The Wit and Ramblings of David Giard - Community
Demanding rigidly defined areas of doubt and uncertainty

Episode 70

Dave Bost, the host of the popular Thirsty Developer podcast discusses what goes into each episode and some of the technology he uses to record and produce the show.

Episode 69

Shortly after CodeMash, chief cat herder Jim Holmes discusses what went into the planning and what makes this conference different.

I gave a talk on MEF a numbe of times during January. You can get the slides and demo from the link below

or you can view the slides below:

Episode 68

James Bender, Mike Wood and Chris Woodruff created NPlus1.org to assist software architects, lead developers and those aspiring to these roles. In this interview, James and Mike discuss the goals and accomplishments of NPlus1.

Many software developers are using Pair Programming to increase the quality and maintainability of their code. In a pair programming environment, two programmers work together to write code.

Tonight in Southfield, MI, the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group is sponsoring a pair programming event, which we have labeled The Motor City Codeslingers. We invite programmers who work in any language to bring their laptops and pair with another developer. You may bring a side project with you, work on an open source project, work on a programming exercise (we'll provide a few) or just exchange ideas.

Joe O'Brien is a noted Ruby developer and owner of EdgeCase in Columbus, OH. He has agreed to stop by and provide some mentoring on pair programming techniques. Joe's company is well-known for its commitment to pairing as a way to maintain high quality.

The Motor City Codeslingers will meet at the Biggby Coffee House at 26185 Evergreen Rd in Southfield, MI tonight from 6-9PM. If we fill up Biggby, the overflow crowd can head to the Potbelly or Chipotle next door. The official announcement for this event is at http://is.gd/7pFGL

I hope to see you there.

Episode 67

In this interview, Steven "Doc" List discusses the concepts behind Open Spaces and Community Courtyards and his role in facilitating these events.

I smiled as I drove across the state line into Michigan Friday morning. I was returning home from spending most of the week in Ohio, speaking at user groups throughout the state.

I spoke about Managed Extensibility Framework at four user groups over three days in four different cities.

Tuesday, I spoke at an internal user group of the Cincinnati Financial Corporation, before heading over to the Cincinnati .Net User Group in Mason, OH. Wednesday I drove up to Dayton to speak at the Dayton .Net Developers Group. Thursday I presented to a packed house in Columbus at the Central Ohio .Net Developers Group.

The trip was a great success. At each stop, the crowd was larger than their average meeting.  Everywhere I went I heard probing questions that indicated that I was communicating the concepts of MEF and loosely-coupled architecture. This was gratifying as most people had no idea what MEF was when they arrived at my talk.

The best of the trip was that I had a chance to see old friends. I spent ten years living and working in the Cincinnati area and many of my former colleagues came out to hear me. Some I hadn't seen in years. I once worked for a Columbus-based company, and through them I got to know much of the developer community in that area and I saw many familiar faces in Central Ohio this week. Tuesday and Thursday night, we went out for drinks after the meeting, which gave me a chance to talk one-on-one with a lot of smart people.

I also got a chance to see the inside of the Sogeti offices in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus and talk with some of the team in these offices.

I had a great time on this tour and I'd love to do another one.

Thank you to all who came out to hear my talk. Thank you especially to Mike Wood, Jim Holmes and James Bender, who allowed me to stay at their homes on my trip.

Tomorrow I travel to Ohio for a user group tour. This is a trip I've been hoping to do for some time. The .Net user groups in Cincinnati, Dayton and Columbus meet on consecutive evenings, so I am planning to speak at each of these this week. The idea began last summer, when I invited Phil Japikse to come to Michigan from Cincinnati and speak at the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group. I notified the leaders of user groups in Toledo and Lansing that Phil would be in town and they invited him to speak at their groups the same week. Phil asked me to come to Cincinnati in January and he reached out to Dayton User Group president Joe Wirtley about hosting me in Dayton the following night. Joe liked the idea and confirmed the meeting. Later, I contacted James Bender, the newly-elected president of the Central Ohio .Net Developers Group in Columbus about completing the sweep through the Buckeye state. He had already booked Jeff McPherson for January but Jeff was willing to defer his talk to March, allowing me to speak Thursday in Columbus.

Phil and Mike Wood have also arranged for me to speak at an internal user group at the Cincinnati Financial Group Tuesday afternoon.

So I'll be doing 4 user group presentations in 3 cities in 3 days. The topic will be the same for each talk: Extending your application with the Microsoft Managed Extensibility Framework. I've given this talk a number of times in the past, but I recently reworked my presentation and added to my demos. I'm excited to do this tour. It reminds me of a similar tour I did during the fall of 2008, when I spoke at user groups in Toledo, Southfield and Lansing on consecutive nights. By the time I got to Lansing, I knew the material inside and out.

My schedule at public groups this week is

Tuesday 1/26: Cincinnati .Net User Group (http://www.cinnug.org)

Wednesday 1/27: Dayton .Net Developers Group (http://daytondevgroup.net)

Thursday 1/28: Central Ohio .Net Developers Group (http://condg.org)

If you are in or near Cincinnati, Dayton or Columbus this week, I hope you come to hear my talk and to say 'Hello'.

Today I host my first meeting as president of the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group (GANG). I've been an active member of this group for a couple years and I've always been impressed with the way it was run. Still I had ideas about ways it can be improved and I've lately given a lot of thought as to the direction I want to the group this year. In this column, I'll share some of my goals for GANG for the year and discuss how I and my team plan to meet those goals.

Below are my goals for GANG for 2010

• Get members more engaged and involved
• Increase meeting attendance by 50%
• Increase supporting membership by 30%
• Continue to attract high-quality speakers
• Increase sponsorship by 100%
• Finish year in the black financially
• Here is how I expect us to meet these goals

Goal: Get members more engaged and involved
For the next few months, we will give members an opportunity to present a Lightning Talk prior to the main presentation. A Lightning Talk is a technical presentation lasting 10 minutes or less. It gives the group a chance to hear a new voice and a new topic; and gives the presenter experience at public speaking in a safe and friendly environment.
We will designate 20-30 minutes prior to each meeting as "networking time". Food will be served during this period and members will be encouraged to meet and talk with one another. We will provide name tags to facilitate this networking.
Typically a few of us go out for a drink after each meeting. Going forward, we will announce this to the group, so that anyone is welcome to attend. Note that this is not a GANG-sponsored activity (translation: buy your own drinks and be responsible for your own actions)
Between each meeting, we are sponsoring a pair-programming session known as Motor City Codeslingers. This is a chance for developers to get together with their laptop and discuss coding issues or work on programs together. The next meeting takes place Monday February 1 at 6PM at Biggby Coffee House (26185 Evergreen Rd in Southfield)

Goal: Increase meeting attendance by 50%
Southeast Michigan has thousands of .Net developers and we are reaching only a small fraction of them. I believe we can increase our attendance by reaching out to the following groups: Developers active in nearby user groups; Developers in corporate IT departments; graduating computer science students; and independent developers. We are asking our current members to advertise their friends and co-workers to tell them about this group. I plan to contact local universities to promote the group to graduating seniors; and I have been reaching out to leaders of user groups in Michigan and Ohio, offering to promote their group in exchange for them promoting ours.
As an attendance incentive, we are running a promotion the first half of 2010. In June, we will have a drawing for a Zune HD. You can increase your chances in this drawing by attending meetings and by bringing guests to meetings.

Goal: Increase supporting membership by 30%
It costs money to put on a user group. Our dues are very low relative to other professional organizations. The renewal rate 2010 will be $40 per year. This is the first increase the group has ever had in its existence. If you are currently a supporting member, you remain a member at the until your next renewal date.
In the past, we haven't done a good job of thanking our members and reminding them when it is time for a renewal. We will address both these by including a slide in our presentations listing and thanking each supporting member and displaying their renewal date.
We also offer a new gold membership level for $100. This is for members who wish to contribute more to our organization. Gold members will be recognized publicly at each meeting.

Goal: Continue to attract high-quality speakers
This is something that GANG has always done well, so I have no intention of changing how we get our speakers.

Goal: Increase sponsorship by 100%
Printing, communication, web sites and food at meetings all contribute to the costs of running a user group. Most of this cost is offset by sponsorship.
Due to the weak southeast Michigan economy, sponsorship dropped off significantly in 2009. We have set an ambitious goal this year of doubling the amount of money and merchandise we get from sponsors during 2010. We have already secured two new sponsors for the year and look forward to retaining all our sponsors from last year.
This year, we will display our sponsors more prominently. At the beginning each meeting, a slide show will loop to announce the speaker, the topic, and the sponsor for the meeting. We will also have a framed sponsor flyer next to the attendance sheet during the meeting. Of course, we will continue to promote our sponsors on our web site and in our monthly newsletter.

Goal: Finish year in the black financially
This sounds obvious, but at the end of last year, we borrowed money to cover the cost of food at some meetings. As a result, we owed money at the end of the year. This year, we have decided to be more responsible: We have resolved not to purchase anything until we have money to pay for it. If a meeting has no sponsor, we may end up foregoing food or limiting ourselves to chips and pop.

