Scandinavian Developer Conference 2011
I rarely make “trip report” posts from conferences. I am making a delightful exception in this case due to the excellent little gem of a conference I have found here in Sweden. At one point last year, Scott Allen recommended I look into the conferences occurring here in Scandinavia, and there are several.
I submitted a talk to SDC and was accepted for a talk, so I was off to Sweden.
After being here for a few days, I can tell you that I will be back. It isn’t just that the meals are amazing and the furniture is beautiful. The content of these conferences is top notch and the subject matter is extremely compelling.
Take a look at the topics being discussed at all 3 of these conferences. It isn’t just the product introduction, buy-my-software subject matter found at many other venues. The speakers are looking at how to make better software and investigating very cutting edge technologies. I have learned more as an attendee here than I have in a long while at a conference, and I can say this: I will be back.
Why is that Scandinavian developers seem to take Agile methods and techniques as simply “how we work well”? Is there something about the culture that allows them to get past the “that won’t work here” position and simply try things? I don’t know what the answer is, but the question is certainly compelling.
One last note: If you want to learn to get more from ReSharper, one way to figure that out is to have dinner with the Product Manager of the product at the same table. Ilia Ryzhenkov graciously showed me how to format my anonymous delegates the way I want and to make my Code Contracts show up without dimming (not a R# thing). Thanks, Ilia!
Scandinavians like Agile because it suits the flat, democratic social structures we have. There is a long line of similar development processes developed in Scandinavia over the past 30-40 years: User-Centered Design, Participatory Design had their start in Denmark. User involvement in systems design is mandated by law. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Participatory_design