SimBlogging: Agile 2008 Toronto Visit

'SimBlogging' offers a his and hers viewpoint where Pascal and Portia timebox-blog as a pair on the same topics simultaneously

Rough Guide to Toronto

• Darwin at the Royal Ontario Museum - the story of Darwin as a curious young man seeking to better understand the world around him which has helped us to better understand ourselves
• Casa Loma - a dream come true for one man whose wife was the Head of the Girl Scouts
• Niagara on the Lake - where shops like Just Christmas are frequented by locals and tourists every day of the year
• Maid of the Mist at Niagara Falls - THE best wet ride I've been on in one of Nature's most beautiful amusement parks

Agile 2008

• 'Bimbo Slides' - for describing presentations that look good but have a conflicting message when the volume's turned up
• 'Lego Moment' - describes a moment in time when you realise a missing piece in your experience you never knew you lacked or needed to complete a task at hand

Chilling Out and Staying Cool

• Chez Gino's - an impromptu home-cooked lunch in the red light district served by a charming Belgian Agile coach in Toronto
• Potted Canadian history in 30 minutes - a compelling account of 400 years of Canadian history in 30 minutes on indigenous people from Allison over a tasty sushi lunch
• Pairing on Mission Dress Smart - where two Agile coaches practice giving feedback to one another on the most subjective and volatile of topics
• Dinner with Ben - meeting Christophe Thibault's other half (binôme) at a restaurant called the Queen Mother's

Looking into the Mirror

• Strangers to ourselves - where we ask: Mirror, Mirror on the wall - if I can only change myself and everyone has value, how can I become better?
• Playing with strangers - Playing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves kanban as a fun networking exercise where everyone gets to take a good look at themselves in the mirror

Les Neuf Cases aka The Nine Boxes

• Running a session in French and English - Les Neuf Cases (The Nine Boxes) helped bring together participants with a common interest in learning how to get the questions right in order to ask the right questions
• Bilingual session preparation - in which Pascal and Portia have fun preparing for a dramatisation of what happens when folks discover the customer's need by asking the right questions

Value-Driven Presenters

• Ice cream and tasty cupcakes - meeting people who are passionate about learning new things and know that the best way to learn is through fun and games
• Show me the money - helping out at the sneak preview of the Business Value game created by Pascal and Vera, the pair who brought you the ubiquitous XP Game
• Doing not just talking - the best sessions at the conference were those offering practical techniques such as Mike Cohn's 'Prioritising the Product Backlog' and Christian and Christoph's 'Conflict Resolution Diagram' from the Theory of Constraints Thinking Tools
• Mini celebrations - whenever participants found our sessions useful and relevant so that everyone can become a little more agile every day