And Now... Meet the gang behind GANG!
We have a great leadership team this year at GANG. No one holds the same position as last year, but three of our officers have served on the board in the past.
John Hopkins is a former President of GANG and is now the Vice President. His biggest project this year is recruiting sponsorships.
Kent Feribach served as Secretary last year and is now the Treasurer. In my opinion, this is the position with the most responsibility.
Gerhard Weiss is new to the GANG board but he has brought a lot of energy and fresh ideas to the group in the short term he has held this position.

So we hope you will consider being a part of this group and our goals. We meet the third Wednesday evening of each month at the Microsoft office in the Towne Center in Southfield, MI.

CodeMash came to an end too quickly.

Friday lunch featured an entertaining keynote by Andy Hunt, who discussed the challenges of life in the high-tech world, the differences between the generations, and ways for developers to improve their existence.

Late in the day, I delivered a session on the Microsoft Managed Extensibility Framework. My talk wasn't until 3PM, so I spent a good chunk of the day preparing for it.

One of the hallways at CodeMash was filled with PCs, preloaded with Visual Studio 2010 labs. I spent some time going through these labs, including writing F# code for the first time.

Of course, I recorded a few more Technology And Friends episodes with some smart developers.

I had a great experience this week. The CodeMash organizers made an effort to ensure that one always had multiple options at any given time. There were as many as nine sessions during each time slot; If none of those interested you, you could attend an open space, pair program, complete an online lab, or exchange ideas with other attendees. Social hours in the evening, included a game room, a concert (featuring Canadian-Celtic artist Enter the Haggis, and ad hoc gatherings in the hotel bar or in various hotel rooms.

I made a special effort this year to make new connections. I decided in advance that I would not eat with the same people each meal and I would eat with as many strangers as possible.  Doing so helped to expand the network from which I can learn.

It's no wonder that I had no time to set foot in the water park.

Although I've been here at the Kalahari since Tuesday, today was officially the first day of CodeMash.

The first session I attended was an Introduction to Silverlight talk in which Jesse Liberty walked through the basics of creating a simple online data form, showing off the layout elements and databinding features of Silverlight.

I followed this by attending a session on JQuery. The presenter - Adam McCrea - was a Ruby developer working on a Mac (I'm a .Net developer working on a PC), but it didn't matter as he showed a few simple JQuery functions to perform some tasks inside a browser.

I attended an open space in the afternoon. The topic - MEF and Silverlight - sounded intriguing but I left when it went far off-track, devolving into a debate over the usefulness of MEF and Inversion of Control container. This might have been an interesting side topic, but the arguments seemed fueled by emotion and I had little desire to engage, so I left halfway through.

Lunch featured a keynote address by Microsoft engineer Hank Janssen, who has been instrumental in bringing PHP to the Microsoft platform. IIS now supports PHP and bridges the gap with other open source technologies. This was a topic I know very little about, so I was able to absorb a lot of new information. As an bonus, NPlus1 sponsored a private dinner with Hank, where community leaders could ask him questions about Microsoft's future plans with open source technologies. I wasn't able to contribute much to this conversation, but it was a delight to listen to others discuss it in detail. Microsoft appears to be opening up their technologies and making them available to work with open source tools more than ever and it seems this trend will continue.

I recorded a half dozen more Technology and Friends episodes throughout the day. Topics include MongoDB, Open Spaces, and Software Craftsmanship. I will edit and release in the coming weeks.

CodeMash officially begins tomorrow, but you wouldn't know it if you saw all the activity here at the Kalahari.

My morning was spent seeking out and talking with smart people. Many times, I get more information at a conference from hallway conversations than from sessions. None of the morning sessions appealed to me, so I learned of technologies and Microsoft programs and jobs and people.

In the afternoon, I attended Mary Poppendieck presented a 4-hour session titled "Competency and Leadership in Software Development". I was excited to see this because I recently read and enjoyed the book "Lean Software Development – An Agile Toolkit",

that Mary co-wrote with her husband Tom. This session focused on what it takes for individuals and teams to achieve expert competencies (years of directed practice); followed by types and characteristics of effective leaders (such as transmitting passion and commitment to the team).

Afterwards, I was happy that Tom and Mary agreed to record an episode of Technology And Friends. I expect to release this episode shortly.

In the evening, the folks who produce the Java Posse hosted a panel discussion on stage. Java developers were joined by C# expert Bill Wagner and F# tester and author Chris Smith to answer questions submitted by podcast listeners.

I missed dinner Wednesday night but I did get to meet some of the evangelists from DevExpress whom I know of by reputation.

Bedtime came late and Thursday comes early but tomorrow will be a full schedule.      

Juanary is offically MEF month. I have scheduled "Extending Your Application with the Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF)" at least 6 times this month. The first time was last week, when I delivered a Grok Talk at Sogeti that was available via Live Meeting.

The following presentations will all be about MEF

• Fri Jan 15 at 3PM, I will be delivering a vendor session at CodeMash in Sandusky, OH.
• Tue Jan 26 at Noon, I will deliver a presentation to Financial Corp User Group in Cincinnati, OH.
• Tue Jan 26 at 6PM, I will present at the Cincinnati .Net User Group in Mason, OH
• Wed Jan 27 at 6PM, I will present at the Dayton .Net User Group in Dayton, OH
• Thu Jan 28 at 6PM, I will present at the Central Ohio .Net User Group in Columbus, OH

In addition, I will deliver two presentations Fri Jan 22 at the State of MI Developer Briefing in Lansing, MI.

• At 1PM, I will deliver my MEF presentation (of course).
  At 2:30PM, I will present on "Speeding your application with Microsoft Velocity".
  

2009 was a difficult year for me in many ways. My sister Denise was less than three years older than me when she passed away in July. Her death left a wound that is still healing. Worse than her death was the revelation afterward that she had been betrayed by someone close to her - someone we all trusted. We are still fighting this battle and it continues to elevate stress in my family.

But I also experienced many positives events in 2009.

The support of friends and family has been instrumental in getting me through these difficult times. If you are in this group, then I thank you. The tragedy shared by my family has brought us closer together in many ways.

My two sons continue to grow (physically and emotionally) and they continue to impress me with each new stage of their life. Timmy is now in high school and is showing more leadership qualities than I expected. Not long ago, he organized an independent basketball team completely on his own. They competed in a large league and he even convinced his brother to coach the team. His team performed well, despite playing in a league with kids mostly 1-2 years older. Timmy is working hard to balance school work with football and basketball. Nick is in his first year at Michigan State University. The time away from home is maturing him and each time I see him, I see more of a man and less of a boy. I remember a similar transformation in me during my first year at MSU. I particularly admire the fact that he is setting high goals for himself.

I have been dating a woman for quite a while. She didn't grow up in the US and her background is very different from mine, which presents some challenges; however, she is exceptionally kind and she is the most giving person I have ever met and I'm grateful she remains part of my life.

I did a fair amount of volunteer work this year, but most of it was not altruistic. I volunteer at a local non-profit music club in exchange for free admission to the concerts; I volunteer at the local public access TV station as a way to learn more about television production. The most good I did through volunteering was with the three Give Camps in which I was involved this year. I'm looking forward to participating more next year.

The biggest personal goal I did not hit this year was to lose 25 pounds. Resolving my sister's estate, being a single father, and other commitments kept me in the car so much that I had little time to exercise. Still this needs to be on the list next year.

One of my professional goals for this year was to be more involved in the software development community. In particular, I wanted to do more public speaking.  In 2009, I spoke at 5 conferences, 4 user groups, 3 internal Sogeti talks and 2 special events (ArcReady and NPlus1 summit). I expect this trend to continue as I have 5 presentations scheduled for January 2009.

I also became more involved in the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group this year. As Vice President, I took on the role of speaker coordinator and was able to line up some excellent presentations for the group.

In January I began production of my TV show "Technology and Friends" (although the show did not have a title for the first few episodes). During 2009, I published 63 episodes online. Recently this show has also begun airing on Channel 17 of my local cable system. Recording and producing was a great experience. It gives me the opportunity to talk with a lot of smart people and I have learned a lot about software, communication and video production.

I began my blog two years ago, but I devoted more energy to it in 2009. This article is the 155the entry for the year - an average of almost 13 per month. I don't know if I'll keep up that pace in 2010.

Despite the poor economy in Michigan, I managed to stay employed all year. During 2009, I worked for a significant time for three customers. At the end of each engagement, each customer had wonderful things to say about my work.

As the Microsoft Application Development lead in Michigan for Sogeti, I focused primarily on technical training for our consultants and on building a sense of community. I organized a series of "Grok Talks"  designed to exchange information. Some talks were delivered by Sogeti consultants (giving them valuable presentation experience) and some by experts in the industry. This was a big success and we plan to continue it next year, even though I will not continue in the same lead role.

As I write this, I realize that 2009 had more positives than negatives. The loss of my sister and subsequent discoveries still made it a difficult year, but I was able to accomplish a lot, thanks to some hard work and the support of family and friends.

I am looking forward to a happy and productive 2010. I have big plans, some of which I plan to share soon on this site.

Happy New Year and may God bless you all. 

The Great Lakes Area .Net User Group traditionally does not hold a regular meeting in December.

This year, we will replace the December meeting with a special event. Software developers in the area are invited to come together to share code and ideas in an informal setting.

