Time and Attention

The agile movement is beginning to recognize the importance of tech debt, the value of exploratory testing, how distributed development can be done in an Agile way, and the importance of having a balanced breakfast to your testing approach.

Not only that, the agile conference is in Chicago and I could actually afford to go. I put in four proposals and was super-excited - this was going to be my year!

Well, on top of the blogging. And the day job at Socialtext. And the teaching at night at Calvin College. And the monthly column for Software Test and Performance Magazine. And contributing a chapter for "Beautiful Testing". And speaking at the occasional user's group. And obligations in the real work like Coaching Soccer or being a father and husband.

So, after much careful thought, I have pulled my proposals from Agile2009 - I simply don't have time to give it my full attention, and anything less would be, well, something less than excellent. As the guy that started a conference on software excellence, that idea didn't really appeal to me.

I do, however, have one more challenge if anybody is interested. Jim Shore has his test on agile maturity here. The challenge is: Think of at least two situations where the "mature" answer might actual be the /wrong/, or "less mature" answer.

UPDATE: Fixed the bad link.