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AaronWest

I'm a contract software developer and consultant in the enterprise software space. I typically work on Java and Microsoft .NET projects, but recently have been working with Ruby on Rails.

I�m an agile methods heretic. In the early 2000�s I was an XP and agile methods advocate. More recently I�ve observed projects designated as �Agile� deliver poorly designed software in environments of intense schedule pressure and no slack. This is what happens when practices are adopted and divorced from principals. I've also seen pair programming backfire when this practice is instituted mechanically without thought to how people will respond to each other when made to collaborate more intensely.

In software development, I believe that small actions matter. Code commits, line by line make up the system. People interactions, exchange by exchange build or undermine the formation of a team.

My MBTI type is INFP.

SherryHeinze 2005.09.11

My first flash of insight came quickly in the warm-up tutorial with Esther and Johanna. As the Satir congruence model was presented, I connected this with a recent experience on a contract development gig. I realized I spent a lot of time on the project placating managers and senior project members. On this project I was unwilling to say no to ridiculous tasks that had no benefit to the project at large. As I focused on these tasks and got them done, other parts of my life deteriorated. I now had a model for explaining why.

Other insights came later, after the conference and back at work. A lot of the sessions at the AYE conference were infectious, as the learning effects were not apparent until months later.

The most curious conference moment was in a session on career re-invention and development with Johanna Rothman. We were asked to draw a graph representing the highs and lows of our careers over time. I shared my graph with a woman sitting next me. She noted that a low on her chart corresponded to a high on mine. After some conversation, I discovered not only was she also from Canada, but at that time her employer was a company that had just acquired the organization I was working at!

After AYE 2005 I deliberately set about taking more risks in job and career choices. From my safety zone of contract development I started doing the following

- I traveled to another city as a part-time OO design consultant on a software project.

- I invested in and participated in an internet start-up.

- I took a short contract as an interim manager of a software development consulting and recruiting company

Not all of these choices fit, but from each of them I learnt more about myself and arrived at a better understanding of what I wish to do next in my career.

I�m looking forward to AYE 2006!

-- AaronWest 2006.10.16