I first heard of this idea from my friend Mike Wood. He is on the board of the Cincinnati .Net User Group, which sponsors a monthly pair coding meeting that they refer to as "Bitslingers". Shortly after hearing of Mike's group, I learned that a similar meetup took place weekly in Columbus. Because the Columbus folks meet in the morning, they call their group "Code and Coffee". I'm trying to think of a clever name for the Detroit area meetup.

The first Detroit-area meetup will be Wednesday December 16 from 6-9PM at Biggby Coffee at 26185 Evergreen Rd in Southfield, MI. If Biggby gets too crowded, we will move next door to Potbelly.

Bring your laptop and experience pair programming and exchange ideas with other bright .Net developers. Work on an open source project or dive into a new technology or explore a new technique or learn a new language.

I will be there with a personal project I started to help me learn ASP.Net MVC and the Entity Framework.

If this event is successful, we will consider holding it regularly.

For the third consecutive year, I will be attending CodeMash. This annual event will next be held at the Kalahari Resort in Sandusky, OH January 13-15.

I really like the CodeMash conference. Here's why

1. It has a regional feel.
There are a lot of bright, passionate developers in Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee. You will see a good number of them at CodeMash, as presenters and as attendees.

2. The content and speakers are excellent.
I've heard many of these speakers before and it's an impressive list. In addition to thought leaders from the Heartland, CodeMash attracts internationally known authors and speakers, such as Mary Poppendieck, Chris Smith, Andy Hunt, Jim Wooley and Gary Short.

3. It's cross-platform.
As a .Net developer, it's easy for me to get tunnel vision regarding how I do software design and development. Learning from Ruby, Java and Python developers gives me a different perspective.

4. The sessions aren't the only place to learn.
There are so many smart people at these conferences that I learn as much outside the sessions as I do in them. I can talk to an expert in the hallway and ask specific questions about my project; or I can attend an open space and discuss a topic of interest with other smart people.

5. It is affordable.
It's tough to find a better deal than this. The cost for the 2-day conference is currently $220 (It would have been only $175 if you had registered last week. Sorry.) An optional "precompiler" day will set you back another $75. Compare that with a national conference like PDC, which costs thousands of dollars.

6. It's fun.
What can I say? I thrive on interacting with these folks. They are passionate about many of the same things I am. Plus there are activities at night, such as parties and poker tournaments. There is even an indoor water park at the resort. Many attendees bring their families with them to enjoy the slides while they are at the conference.

Interested yet? Is so, you can get more information at CodeMash.org. But hurry. I rushed to write this because I just saw a tweet announcing that only about 30 tickets remain.

Episode 61

Chris Woodruff organized the 2009 Grand Rapids Give Camp which helped dozens of charities with software projects. On the final day of the Give Camp, Chris sat down with us to describe what went into the camp and what was accomplished.

By any measure, this past weekend's Grand Rapids Give Camp was a big success.

Over 70 volunteers worked at the Grand Rapids YMCA to build software projects for dozens of charities. Most of the volunteers were technical people - Developers, Database Administrators and Designers - but some came to assist with the logistics. In additions, local companies provided food, drink, facilities, giveaways.

Projects ranged from new web sites to automated contact management systems. Chris Woodruff, who coordinated the event was impressed with the quality of the work he saw. "We have such a great technical community, so (getting volunteers) was the easiest part," said Woodruff. When it was all over, the charity representatives were happy and several declared that the delivery exceeded their expectations.

Speaking commitments and family emergencies have kept me from fully engaging in past Give Camps, so this was the first one in which I contributed the entire weekend. My team created a web site for the Kent County 4-H Council, which they can easily update without hiring a technical resource. You can see the site at http://kentcounty4hcouncil.com/.

Woodruff is already thinking about next year's event, which will likely be held in July on the same weekend as a similar event in ann arbor.

More photos

Many computers today ship with multiple processors and with multi-core processors.

In order for programs to take advantage of multiple cores, application developers need to write code that runs in parallel - that is that runs simultaneously on two or more cores. The upcoming .Net 4.0 provides tools to make it easier for developers to write such code.

The Parallel Extensions library eases the pain of building multi-threaded applications. Enhancements include a set of APIs to abstract away the complexity of parallel processing; a set of thread-safe collections appropriate for use with parallel processing; and enhancements to the System.Threading namespace.

Stephen Toub of the Microsoft's Parallel Computing team is touring the Midwest this week speaking about this new technology. Friday October 30, Stephen will be at the Microsoft office in Southfield, MI at a special meeting of the Great Lakes Area .Net User Group.

You can get more information and register for this event at http://migang.org/NewsItem/09-10-16/special_user_group_meeting_oct_30_parallel_computing_with_stephen_toub.aspx

Episode 51

Chris Hay is a Scotsman living in Cambridge, England. He has made several trips this year to developer conferences in North America. In this interview, he discusses what goes into a good presentation and how developer communities in the UK differ from those on my side of the ocean.

Just because I've resigned myself to the inevitability that I will never know everything about every technology, this does not excuse me from having to know a little about everything. As a consultant, I need to be aware of what is going on in the industry: I need speak intelligently about different products and I often have to make educated choices about available technologies.

This is why I'm an avid listener of tech podcast. The recent explosion of available podcasts has helped me stay aware of technology, and to do so in the limited time available to me.

Below is a list of the technology podcasts to which I currently subscribe. The list is presented in no particular order, but I recommend each one. If I don’t like a podcast, I've stopped listening to it and it doesn't appear in this list.

.Net Rocks
http://www.dotnetrocks.com/

This is the first podcast that I started listening to and it remains one of my favorites. Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell have been hosting this show for so long that they have access to almost anyone who does anything related to Microsoft development. The quality of their guests is top notch and I never miss an episode.

Hanselminutes
http://www.hanselminutes.com/

Scot Hanselman is probably my favorite interviewer among tech podcasters. When I do interviews for my show, my goal is to sound as much like Scot as possible. He draws out the guests because he either understands their topic in advance or he quickly grasps it. His humor is understated, which makes for an entertaining show and he has years of real-world experience, making his opinions relevant.

Deep Fried Bytes
http://deepfriedbytes.com/

I started listening to this show because I knew the hosts - Keith and Woody. I continue to listen because I like the content. This is a show that continually improves itself. It's been a couple months since their last episode, so I don't know if they are still committed to a regular schedule.

Polymorphic Podcast
http://polymorphicpodcast.com/

There are two things I really like about Craig Shoemaker's podcast: The guests tend to be those who don't appear on other podcasts; and Craig keeps the show to a reasonable length. The show always remains fresh for me.

Run As Radio
http://www.runasradio.com/

This podcast is a little outside my comfort zone because it focuses on networking and other IT topics, rather than on programming and architecture. But Richard Campbell and Greg Hughes work to keep it accessible, so I always learn something.

Feel the Func
http://feelthefunc.com/

This one is relatively new and I started listening to it right from the start. Mike Neel leads the discussion and does most of the talking. I don’t think they are doing a lot of editing, which means that you always hear the good parts and bad parts of each conversation.  I really enjoyed a recent show in which Mike interviewed Brian Prince and Jennifer Marsman.

SodThis
http://www.sodthis.com/podcast/

I had just about given up hope on this one. I loved the first 5 episodes that DevExpress evangelists Oliver Sturm and Gary Short put together. They combined interesting interviews with their own witty conversations. Then, after five episodes, SodThis disappeared into limbo. I assumed they had abandoned the project but they released Episode 6 yesterday.

Thirsty Developer
http://www.thirstydeveloper.com/

I just recently began to listen to The Thirsty Developer. It sound like many of the episodes were recorded in a busy Starbucks, which degrades the sound quality but creates a more relaxed atmosphere for the guests, so the conversation flows freely and enthusiastically. Larry Clarkin is the main guy, but he is sometimes assisted by Dave Bost.  They do a good job keeping conversations moving and engaging.

Alt.Net
http://altnetpodcast.com/

Technically I'm still subscribing to this podcast, but I don't know if there are any plans to resume it. I really liked the first few shows I heard, which focused on advanced .Net topics. But they haven't released an episode since April and the last two consisted largely of arguments about whether or not the Alt.Net community is still relevant. Maybe the silence answered that question.

Herding Code
http://herdingcode.com/

I've been listening to Herding Code since its first episode. Originally this was very different from most podcasts because they rarely had guests. Instead, the four hosts exchanged ideas with one another on a preselected topic. This format worked because John Galloway, Scott Koon, K. Scott Allen and Kevin Dente are engaging and articulate enough to keep bringing fresh ideas on each topic. Recently, they have switched to inviting more guests to the show.

Stack Overflow
http://blog.stackoverflow.com/category/podcasts/

This is another podcast that seldom relies on guests to interview. Instead, Jeff Atwood and Joel Spolsky chat (or spar) about a variety of topics. Again, this is a format that only works if the hosts are very clever and these two guys definitely are. Because Atwood is still in the process of building the popular StackOverflow web site, much of the conversation revolves around the challenges he faces.

So these are the podcasts that I listen to regularly. I can keep up because I have a long commute and I enjoy my IPod at the gym and while doing housework.  Having said that, I’d love to hear about high-quality technical podcasts that you can recommend.

Those who attended DevLink last week should enjoy these photos I took. Even if you didn't attend, you may like to see shots of what you missed or people you know.  You can view over 200 photos here.

