It's BeyondAgile: *people* making software that *works*

The kick-off event of the brand-new BeyondAgile is happening in a few days:

"Agile Smackdown!"
Thursday, 26 February 2009
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Locations on the Eastside *and* Seattle!
Read on for agenda and location information, or visit our Google Group at
http://groups.google.com/group/beyondagile

Why come?
Here's your chance to be in on the beginning of an exciting new collaboration of
the
Puget-Sound area (and beyond!) agile-interested. And if that's not enough, we'll
hold a
drawing to win a *free* seat in a Scrum certification class!

What's BeyondAgile?
It's the combination and follow-on to a number of the agile-oriented user and
interest
groups that have operated in the Puget Sound area. Representatives of the
Seattle XP User
Group and Seattle Scrum came together in December to try and combine the efforts
of all
of us who care about and use agile methods.

Why a new group?
o Find best practices among all agile processes
o Build a bigger agile community
o Take advantage of overlaps between existing groups
o Expand beyond meetings and provide a place to collaborate
o Align software development and business
o Explore cutting-edge ideas and techniques

What will BeyondAgile be like?
That, in large part, is up to you. A primary reason for consolidating our
efforts is to
broaden our base of support, capability, and leadership. We envision a more
active, multi-
faceting organization that does more than just host talking heads. We'll gather
at least
once a month on the 4th Thursday of the month, and probably more at other
events.

Where will BeyondAgile events happen?
Our goal is to have many answers to this, and in that spirit, we've resolved to
remove the
impediment offered by bridges and commuting: for our monthly meetings, we'll
alternative Eastside and Seattle locations, but with a twist: we'll videocast
the physical
meeting to the location it's not at that month, so you could attend every
meeting instead
of just the ones on "your side" of the lake. And we're working to enable people
*anywhere*
to attend through streaming video, even after the meeting's already happened.

Kick-Off Event Agenda
o Build a Backlog (where to go in next six months, 30 min.)
o "Agile Smackdown!" (60 min.)
o Bleeding-Edge Demo (15 min., not boring)
o Traning-Class Giveaway Drawing (5 min.)
o Meeting Retrospective (10 min.)
o Socializing and Breakout/Breakup

Event Locations
Eastside:
SolutionsIQ
First Floor Training Center,
10785 Willows Road NE Suite 250
Redmond WA
directions and picture of building at
http://www.solutionsiq.com/about-us/contact-us.php

Seattle:
Amdocs Digital Commerce Division (formerly QPass)
Greece Room
2211 Elliott Ave Suite 400
Seattle WA

Questions? Contact Michael and Monica at beyondagile@...