What's New for the Week ofJuly 24, 2006

Don completed his first week in the Bakersfield dry heat with the project on schedule. He celebrated by heading up stream and kayaking on the Kern River.

Steve is prospecting for customers.

Johanna is at the Agile conference, fighting with the wireless.

Jerry spent the week getting good checkups on medical tests, writing, hiking, and working with an artist on the cover for his new novel, The
Aremac Project.

Dave is baking in the summer heat, waiting for the rolling power blackouts to start. Late at night, when it cools down, he's working on a pet project
that had gotten shelved late last year.

Esther is attending Agile 2006 and offering workshops on team dynamics and agile retrospectives. She expects to have fun and see lots of old and new friends.

Move Past Distractions: Give Yourself an Ice Cream Cone

Occasionally a thought gets in the way of making progress. The blocking thought may not even be related to the work at hand, but we get fixed on the thought, and nothing happens until we get beyond the thought. This week's new article Move Past Distractions: Give Yourself an Ice Cream Cone by Dwayne Phillips makes suggestions on how you can get past the distractions.

You can find other articles in the AYE Library on the Article page.

It's a book! Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

I'm happy to announce that Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great is hot off the press.

ED

What's new with the AYE Hosts on July 17, 2006

The AYE hosts are out and about--or sticking close to home:

Don leaves for a three week adventure in Bakersfield, CA. The clients assure him "it's a dry heat."

Steve is on vacation in the Midwest visiting his brothers and father.

Johanna is on vacation in the Keys.

Jerry spent the week helping writers prepare their works for publication. He also drafted a dozen chapters of a new novel.

Dave and his daughter have been trying to get a cheap remote-controlled toy plane to stay in the air. At best, it glides gracefully into the grass. A reminder that you often get what you pay for, AND sometimes throwing a small amount of money at an opportunity will buy you a lot of information.

Esther is in Minneapolis trying to stay cool in record setting heat (definitely not a dry heat). Her new book, Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great (which she co-authored with Diana Larsen) should be hot off the press by the end of the week. In the meanwhile, you can pre-order on Amazon:

Rolling Wave Planning

Are you looking for a way to plan projects that actually works? This week's new article Starting with Rolling Wave Planning by Johanna Rothman describes Rolling Wave Planning. What it is, what to do, and what not to do.

You can find other articles in the AYE Library on the Article page.

What's New for the Week of July 10, 2006

Last week, most of us were on enough vacation, that I decided there was not enough news :-) This week:

Steve is visiting his brothers in St. Louis and then, at the end of the week, he and his brothers hit the road to visit their father in Arkansas.

Jerry is staying in town for some medical tests.

Dave has been doing the fun stuff that falls on fiscal quarter boundaries, and is reading up on the technology du jour.

Don returns from a vacation where he took neither a computer nor a cell phone. He'll be working with clients and getting ready for a three week road trip.

Esther and Johanna are thrilled to be leading their first public workshop together this week. The workshop is based on their book, Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management, and focuses on building strong working relationships.