If you have a very short attention span or if you enjoy the heart-pounding music of Link Wray, the slideshow below is for you.  Turn up your speakers and move your furniture out onto the front lawn before clicking 'Play'.

2 mins, 28 secs

Episode 42

The 2009 Lansing Day of .Net was held August 1 at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing, MI. This was the first event that Dennis Burton organized and he discussed it with us here.

8 mins, 28 secs

John Kellar stood on stage in the final minutes of the DevLink closing ceremonies, gazing across the audience and smiling. In front of him, someone was introducing the members of the staff that had helped him organize and execute the conference. Behind me, the applause began. A few people in the back stood and clapped; then two more in front stood up; then I stood and applauded; soon, the entire auditorium was on its feet, cheering those who had put together an amazing conference.

John said he wanted to focus on the entire conference experience to make it worthwhile for the attendees. He succeeded at an amazing level.

Here are some highlights from my experience at DevLink 2009

'Configuration Management with Team Foundation Server' presented by Steve Andrews
The first day, all sessions were three hours long. Steve Andrews showed how to configure the automated build settings in TFS. He dug deep into the details of TFS and showed the various options available for continuous integration and how to customize the process.

'Good ways to use Live Mesh' Open Space
I called this session because I wanted to use Live Mesh as my backup strategy, easing my angst about rebuilding a laptop or PC. Jeff Blankenberg showed me the details of this very cool technology, answering all my questions and showing how he used Mesh to backup and share files.  Others looked over our shoulder as he did so, making this a successful Open Space for several people.

'MEF' Open Space
I have been delivering a talk on Managed Extensibility Framework (MEF) for almost year. But in this session, I got to ask questions of Kathleen Dollard, who has been working with this framework on a production application and has some very definite ideas about the future of MEF. It’s startling to me how much I learned during this hour.

'Enhance your .NET Application with SSRS' presented by Jessica Moss
Jessica had some hardware issues in this session, but recovered well enough to put on a solid presentation. I was glad to see because I have a customer looking for a class on SSRS and she looks like a good candidate for that.

'Dot Net Rocks' panel discussion
Prior to the closing ceremonies, Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell recorded an episode of their popular Dot Net Rocks podcast. A panel consisting of Josh Holmes, Jim Holmes, Kathleen Dollard and Billy Hollis discussed whether software development was becoming too complex. It wasn't one of Franklin and Campbell's best shows, but it was fun to watch them perform live.

Networking
Conferences are a chance to meet up with old friends, meet new friends and exchange ideas. DevLink was particularly good for this because so many people attended from outside my geographic region. The usual suspects from Michigan and Ohio were there, but I spoke with people from Atlanta, Virginia, Colorado, Canada and Great Britain.  Hallway conversations were as good as any I’ve had at a conference.  We were even able to meet in a more relaxed atmosphere at several organized evening events. The 3-day format made it possible to establish relationships with people through multiple conversations. John Kellar reminded me that this is not an accident and it's the reason the word "Link" appears in the conference name.

Technology and Friends
I recorded thirteen interviews for my show at this conference. I've already released one episode and cannot wait to produce and share the rest.

This was the best-run community conference I have attended to date. From the time I woke up to the time I went to bed, there was not a minute that I lacked something to do and learn. Often I had to choose between two or three options. I am already looking forward to next year.

DevLink web site

Episode 40

On the third and final day of DevLink 2009, John Kellar sat down and talked about the planning and work that went into the conference; what the conference accomplished; and what it meant to the developer community.

13 mins, 35 secs

A year ago, I was surprised to find myself on a bus rolling toward Tennessee.  Although I had made it a habit of attending as many community events in the area as I could, Tennessee seemed too far to travel for a conference. So I originally balked at the idea of going all the way to Murfreesboro, TN for the DevLink conference.

But I found myself between jobs last August and I decided I needed to use this free time to network with others in the IT industry.  So, at the eleventh hour, I found an unused ticket; reserved a hotel room; and signed up for the community bus ride from Michigan to Tennessee.

For so many reasons, going to DevLink turned out to be the right decision.  I saw some very good sessions (Joe Wirtley's WPF presentation remains one of the best I've seen on the topic) and I got my first real taste of open spaces done well. But, more importantly, I met so many passionate people from the developer community. Looking back, it's startling to me how close I've become with some of them in just a few months.

This was one of the events that triggered for me an intense involvement in the developer community.  Since returning from DevLink, I've spoken at numerous user groups and conferences; I've become an officer for a local .Net user group; I've blogged with a vengeance; and I've become one of those loud opinionated guys you see on Twitter and at local events.

I won't say that DevLink is solely responsible for my community involvement over the past year. But I definitely found inspiration in the passion folks I saw there.

This year, I'm planning a return trip to DevLink. The speaker lineup and the agenda look amazing; the event has expanded to three days and moved from Murfreesboro to Nashville; and the Open Spaces area promises to provide more stimulating discussion.

I spent most of my time at the 2008 DevLink in the Open Spaces area, but this time, I plan to attend more sessions. I'll also bring my still camera to capture the faces of the attendees and I'll bring my video camera to capture fresh ideas from passionate developers for my Technology and Friends show.

I hope to reconnect with many in the developer community and meet new people there. If you see me at DevLink - even if we haven't met before - please approach me and say "Hello". I'm looking forward to talking with you.

Michael Eaton slumped in his chair and allowed his arms to fall to his side. Ten minutes earlier, he had been rushing up the stairs to find a designer to help out a team in need.  But now, relaxing in a quiet room with the door closed, the lack of rest began to catch up to him.  Two hours sleep Friday night on a classroom floor with a coat for a pillow seemed an appropriate way to cap off months of preparation for the 2009 Ann Arbor Give Camp.

It was Saturday afternoon and the 3-day camp was about half over, but every indication pointed to a successful event. Sixty developers descended on Washtenaw Community College (WCC) and were huddled together in teams - furiously designing and writing code for charities. Many representatives of these charities were on hand, providing clarification of requirements or content or moral support.  In all, the teams were supporting eighteen charities. They wrote web sites and contact management systems and various pieces of software that the charities would be unlikely to afford on their own. They donated their weekend because they believed in this cause.

It was going well.

So, of course, I asked Mike about next year.

"Fifty charities", he insisted.  Fifty is nearly triple the number of charities helped this year, but Mike was determined to make it happen.

As he spoke about this, his energy returned. He talked of lessons learned and how to handle the scale for next year.  One key is to get started planning earlier - within the next few weeks. The goal is to get the charities and developers lined up early next year in order to be ready for the Give Camp in July. Bringing back the same planning team is important, he said. This year, Mike drew heavily on the knowledge of Jennifer Marsman, who organized last year's Give Camp.

He had already spoken with WCC and reserved their conference center - a building with facilities and rooms large enough to accommodate the hundreds of developers needed to support 50 charities.

Mike talked about the challenge of picking teams. Identifying appropriate skill sets was difficult, given that there were a lot of people unknown by the planning team.  Next year, he plans to gather more specific information from each developer in order to better evaluate their experience and place them on the correct team.

Mike stopped short of committing to take charge of next year's Give Camp, but it was clear from his enthusiasm that he wanted to be heavily involved. He did not hide his passion for what everyone was doing this weekend.

The energy of this event was infectious. A developer in Phoenix, AZ plans to put on a Give Camp in his area, so he flew to Michigan to experience one for himself and learn what worked.  WCC donated the facilities and accommodated the numerous requests they had over the weekend.

In the end, the 2009 Ann Arbor Give Camp was a great success. Sixty developers joined together to write code to help out eighteen charities. People worked hard and slept little and learned a lot and had fun and made the world a better place. Charities came away excited by their new software and inspired by the time committed by the development community in Michigan.

This can only increase excitement for next year.

More photos

Episode 37

I spoke with Michael Eaton halfway through the 2009 Ann Arbor Give Camp. We talked about what went into this year's event and his ambitious plans for next year.

19 mins, 21 secs

Contribupendence Day is the brainchild of Microsoft Developer Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg.  He came up with the idea a year ago and this is the second year in which I have participated.

Jeff pointed out that most of us sometimes get to work with outstanding people (true for me) and that we often don't take the time to recognize the contributions of those people (also true for me). To correct this, he deemed July 3 "Contribupendence Day" - a day in which we can contribute to the independence from mediocrity of outstanding colleagues.  

Jeff suggested that we do this by choosing a few excellent past or present co-workers and writing a recommendation on a networking site. I chose four former co-workers and wrote a recommendation for each on LinkedIn. I won't list their names here, but you are welcome to view my LinkedIn profile and see what I wrote.

I don't expect anything in return but I didn't expect anything last year and I ended up reaping benefits anyway.  I wrote a number of recommendations last July in response to Jeff's call. A couple months later, I found myself out of work and looking for a job. One strategy in my job search was to request LinkedIn recommendations from former co-workers. I believe that I received better responses from these requests because I had so freely given recommendations earlier in the year. I was touched and delighted by the outpourings of those willing to write nice things about me in a public forum. During my job search, several interviewers told me they read my LinkedIn profile and were impressed with the quantity and quality of the recommendations I received.

So take a few minutes today to speak honestly about those who have impressed you. You never know when or how the favor will be returned.

Episode 30

This is only the second year of CodeStock but Mike Neel managed to expand the Knoxville conference to a 2-day event and more than double attendance to 376.  In this interview, Mike talks about the conference and the developer community in the Heartland region.

