I arrived late to the monthly php london meet after a day putting the finishing touches to our Brandgauge project for Unique Digital (more details coming soon) - the pub based event for php programmers. This had the disadvantage of being left near the door rather than cosily sitting at a table for the pre talk networking - although this meant i got to meet an outsourcing consultant and the IT advisor for The University of Hertfordshire.
The event was well attended and the talks fascinating, Marcus Bointon spoke on xdebug - a powerful tool to make our (and your) web applications quicker and more responsive. Followed by the other Marcus’s talk on the Agile development process - one that is dear to our heart: decide on the most important functionality and deliver junks of it quickly and effectively: rather than spec out a mammoth project and wait 2 years for it’s inevitable failure (for examples of the latter see any Government project - NHS Software System, Tax Credits, Air Traffic Control Software, The Census Web Site). For examples of the former see NASA’s launch of it’s first rocket and the order “if anyone in the room doesn’t know what they are doing don’t do anything.” followed by the Britsh Navy’s order after the loss of their Flagship The Hood - “Sink The Bismark”. The moral of this story is close to one of our first customers hearts - “The Encounter Business” have published books about telling stories to make people change their way of thinking. There is a time and a place for different methodologoies and the ones to choose must be based on your experience - chose the correct method of operation for the appropriate time, client and project.