Shanghai Scrum Gathering and CSM course

Scrum Gatherings have been happening with regular frequency in North America and Europe for the last few years … and now they’re in China. The very first Scrum Gathering was held in Shanghai on April 19th. This was also the week that Eyjafjallajökull decided to spew ash all over Northern Europe causing the cancellation of may flights … and a number of presenters unable to attend. It was a particularly busy time for the organizers who rushed to fill the gaps.

And, as a result I ended up taking part in two keynotes, one presentation and the Scrum Clinic. The first keynote that I presented was “Scrum + XP: Myths and Reality.” Combining Scrum and XP is something that I’ve done a lot in the past, and it’s not something that’s new. So I was quite surprising to find that it’s a topic that many people are interested in.

The second keynote was a panel discussion on good Agile technical practices hosted by Tom Mellor and staring Mitch Lacey, Bas Vodde, Bjoern Jensen and myself. Bas had a wonderful story explaining why developers are reluctant to take up TDD. It was so good, I think I’ll write a blog post about it.

I also had the opportunity to present some Agile team games. This is a favourite topic of mine and one that I’ve presented before. On this occassion I was able play the Ball Point game with 70 participants in two teams! It was crazy, chaotic fun!

The final activity that I participated in was the Scrum Clinic which was admirably run by Vernon Stinebaker, Brad Swanson and Bjoern. I arrived late for the event and when I arrived Vernon, Brad and Bjoern we surrounded by about 80 people. Speaking with Vernon after the event he said that they weren’t sure how it was all going to work out. But it worked out wonderfully, and I’m sure everyone got a lot of value from the discussions that were had.

As usual, the very best a part of attending a conference are the people … and the Shanghai Scrum Gathering was no exception. Tom Mellor, Mitch Lacey, Bas Vodde, Jim Cundiff, Jodi, Lv Yi, Xu Yi, Brenda, Julien, Stanly Lau (who provided may of the photos), Steven Mak, Paul Culling and many, many others made it a fun and enjoyable event.

You can find the full list of Shanghai Scrum Gathering presentations here: http://www.scrumalliance.org/resources?tag=2010+Shanghai+Gathering

Immediately after the Shanghai Gathering, we departed for Chengdu for a CSM course. I don’t speak Chinese, and I feel that not being able to give the CSM course in the native language of the participants presents some serious communication issues. Luckily, OutSofting who are my partners in China, had arranged for me to co-train with local Agile coach, Xu Yi. This worked fabulously, and allowed for much easier communication. Xu Yi has a great write up of the course.

Chengdu is the capital of Szechuan province and home to just(!) 11 million people. Szechuan is famous for it’s spicy food, especially for it’s hot-pot and an essential ingredient to hot-pot is the Szechuan pepper. The Szechuan pepper has an very unusual effect on the mouth … a general numbing and a gentle, but insistent tingling sensation. I thought it was actually very pleasant, and something I’d definitely like to try again.

At the end of the week I was exhausted. It was busy, crazy but very productive and full of new experiences, tastes and sounds. Something I’ll remember for a long time to come.