17 mins, 15 secs

I'm really looking forward to attending the CodeStock conference in Knoxville, TN this weekend.

The speaker lineup looks amazing (not just because I'm in it) and the two-day format should give me time to talk with a lot of attendees outside of the sessions.

I will bring my video camera to CodeStock in hopes of recording more interviews for my online TV show "Technology and Friends". In this show I interview technologists about their passions.  Past shows have focused on topics such as frameworks, careers, events and community-building. A typical show lasts 10-20 minutes, so it tends to be very focused. You can see the first 29 episodes by clicking here: http://www.davidgiard.com/CategoryView,category,Interviews.aspx

If you would like to be on this show, please e-mail at me at  and suggest a topic you would like to cover.

And if you see me at CodeStock, please stop me and say "Hello".

Episode 21

Microsoft Developer Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg coordinated the Stir Trek conference in Columbus, OH to present highlights of the recent Mix09 conference.   In the middle of the day, he took a few minutes to discuss what he was doing.

5 mins, 4 secs

They ran their final unit tests, checked in their code and wiped the sleep from their eyes before lumbering up the basement steps into the museum.

They had been designing, coding and testing for almost two straight days - some with only a few hours sleep; some with no sleep. Many had brought sleeping bags and had slept in the museum.  A mid-afternoon power outage had slowed them down and drove them from the museum basement, but it did not stop them.

Up the steps, at the other end of the museum, was the closing ceremony.  Here, everyone quickly re-energized.  They saw demos of the applications everyone had built.  They saw the gratitude of the charities, who could not have afforded to pay for this software.  They felt the accomplishment won of hard work and perseverance.

The Lansing Give Camp was held in the basement of the Impression 5 Science Center (except for Saturday afternoon, when a power outage forced everyone to find a new place to work for a few hours) and helped out thirteen capital-area charities.  Teams of developers, designers and DBAs worked through the weekend to write custom software for each charity. 

Organizers Jeff & Carla McWherter and Jay & Amy Harris worked the longest.  Weeks in advance, they began recruiting software professionals, securing a location, finding sponsors and vetting charity requests.  On Friday, they arrived hours before everyone else.  They bought food, set up work areas and made sure the network was in place to allow everyone to be productive when they arrived.

Many volunteers got something out of the Give Camp as well.  Amy Harris told of a college student she met, who said he learned more this weekend than in any of his classes.

In the end, Jeff McWherter called the event a success because the charities were happy.  But he was quick to point out it is not over.  Many developers maintain a relationship with these charities and continue to enhance the applications they wrote.

But on this Sunday evening - as the closing ceremonies ended and appreciation was drowsily accepted - the volunteers headed off for home seeking hot showers and clean sheets.

Until next year.

Episode 19

The Lansing Give Camp April 24-26 helped over a dozen charities. 

After months of preparation and a weekend with almost no sleep, Jeff & Carla McWherter and Jay & Amy Harris still had enough energy to talk about what made this event so successful.

8 mins, 43 secs

I expected that the Kalamazoo X conference would be a success but I was surprised by how successful it was.

Everything started with Michael Eaton.  He turned the concept - a conference consisting primarily of talks on soft skills - into reality.  Assisted by a staff of volunteers, Michael secured the venue, promoted the event, signed up the sponsors and recruited the speakers.  The speaker list was impressive - most traveled from Ohio and most have a solid reputation in the development community. 

I was grateful that Mike asked me to speak at this conference and I was excited to do it.

A couple weeks ago, Mike suggested that we switch from a multi-track to a single-track event.  This meant that all sessions would be held in the same room and that no two speakers would talk at the same time.  In order to accommodate this format, all sessions had to be cut from one hour to 25 minutes.  This was difficult for those who had already prepared an hour-long talk.  However, nearly all were able to make the adjustment.  (At least one speaker decided to back out after the format change was announced).  For me, this was less of an issue because I had never given my talk before and had barely begun preparing it. 

The format worked really well.  Speakers were forced to cut the fat from their slides and each talk was concise and to the point.  This also gave me the opportunity to watch every session, since I never had to choose between two excellent speakers.

One thing that added to the event was Mike's skills as a Master of Ceremonies.  He introduced each speaker by telling a personal story about him or her.  It was clear he was familiar with all the speakers and had put some preparation into these introductions.

My talk - Effective Communication with your Customer or Manager - was very well received.  Several people approached me afterward and told me how much they enjoyed it.  I'm working on a series of articles on this topic and hope to have them out in the next few weeks.

The most telling thing about the success of the conference was that there were attendance was higher at the end of the day than at the beginning.  Whatever small attrition occurred during the day was more than offset by others showing up.

I'm looking forward to next year.

See more photos here

So what is a Give Camp anyway?

• A Give Camp is a way to contribute your time and skills to area charities.
• A Give Camp is an event to meet with and hang out with technical people.
• A Give Camp is a way to learn new technologies by working on a live project for a few days.

Charities often need software custom software, but don't have the money to hire someone to write that software.  One option they have is to submit their projects to a Give Camp.  The Give Camp organizers select projects that are well-defined and can be completed in a weekend.  Then, they invite software developers and other IT folks from the community to work on these projects.  They provide these folks a place to work and sleep and interact for a few days.  Give Camps typically kick off Friday evening and wrap up Sunday evening with completed projects delivered to charities.

The Lansing Give Camp takes place this weekend (April 24-26) at the Impression 5 Science Center in downtown Lansing, MI.  The organizers have selected projects from ten local charities, including The Ronald McDonald House of Mid-Michigan and The Boys & Girls Club of Lansing. 

If you have skills in software development, design, databases, IT or project management, I encourage you to volunteer for this event.  Even if you don't have these skills, you can help with the event itself.  I'm brining my 14-year-old son to the Lansing Give Camp, where he will assist with setting up, cleaning up and anything else they need.

Because I'm speaking at the Kalamazoo X conference Saturday, I can only attend the Lansing Give Camp Friday and Sunday, but I'm very much looking forward to it.

You can get more information and register at http://www.lansinggivecamp.org/

The 2009 Central Ohio Day of .Net is now history. 

I'm happy with the feedback I received on my Velocity talk.  The room was overflowing and several people approached me afterward to tell me they liked it.

By far, the best part of this conference was the opportunity to share ideas and interact one-on-one with bright people in the developer community.

One of the best jobs I ever had was working with the great people at GA Sullivan in Cincinnati.  That company no longer exists but many former employees were in Wilmington for this conference.  It was great catching up with these folks after all these years.

The slides for my talk are below:

You can view photos of the event at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29942169@N08/sets/72157617123586782/show/

I enjoy attending technical conferences and I try to make it to as many as I can.  I like talking to and learning from bright people in the developer community and picking up the latest technologies.  Developer conferences are a great way to get this information and there is no shortage of such conferences.

The Kalamazoo X conference is different.  Although the target audience is software developers, the content will focus on soft skills.  Topics such as Leadership and Social Network dominate the agenda.  The conference features four tracks: Soft Skills; Architecture, Design and Process; User Experience; and Career Development.  However each session will be short enough that an attendee will be able to see 100% of the content.

I'll be there to share ideas on effective communication with your customer or manager, a topic I've given a lot of thought to in recent years.

The conference is scheduled this Saturday April 25 at the Kalamazoo Valley Community College Center for New Media in downtown Kalamazoo, MI.  You can register and get more information at http://kalamazoox.org/

I hope to see you there.

The dust has settled and the first West Michigan .Net University is now history.  You can view photos of it here.

I was fortunate that my talk (Intro to SQL Server Data Models and T-SQL) was in the morning because I had tickets to the Final Four in the evening on the other side of the state.

Shane and I put together a talk aimed at people with very little database experience.  We agreed that I would cover the basic introductory material first; then he would explain some more intermediate topics.  I rehearsed a story about the history of databases that included people keeping records on stone tablets and storing these tablets in a file cabinet; I wrote a lot of sample queries demonstrating the syntax of a T-SQL statements; and I wrote a series of articles on T-SQL

I turned out that I didn't use any of this material.

We had a small group in our session so we let them set the agenda.   Everyone already had at least a year of database experience so I scrapped the introductory stuff.  I spent far more time than I expected showing off the features of the SQL Management Studio.  We answered questions about the strategies for normalization, backing up data, and primary keys.

In fact, I showed almost none of the slides we prepared.

The good news is that the audience seemed happy with the session.  The got their questions answered without wasting time on things they already knew.  In the end, I think they were glad we were so flexible and so was I.

The feedback I heard on the other sessions was also positive.  Congratulations to Chris Woodruff for organizing a successful event.

Overall it was a very good day.  Oh... and the Final Four?  Well, my Spartans won of course.  It was a great day!

Architecting for the cloud: Mesh and Live Services

March 31
Microsoft ArcReady
Southfield, MI

Live Mesh is a data synchronization client that has a rich API to build applications on. Live services are a collection of APIs that can be used to create rich applications for your customers. Live Services are based on Internet standard protocols and data formats.

An Introduction to SQL Server

(with Shane Jordan)
April 4
West Michigan .Net University
Grand Rapids, MI

Want to learn about the SQL Server 2008? Want to build normalized data models and learn Transact SQL? Join us in this Introduction to SQL Server session to get a good introduction to building your own data models and queries.

