If an iteration is the heartbeat of an agile development process, then Iteration Zero (IZero) creates the heart. While you can (and should) retrospect and adjust throughout the software lifecycle, few things are as valuable as a good start. In this talk, you will learn how we run Iteration Zero at Relevance.

The purpose of IZero is to prepare all stakeholders, so that Iteration One can begin normal iteration pace, heading in the right direction. In this talk, we will visit each of the four principles of the Agile Manifesto, and show how to establish them in IZero.

AM #1. Individuals and interactions over processes and tools. In IZero, you should identify the team roles, and find the right people to fill them. You should create places and times (both physical and virtual) to maximize contact and interaction.

AM #2. Working software over comprehensive documentation. In IZero, you establish the practices you will use to create working software, which may include test-driven development, pair programming, continuous integration, code review, various metrics, and more.

AM #3 Customer collaboration over contract negotiation. In IZero, create the shared vision, and commit to keeping it collaborative. Define a flow that will work for all stakeholders, that can take ideas -> planning -> development -> testing -> acceptance.

AM #4 Responding to change over following a plan. IZero sets the initial parameters, but also prepares for change. Decide how to use standups, iteration planning meetings, iteration summaries, and retrospectives to adapt to change throughout the project.

IZero does not have to be a blank slate. Once you have practiced it, you will build up a stock of IZero habits that work for your team, and draw on it for future projects.

In this talk, we will explore and compare four of the most interesting JVM languages: Clojure, Groovy, JRuby, and Scala. Each of these languages aims to greatly simplify writing code for the JVM, and all of them succeed in this mission. However, these languages have very different design goals. We will explore these differences, and help you decide when and where these languages might fit into your development toolkit. For more information see http://blog.thinkrelevance.com/2008/9/24/java-next-overview.

As we reach the middle of our second decade of Java experience, the community has learned a lot about software development. Many of our best ideas on how to use a Java Virtual Machine (JVM) are now being baked into more advanced languages for the JVM. These languages tend to provide two significant advantages:

• They reduce the amount of ceremony in your code, allowing you to focus on the essence of the problem you are solving
• They enable some degree of functional programming style. Think of it as a dash of verb-oriented programming to spice up your noun-oriented programming.

In this talk, we will explore and compare three of the most interesting new JVM languages: Clojure, Groovy, JRuby, and Scala. Each of these languages aims to greatly simplify writing code for the JVM, and all of them succeed in this mission. However, these languages have very different design goals. We will explore these differences, and help you decide when and where these languages might fit into your development toolkit.

In recent years, the Java community has embraced a variety of new languages that target the JVM, but also offer productivity advantages over traditional Java coding.

One of the most interesting of these languages is Clojure, a "Lisp unconstrained by backward compatibility." In this talk, you will see why Clojure deserves serious consideration as the next big JVM language:

* Clojure provides all the low-ceremony goodness you know and love from dynamic languages such as Ruby and Python.
* Clojure includes Lisp's signature feature: Treating code as data through macros.
* Clojure's emphasis on immutability and support for software transactional memory make it a viable option for taking advantage of massively parallel hardware.

Agile teams manage change and risk by apapting. But to adapt, you must identify opportunities for change and take them. Retrospectives are a fun, cost-effective way for your team to learn and change.

In this talk, we will begin by conducting a mini-retrospective, so that you get a feel for the basic process. Next, we will review the core principles of a retrospective, and use these principles to compare and contrast a variety of retrospective activities from the book Agile Retrospectives.

Next, we will explore a few retrospective activities in greater detail. These are some of the favorites that we use regularly at Relevance:

• team radar
• prioritize with dots
• learning matrix

Finally, we will talk about how to tune retrospectives to the needs of your team at a specific moment in time. No two retrospectives are alike, and an experienced facilitator adds value by adapting a retrospective to meet the current need.