Idea: I want to put a small group of us (6-ish?) in a room for a week and develop an app. There may or may not be an iOS expert among us. We’d be using scrum/lean techniques and the goal is for each person to learn something new. The purpose of the end product is to demonstrate what we have learned.
Motivation: I need to become proficient at iOS programming. So, I am using this as an opportunity for me to conduct an experiment in alternative models for teaching software development/design, by holding a “boot camp” on the topic.
Who: Programmers, graphic designers, UX designers, and domain experts with some software-related learning objectives. You don’t have to be the best programmer or have any experience in iOS; you just have to be motivated and want to learn. For example, you might be a programmer, but always wanted to try your hand at project management. Or you might run a non-profit and want to learn how to give requirements for some software. Or you may be graphic designer who wants to get more involved in programming.
Who Not: This boot camp is not suitable for people who are expecting a lecture and well-crafted assignments. It is also not a for someone looking for free labour to develop the app that they have been planning for a long time.
Where: Toronto, either at a home in the Yonge/Lawrence area or at UofT
When: First week of August. I imagined this to be 4-5 days, 9-5-ish with lunch breaks. But if I get enough interest from people who have day jobs, we might do this over two weekends. I am also looking into the possibility of providing childcare for participants.
How: We will be working in pairs most, if not all, of the time. We’ll be doing short (1-day) sprints. We’ll work hard, but we’ll have a sustainable pace. We will all be working on an app together– I make no promises on the quality of the final product. The app itself with depend on the learning objectives of the participants, and we will decide together during the planning meetings.
Next Steps: Drop me an email (benevolentprof at gmail) to let me know you’re interested. Tell me a bit about yourself, your availability, and what you’d like to learn at the boot camp. We’ll have one or two meetings in advance to identify our collective goals for the boot camp and to do some scrum planning.
Damn. I’d *jump* on the occasion if it were in Montreal! :-S
If this is successful, we’ll do it again.
You willing to include possible electronic attendance (i.e. skype or google+)? I’m interested, but not sure I can justify 5 nights in a hotel.
Oh, I hadn’t considered remote participation! That would add an interesting dimension– learning the technology for remote pairing and distributed teams. Cool.
Drop me a line.