Using Microsoft Distributed Cache to speed your application

April 18
Central Ohio Day of .Net
Wilmington, OH

Retrieving data from a disc or a database can be a time-consuming operation.  Data that is accessed frequently can be stored in an in-memory cache, which can speed up its retrieval considerably.  Microsoft Distributed Cache (aka “Velocity”) provides a framework for storing and managing cached data. 

In this session, we will discuss how to use this framework in your application and demonstrate some code that implements this framework.

Proactive communication with your manager or customer

April 25
Kalamazoo X Conference
Kalamazoo, MI

After 15 years in the IT industry, I've discovered that the single biggest contributor to success is effective communication. In this situation, I'll describe lessons I've learned about how to improve communication with a customer or manager and how to use effective communication to increase the probability of high customer satisfaction.

This is the most ambitious month of speaking I've ever scheduled.  Microsoft Distributed Cache is the only topic above on which I have previously presented and this presentation will be longer and feature a newer API than the one I gave at three user groups last September.

If you attend any of these events, please feel free to find me and say 'Hello'.

Last year, I noticed there were more local community-driven events than I had time to attend.  I love seeing that kind of enthusiasm for technology among the community. 

These events are great for me because - although I've been in software development for many years - I love to learn and frequently jump at the chance to learn from and share ideas with other experienced developers and architects.

I have noticed that most of these events targeted experienced developers.  Topics tended to be moderate to advanced and speakers assumed a certain level of expertise from their audience in order to grasp their talk. 

This can be frustrating for less-experienced developers.  It's difficult to understand the details of NHibernate when you are still trying to figure out how to write simple queries against SQL Server.

Chris Woodruff first described to me the idea of a .Net University - a community event targeted at those new to .Net programming.  All the content would be introductory, allowing people to learn fundamentals.

I liked the idea immediately.  When I was a trainer, I always spent time on the first day reviewing the basic prerequisites of the class material.  I knew that no one would understand anything about web development if they didn't know how to construct an HTML document. 

So Chris is now organizing the West Michigan .Net University that will be held April 4 in Grand Rapids. 

The morning sessions will all be introductory and the afternoon will feature more intermediate topics.  Each session will be about 3 hours - longer than at a typical code camp.

I'll be there delivering a morning session titled SQL 101, in which I'll explain the basics of working with a relational database - SQL Server in particular.  I"ll describe how to work with data and how to use code and tools to interact with SQL Server.  I've been preparing for this talk by writing a 'Back To Basics' series on this blog.

Other sessions include .Net Bootcamp; Intro To ASP.Net and AJAX; and Real World Architecture.  You can view the complete session list at http://dodn.org/WestMichiganDotNetU/Sessions.aspx

A lot of great speakers have signed up for this event so I'm counting on some great sessions. 

Episode 15

A Give Camp hooks up software developers with charities. This provides these charities with custom applications that they otherwise might not be able to afford.

This year, Michael Eaton is coordinating upcoming Give Camps in Michigan.

In this conversation, He describes how it worked last year and what he hopes to happen differently next year.

The Lansing Give Camp is scheduled for April 24-26 at the Impressoin 5 Science Center.  The ann arbor Give Camp is scheduled for July 17-19 at Washtenaw Community College.  You can get more information and register to help at these events by visiting http://michigangivecamp.org/

10 min, 31 sec

Episode 14

Jim Holmes takes a break from organizing and coordinating CodeMash to talk about the conference.

2 minutes, 38 seconds

Episode 13

Matt Pizzimenti is involved in a2geeks.org - a social network for techies and entrepeneurs.  He discusses it in this interview.

Episode 12

Mark Hindsbo is the General Manager of the Microsoft Evangelism group in the United States. In this interview, Mark talks about what Microsoft can do to help the developer community succeed.

2 minutes, 24 seconds

I woke up this morning and was surprised and deleted to see the following e-mail in my inbox

I cannot tell you how proud I am to receive this award. I certainly would have dreamed of it all my life had I heard of it before yesterday.

I would be thrilled to share all I learn with you - my readers - were it not for the attached 423-page non-disclosure agreement I was forced to sign. But rest assured that this knowledge and its accompanying free drinks will ultimately help the community and be good for all software developers.

Thank you to the committee, to those who nominated me and seconded my nomination and especially to <__>, without whom I would not have won this award.

Episode 10

Tim Adams of Microsoft was filming a series of "Man On The Street" video interviews at CodeMash when I caught up with him. I interviewed him while he interviewed me and we each filmed the conversation.

Here is the conversation from my side:

Here is the same conversation from Tim's point of view:

Episode 9

Mike Wood is the Lead Director for the Cincinnati .Net User Group.  He and I spoke about how to build a strong community and what makes the Microsoft Heartland Community so special.

Episode 4

I've attended two conferences where Alan Stevens helped to make Open Spaces a success.  In this interview, Alan describes open spaces technology and explains his role in the process.

My last post included photos from this year's

Below is a musical slideshow of the event, for those who just can't get enough.

I've been home from CodeMash four days now and I'm still absorbing all I learned there.

The speakers were great, sessions were interesting, the open spaces were stimulating, but the chance to interact with so many smart people in a short period of time was what made this conference so special.

I asked the following question of a number of people at CodeMash: What is the best part of this conference.  Without exception, each person responded that it was the people.  I cannot disagree with this.

This was the first conference I've ever attended in which I spent an entire day without going to a single organized event.  Friday I stayed away from all the scheduled sessions and open spaces - not because I didn't find the topic compelling - but because I wanted to spend some time in one-on-one conversations with smart people in my field.

I discussed paired programming with Corey Haines, Alt.Net with Leon Gersing, web site performance with Steve Smith, building community with Mike Wood, recording interviews with Carl Franklin, open spaces with Allen Stevens, and many more.  I brought my video camera and recorded many of these conversations and more.  I hope to share these videos with you on this site in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, here are some photos of the event:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29942169@N08/sets/72157612393831992/show/
  

Today was the first "official" day of CodeMash and I spent most of it learning from experts.  Below is a quick summary of the sessions I attended.

Introducing Prototype and Scriptaculous
Leon Gersing made a splash Wednesday night during a .Net Rocks panel discussion by passionately arguing that JavaScript should be included in any discussion of rich internet applications and that JavaScript methods are unit testable dammit!  He continued that passion Thursday morning in this session, showing the prototype JavaScript library and

Developing for Microsoft Surface
I've seen people talk about Microsoft Surface, but this was by far the most comprehensive hands-on demo I've seen.  Jennifer Marsman (Microsoft) and Joe Engalan (VectorForm) showed applications built for the Surface and built an application on the fly.  They tools are very similar to WPF.  They even brought a Surface with them and attendees were allowed to play with it throughout the conference.

Thrashing
Mary Poppendieck is a noted author on Agile development methodologies.  In this session, she spoke about the things that cause "thrashing" - or decreased productivity - and ways to avoid this.  She emphasized the need to maintain a level workflow, so that developers can establish a cadence and more easily manage their project.  One way to accomplish this is to eliminate long backlog of features - many of which will never get implemented.

Managed Extensibility Framework
Drew Robbins
MEF is an upcoming framework from Microsoft that will allow you to build applications as composable parts that can be assembled at runtime.  Drew spoke conceptually about MEF and stepped through some sample code.  I've given talks on MEF in the past yet I still learned from Drew's talk.
  

Tomorrow is the first day to the annual CodeMash conference in Sandusky, OH.  Billed as the finest software conference in an indoor water park, CodeMash is a great way to learn about .Net, Java, Ruby, Python and a host of other technologies.

For me, however, CodeMash marks the beginning of a year of community involvement.

In January 2008, I had recently changed jobs.  After almost a decade with the same company, I left to reduce travel and spend more time with my family.  My prior employer was a good company, but it was difficult for me to get involved in the development community because

1. Constant travel kept me from attending local user groups.
2. Constant travel made it difficult to meet developers near my home.
3. The company had a culture with a strong internal community, so most employees didn't need to seek that from the outside.
4. I didn't know what I was missing.
5. I didn't know how to get involved in the community.

As it turned out, my new employer was (and is) very active in the software development community - a major reason I was drawn to them.  Several of them were on the board at CodeMash and many spoke at the conference; In fact, employees of my new overlords frequently spoke at, ran and organized conferences and user groups across the Midwest. 

I ended up meeting a lot of my new co-workers for the first time at CodeMash.

I also met a lot of other folks in the development community - many of them from Michigan.  It was a great experience because I had a chance to exchange ideas with a lot of smart people and to see how they share their knowledge.  I'm still humbled by the lengths to which some of these people go to contribute to the community.

Meeting so many bright people who were anxious to share ideas was an inspiration to me.  IN the months following CodeMash, I became far more involved in two local user groups; I developed and delivered talks to a variety of audiences, including 3 different user groups, a conference and a couple Microsoft events; I created an account on Twitter and used this medium to exchange ideas and pleasantries with a number of people; I used LinkedIn to connect with people and, inspired by Jeff Blankenburg's Contribupendence Day, I recommendations with bright people I know.

At this year's CodeMash, I expect to meet more bright people and I expect to be inspired by them.  But I also expect to meet up with those who inspired me last year.

