cottage is. Tea and coffee is available. There is a good selection of
beers which are well looked after. Look out for someone sitting next
to an Hewlett-Packard penguin with a laptop in front of him. The
first person who can crack the Wi-Fi system and make it work will
receive a pint of beer.

http://www.sheflug.org.uk/meeting.html

The topic of the meeting will be a general discussion or we can fix
some hardware or software. If you need some help with that we can
most likely point you in the right direction. Cebit and Linux Tag are
probably the next most important public events on the calendar. We
can talk about those if anyone wants to know more. If you want to
know more about anything else come along and ask questions. We seem
to have a growing band of EeePC people who bring them along to
meetings. Also, it's been ten years this month since we started ! A
good time to go out for dinner and have a few drinks. With this in
mind we hope to have a dinner on a Saturday night in May somewhere in
Sheffield. More on this later. But, please do come along and help
us to celebrate at the March meeting.

Friday 27th March 5pm - 9pm Electric Works Opening party

2009-03-12T14:47:00.000-07:00

Opening party of
Electric Works on
Friday 27th March 5pm - 9pm

The rumours are true: the all new Electric Works in Sheffield is the
UK's first office with its own custom made Helter Skelter for workers,
and you are invited to be one of the first to slide down it.

The event will include a one-off sky bar with views over the city, a
Wii bowling competition, various installations and an opportunity to
have a tour around the building.

Electric Works is a leading edge workspace providing grow-on space for
digital and creative businesses as well as drop-in and short-stay
facilities for freelancers and sole traders. Places are limited so
please RSVP as soon as possible (see details below)

Please join us for a preview:

Where
electricworks, Sheffield Digital Campus, Sheffield,
two minutes walk from the mainline railway station.

When
5pm-9pm Friday 27 March

See http://www.electric-works.net/contact for map.

RSVP
openingparty@electric-works.net

PS Did we mention you can ride on the helter skelter?!

www.electric-works.net

16th March, Project management in your business - An introduction to PRINCE2 and Agile

2009-03-09T15:38:00.000-07:00

Project management in your business - An introduction to PRINCE2 and Agile

Monday 16th March 2009, 6.00pm - 8.00pm

nti Leeds, Old Broadcasting House

Are you considering implementing project management methods in your business? Do you want to be able to more rigorously analyse the business case for new projects, and increase your profitability and effectiveness? Are you involved with software development?

Come along to nti, Old Broadcasting House on 16th March at 6pm and find out from our expert trainers the key features of PRINCE2 and Agile methods. The evening takes the form of a panel discussion. Panel members include Marian Watson, the nti’s PRINCE2 trainer, and Mark Stringer from Agile Lab. Marian and Mark will each give an overview of the key features and benefits of PRINCE2 and Agile methods.

Our aim is to provide you with the information to help you consider what will work for you, as well as giving you an understanding of two very different, and complimentary approaches to project management.

PRINCE2 has become the de-facto standard for project management, not just in the UK, but in many countries throughout the world. Each week 2000 people worldwide take the PRINCE2 Practitioner examination

Agile methods are a group of techniques which make it easier to deliver IT and web-based projects in environments of uncertainty and constant change

Caroline Skipsey, Commercial Director at Brahm will take part in the panel, sharing her experiences of using PRINCE2. Caroline has worked on television and film productions both here and in the states. In her current role she oversees the digital project management team at Brahm. The team are responsible for resource planning, budget monitoring and process management across all digital clients

Matt Green is Chief Technology Officer and Company Director at Rockshore, Sheffield. He has over 10 years experience of leadership, technical design, development and consultancy on large scale enterprise applications, networks and communication systems. Rockshore use agile development techniques to build real-time event processing software in the travel and mobile communications sectors. He will take part in the panel, sharing his experiences of Agile

This event is free to attend to companies and individuals based within the Yorkshire region.
To register for this event please click here

9th March: WYLUG meeting - Talk on HTML5 by Dave Fisher

2009-03-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

This month Dave Fisher is going to be giving a talk on HTML5.

HTML 5 - What's New, Why It Matters, And What You Can Do With It
================================================================
1 New elements and attributes
2 Modified elements and attributes
3 Deprecated elements and attributes
4 Images and multimedia elements
* figure, audio, video and embed
5 Scripting
* Canvas and GUI scripting
* More support for web-apps
* Detailed DOM spec
6 Forms
* New controls
* Scripting support
7 Prescriptive browser behaviour
* Error handling, including invalid content
* Non-XML serialisation
* Rendering consistency

Dave's last talk was superb and I am glad he has agreed to come back so soon to do another.

The meeting officially starts at 7:00pm, but the room will be open for coffee, tea and chat from 6:00pm. Afterwards, we usually go to the Victoria pub, behind the Town Hall, for more geeky chatter.

Location:
Old Broadcasting House
148 Woodhouse Lane
Leeds
LS2 9EN

More location details on the OBH contact page (
http://www.oldbroadcastinghouse.com/contact/
or on Open Street Map
(http://www.openstreetmap.org/?lat=53.80565lon=-1.5487&zoom=17&layers=B000FTF

19th March NWRUG - Search in your Rails app

2009-03-01T13:53:00.001-08:00

Search is an essential part of most web applications and building up
‘like’ clauses in code just doesn’t cut it. This month we have three
talks on three different search daemons so you have the knowledge to
go away and add quality search to your app.

This month we have sponsorship from Brightbox so there will be free
Pizza, Beer and soft drinks after the talks, and maybe some T-Shirts
and stickers too.

Schedule

• 6:30pm :: Welcome & Registration
• 7:00pm :: Talks on Sphinx, Solr & Ferret by Will Jessop, Asa Calow
& John Leach
• 7:45pm :: Pizzas/Beer/Soft-drinks provided by Brightbox
• 8:30pm :: Drinks at the The Paramount
If you want more information email nwrug@willj.net or call Will

Sign Up
If you would like to attend this event please email me at nwrug@willj.net
as I really need to know the numbers so I can order the right amount
of food and drink. You can also sign up on the Upcoming event page
(linked to from the site) if you want, but email me as-well.

Location
This meeting is being held at our regular venue, the MDDA offices on
Portland Street in central Manchester.