Saturday I had the pleasure of speaking at the ann arbor Day of .Net. 

The event drew presenters and attendees from Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, demonstrating what an impressive software development community we have here in the Midwest.

My friend Nino drove up Friday night to stay at my place and we met other out-of-towners for dinner Friday night.

I delivered a presentation on Microsoft's Managed Extensibility Framework ("MEF").  The presentation was well-received.  The audience had many questions about the technology afterwards and I noticed a few people from the audience posting on Twitter about MEF in the days following the event.

A new job and a tight project deadline kept me from working on my presentation until a couple days prior to the event.  The good news is that I had presented on MEF three times in the past.  The bad news was that the API had changed radically since I developed my original presentation.  So I not only had to expand the presentation to fit the time allotted, I had to completely rewrite my demo to match the current API.  I was up most of Friday night and missed all the morning sessions of the conference to finish on time for my 1PM presentation.   Luckily I finished successfully and the demos went off without a hitch.  

I discovered a blog entry by Brad Abrams that helped immensely.  Brad wrote a set of samples using MEF that I loved for their simplicity.  Don't tell Brad, but I borrowed liberally from his samples to populate one of my demos.

After my presentation, I was able to settle in and enjoy the conference.  I attended two sessions, both in the same room which suited my tired body.  Jennifer Marsman showed a bunch of new features in .Net 3.5.  Next Brian Prince discussed the role of an architect on a project.  I've heard Jennifer and Brian speak many times in the past, so I knew they would be good and I was not disappointed.

I did have time to poke my head into a few presentations long enough to snap a photo or two.  If you heard a clicking coming from the doorway, that was me.

After the event, many of us met at a local watering hole for some food, drink and fellowship.  My new employer Sogeti was kind enough to spring for the food and drinks.  I was well worn down but it was great to reconnect with people who share many of my passions.

I actually volunteered to be something called a "Venue Coordinator" for this event.  But, as this was the fourth time the event was held, the folks at Washtenaw Community College knew everything that needed to be done and delivered to perfection.  I ended up doing no work for this role, so I may volunteer as venue coordinator next year as well.

I took some photos at the event, which you can see here.

I also put together a slideshow with a Warren Zevon soundtrack that you can see and hear below: 

I stopped by the Agile Summer Camp near Brighton, MI yesterday.

The purpose of the event was to gather together people from the software community in an isolated environment to discuss the issues of agile development.  The event was held at a campground in order to isolate people from the distractions of e-mail, web and home responsibilities.  Discussions were held in an "open spaces" style, meaning participants sat in a circle, were given a starting topic, and were free to take the discussion to any point it logically evolved.

I can't evaluate the success of the open spaces as I was only there for a couple hours and my visit coincided with the dinner break, but those I talked to all gave me positive feedback about the day they had spent at the camp so far.  There was no open space discussion scheduled during dinner, but there were still many conversations about agile methodologies, software development, and all the things these folks have in common. 

Most camp participants stayed from Friday evening until Sunday morning and slept in log cabins without electricity or plumbing.  Family obligations prevented me from spending the weekend, but I wanted to stop by because I heard there would be a lot of bright, passionate people in attendance. There were.  Despite surviving the first 24 hours of primitive conditions, the group still radiated a lot of energy.

I applaud this event, not only because those who participated seem to have got a great deal out of it; but because it is one more example of people in the community creating something that will enhance others in the community.  This spirit of cooperation, support and fellowship is one of the reasons I enjoy doing what I do.

Note: Click here to view photos of the 2008 Agile Summer Camp.

There's nothing quite like riding on a bus for 27 hours with a few dozen software developers.

That's exactly what I did last weekend on my way to and from DevLink in Murfreesboro, TN.

The DevLink bus was the result of much hard work by Amanda who did most - if not all - the organizing.

The bus began its odyssey Wednesday night in Grand Rapids, MI before proceeding to Lansing.  When the bus picked me up in Plymouth, MI at 9:15 PM, it had already been traveling for 3 hours.  From there, it rolled on to Toledo, Columbus and Cincinnati (its final southbound stop at 4AM) before proceeding to its final destination in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. 

The first half of the ride was great fun.  I met new people; I reconnected with old friends; and I met people face-to-face with whom I had only communicated electronically.

Event the two times the bus driver got lost couldn't dampen our spirits.  We were having too much fun.

After about 4AM, the trip began to drag.  Everyone was exhausted and the seats were too uncomfortable to allow more than a few minutes sleep at a time.  This was clearly a bus designed for cross-town trips – not cross-country trips.  DVDs provided some entertainment ("The Big Lebowski" and “Office Space” cracked me up) but you can only focus on movies for so long and the acoustics were less than ideal.

We arrived at our hotel worn and weary at 9:30AM Central time, over 13 hours after leaving Plymouth and 16 hours after the bus began its trip. 

24+ hours of sleep deprivation left me physically ill and I spent nearly all of Thursday in bed.

It was good that I did.  The conference began Friday morning and I awoke refreshed and ready to absorb and exchange ideas at what turned out to be an excellent conference.  (You can read more about it here.)

The ride home was an adventure.  Although the conference ended at 6PM, someone decided the bus shouldn't leave town until 9PM so we had to kill a few hours at a restaurant before heading out. 

Although we picked up at least one new traveler on the ride home, we lost a few more.  Some folks booked a flight to Chicago for a Monday business meeting and a couple people elected to rent a car and drive home rather than subject themselves to the length and discomfort of the bus ride.  I was tempted to join them but I stuck with my plan and boarded the bus at 9.

The mood was more subdued on the return trip. We still had some good conversations early in the ride but the environment lacked the energy sparked by seeing people for the first time in months.

About 2AM, I had just begun to drift to sleep when a sound like a jackhammer awakened me suddenly.  I was sitting just above the tire that blew flat traveling 65 miles an hour on I-71 just north of Louisville, KY.  We pulled off the highway in front of a Waffle House in Carrolton, KY and waited 3 hours for the tire to be fixed.  The repair would have taken far less time if the repair guy had not allowed a drunken Waffle House customer to play with the lug nut gun.  He sheared off the bolts on wheel, forcing the repair guy to return to his shop for more parts and weld on new bolts.

Waffle House provided some entertainment.  Corey attempted to start a relationship with one of the waitresses; and the manager tossed out a drunk who wouldn't stop ordering pork chops long after he was told the restaurant was out of pork chops.  Apparently the Carrolton Waffle House is a magnet for drunks at 2AM Saturday night.  Go figure.

We got back on the highway about 5AM so exhausted that even the uncomfortable seats wouldn't prevent a few hours dozing.

I thought things would go quicker after this because the drivers knew the route better, having just driven it 3 days earlier.  Alas, we became lost in northeast Ohio and drove nearly to Cleveland before turning west toward Toledo.

At 12:30 Eastern time - 14.5 hours after leaving the hotel and 17.5 hours after the end of the conference - we pulled into the parking lot in Plymouth.  I was never so happy to see my car and the 40 minute drive home seemed trivial. 

I was scheduled to read aloud at the 12:15 mass in my church and the last minute substitute is probably still angry with me for missing this, but we all arrived safely.

Was the bus ride a success?  Would I do it again?  Would I take a bus to a distant location with dozens of others like me?  I've decide that, if I can be promised a more comfortable seat, I will do it the next time it's offered.  Everything else was easily tolerable and I did enjoy the fellowship that came with such a long ride with like-minded people.  I even got a few job leads from the conversations I had on the two rides (I am between jobs for those who don't know).

If you go on such a trip, my only advice is

1. Be prepared for anything
2. If the Waffle House waitress in Carrolton, Ky tells you they are out of pork chops, shut up and order the hash browns. 

Note: Click here to see more photos from DevLink and the famous bus ride.

People attend conferences for many different reasons.  Some come for the content of the lectures; some come to meet and hear well-known speakers; some come to meet and network with others in the industry; some come to see old friends.

Me, I come for all those reasons.  At DevLink last week in Murfreesboro, TN, I experienced all those things and more. 

But I also experienced something new.  I had heard of Open Spaces in the past but had not experienced them.  At DevLink, Open Spaces were promoted heavily as a different way of exchanging ideas.  I was curious and gave it a try.

An Open Space event consists of developers sitting together roughly in a circle in a room and they exchange ideas with one other.  A topic is picked in advance by the group but the conversation is not limited to that topic.  If the conversation drifts from the assigned topic and the group remains engaged, this is perfectly all right.  The important thing is that ideas are exchanged and the group remains passionate about the conversation.

And I heard a great deal of passion at the DevLink Open Spaces that I attended.

During the event, I attended 3 Open Spaces sessions plus the planning session (where topics were picked) and the wrap-up session (where the group reviewed the open spaces of the previous 2 days).  In each session I attended, I heard bright people sharing great ideas.  Sometimes we argued and sometimes we were in violent agreement but I enjoyed it all. 
In a session on Service Oriented Architecture, I argued earnestly that, due to the costs of SOA, support from the top was necessary for SOA to succeed within any organization.  Most of the other loud persons in the group insisted that newer tools such as WCF had lowered the cost of SOA sufficiently that a strong grass roots effort could drive SOA in an organization.  By the end of the session, I think we had all learned something and moved a little toward understanding the others' side.

I did attend a few traditional sessions in which a speaker stands in front of a classroom and delivers a lecture to an audience that is mostly passive.  Richard Campbell and Carl Franklin were two of the speakers at this conference and I have long been a fan of their .Net Rocks podcast, so I made a point to attend a lecture by each of them.  Both were good sessions but they were easily topped by Joe Wirtley who gave an excellent talk on WPF.  It was excellent because it focused on building a business application, rather than the eye candy that clutters so many WPF presentations.

Overall the conference was a great success.  It drained me of energy but it fired me up at the same time.

And I haven't even told you about the 28 hours I spent riding a bus with a few dozen techno-geeks.  Or the flat tire that left us stranded in Carrolton, KY for 3 hours at 2AM.  But that’s another story.

Note: Click here to see more photos from DevLink

July 3 (Contribupendence Day) is almost over.  As promised, I wrote reviews for several colleagues on LinkedIn.  Most of the people I reviewed were those I worked with directly at my last employer.  I am currently on a project that allows me to work directly with a couple folks from my current employer. 

I became motivated enough that I ended up writing 7 reviews tonight (I had only promised 5) and I invited quite a few new people to connect with me on LinkedIn and Plaxo. 

I was surprised at the number of past and present colleagues that are using these networking sites.  My connections should at least double in the next few days.

Hopefully the people I recommended will be inspired to pick 5 people of their own and this thing will explode.

My plan is to write more recommendations in the coming weeks.  I have some that I've written but cannot make official until the recipient accepts my connection invitation. 

I won't copy my recommendations on this site but you are welcome to read them here.

Again thanks to Jeff for suggesting this.

Tomorrow - July 3 - is Contribupendence Day.

What is Contribupendence Day, you ask?  Well it's the day when all readers of my blog agree to send me $20.

Not really.  Contribupendence Day is the brainchild of Microsoft Developer Evangelist Jeff Blankenburg, who woke up one day and noticed the untapped potential of networking sites such as LinkedIn, Plaxo and Facebook.  These sites give us the opportunity to recommend or comment on those we have worked.  Unfortunately, few of us take advantage of this feature which is a shame.  These recommendations could be a good source of feedback to potential employers and might make the difference in getting an interview or landing a job.

He's right of course. I've been on LinkedIn for a couple months and I am connected to a few dozen people but these are very passive connections.  In the back of my mind, I tell myself I'll focus on LinkedIn the next time I look for a job (which hopefully won't be for a long time).  The problem with this attitude is that I'm relying on everyone else to motivate themselves around my schedule.  When I'm ready to look for a job, will others have the time to write a glowing review for me?  If I worked for or with them, will they even remember my specific accomplishments?

So, at Jeff's urging, I'm being proactive.  Tomorrow I resolve to write reviews of 5 people on LinkedIn.  In doing so, I hope to inspire these 5 to either review me or to review someone else, which will set in motion a process that may very well come back to me.

I've worked with some great people in my life so it wasn't difficult to pick five that I can rave about.  I'll be reviewing them tomorrow and I urge you to do the same.

Happy Contribupendence Day everybody!  And you are welcome to review me.  Or, if that's too much trouble, just send me the 20 bucks.

The ann arbor Give Camp is July 11-13 at Washtenaw Community College - less than two weeks away.  For those who haven't heard, this is a great opportunity to contribute to some worthy causes, flex your tech muscles and network with the developer community. 

At this event, software developers, DBA, project managers and UI designers will get together and develop projects for local charities.  So many charities requested projects for this camp that most had to be turned away due to lack of resources.  The more people involved, the more charities we can help.  The facilities will be available and staffed round-the-clock on this weekend and refreshments will be provided.  For security reasons, you must register in advance in order to participate.  Jennifer Marsman of Microsoft is organizing the camp. 

I will be out of town with my son the weekend of the event, but I volunteered to help with some of the evaluations of the projects because it I really wanted to contribute.

You can get more information and you can register for this great outing at http://www.annarborgivecamp.org/.  If you will be in town, please take a look and consider giving your time.

I had a terrific time yesterday at the Lansing Day of .Net yesterday. 

This was the last in an ambitious string of community-sponsored events in Michigan and Ohio under the "Day of .Net" branding.  In the past two months, DODN events have been held in Wilmington, OH, Grand Rapids, MI, Cleveland, OH, and Lansing, MI.  I managed to make the two Michigan events but family commitments kept me from the ones in Ohio.

A Day of .Net event features numerous speakers (usually about 30) speaking on topics related to software development.  The primary focus is .Net development but peripheral topics are almost always included.  I heard a very good talk yesterday by Dan Rigsby on the agile methodology in which software was barely mentioned.

Prior to yesterday, I wondered if the Lansing event might be anticlimactic coming so soon after three similar events.  I worried for nothing.  In fact, the opposite was true.  They managed to attract an excellent group of speakers, a full slate of sponsors (meaning, among other things, many cool door prizes) one of the better facilities I've seen (Lansing Community College West Campus) and the mayor of Lansing.  People were generally excited about this event.  I've heard - but can't confirm - that the Day of .Net was covered by two TV stations.  Jeff McWhirter and his group did a great job putting this together.  I don't know who thought of inviting the mayor, but that was a good idea.

The best part of these events is interacting with the people in the community.  There was a lot of good discussions about various projects, the state of the industry, the role of the community and the various approaches to developing software. 

When it was over, many of us headed over to Jeff's house to celebrate into the night.  I left at around 11 and the place was still packed and the bonfire was blazing.  Mike Wood, an old friend from my Cincinnati days stayed at my house before heading home this morning.

I picked up some nice swag - a copy of Camtasia, a logo t-shirt, and a pint glass featuring the LDODN logo.  This morning, I noticed that the t-shirt includes the slogan "I was there" but the pint glass has a modified slogan "I think I was there".

Here are some photos of the day: Photos.

Yesterday I drove to Grand Rapids for the West Michigan Day of .Net.

I enjoyed the event, despite suffering from heartburn most of the day,

Here is a brief summary of the best sessions I saw

How to Architect Rich Internet Applications

Microsoft architect Josh Holmes gave an overview of what makes up a good rich internet application and when you should attempt to build one.

Getting Started with the ASP.Net MVC Framework
Tim Wingfield of Quick Solutions discussed the MVC framework.  This one had a lot of code samples.

A trip around the block with Rhino.Mocks
This session (led by Quick's Steve Hartman) was more like a roundtable discussion than a presentation.   Steve went through some definitions; stepped through a code sample; then started a discussion with the attendees about different Mock frameworks.

Reliable Messaging in WCF
James Bender of Quick Solutions gave this demo which also contained some good code samples.

A similar event is scheduled next Saturday in Cleveland.   I doubt I'll make that one, but I plan to attend the recently-announced Lansing Day of .Net scheduled June 21.

A couple years ago, I had a chance to speak at a Day of .Net event in ann arbor, MI.  I enjoyed it so much that I signed up as an attendee at the same event last year.

Day of .Net is a single-day conference focused on Microsoft developer technologies.  It is free and takes place on a Saturday which makes it a lot easier to schedule for working professionals.  The speakers tend to be well-known technologists who live within a few hundred miles of the event.  I've been impressed with the lineup at the events I attended. 

The local flavor of the event also gives attendees a great chance to network with similar professionals in their geographic area. The focus tends to be on technology, rather than on strategy, so these things attract more hard-core developers and fewer CIOs and CTOs.

In the next few weeks, three Day of .Nets (or is it Days of .Net?) are scheduled within three hours of my home.  April 19 is the Central Ohio Day of .Net in Wilmington, OH (between Columbus and Dayton); May 10 is the West Michigan Day of .Net in Grand Rapids, MI; and May 17 is the Cleveland Day of .Net in Cleveland, OH.

Depending on my sons' basketball tournament schedules, I hope to attend two of these.  Click the links below for more information.

If you haven't yet seen Josh Holmes and Steve Loethen's Internet show Code To Live, I recommend doing so.  Josh and Steve (mostly Josh) travel around the country interviewing people who are passionate about the technology on which they are working.  The video production is sometimes a bit lacking but the viewer gets a feel for the excitement people have for the work they are doing and the interviews often provide brief overviews of new technologies.

You can view this show at www.codetolive.net or http://channel9.msdn.com/shows/code_to_live

The sessions were great.  Jeff Blankenburg's demos on Silverlight and Scot Hanselman's Friday keynote address stand out in particular for me.

But I think I got more benefit from the fact that I was able to meet so many other people in the developer community here in the midwest.  I've been traveling so much the last few years that I don't really know that many local people.  I met more developers from Michigan these 2 days than I met during the 4 years I've lived here. 

I also had a chance to mingle with the other folks from Quick Solutions, which is a rare treat.  Although I work for Quick, I live a couple hundred miles from their office in Columbus, so my interaction with them is limited.

The conference was held at the Kalahari Resort, which features a huge indoor water park.  There wasn't much time to enjoy the park during the conference, but some attendees brought their families who splashed around while their spouse did the geek thing.  I promised my 13-year-old son that he could meet me on Friday night with a friend and go to the park.  Unfortunately his ride fell through so I ended up driving back to Michigan Friday night and returning to Ohio Saturday morning to take the boys to the park for the day.  We had a blast!

You can view photos of the conferece here and see a musical slideshow of the photos below