26: Coderetreat with progressive sessions without deleting the code

In this episode I am describing an experimental Coderetreat format I used in one of my last retreats. The goal was to have progressive sessions without deleting the code, a bit like product development. I am talking about:

• Options to work on progressive sessions during the day in general.
• Validation of the Coderetreat principles for the taken option.
• Actual kata used and its requirement changes.
• Sessions run during the day and what to focus on as facilitator.
• Conclusion including feedback from participants.

Download the MP3 (12 minutes - 18 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Lean Poker or Extreme Startup
• The Bowling Game Kata
• The OCP kata

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

25: Top 3 most important facts about Coderetreat facilitation

This episode marks one year of the Coderetreat Facilitation podcast. To celebrate the anniversary - and to prepare for the upcoming GDCR20 I will recap my top 3 most important facts about Coderetreat facilitation:

• What is the Coding Dojo Mindset? (from episode 10)
• What is your primary job as facilitator? (from episode 13)
• Focus on pairing (from episode 15)
• What is the best way to facilitate? (from episode 5)
• Why are there four questions when I said "top 3"? ;-)

Download the MP3 (13 minutes - 19 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you all for staying with me for the last year.

(Music from Party horn by audiosmedia, Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

24: Teaching elements in a Coderetreat, learning goals and how to adapt to the group

This is the second episode with Technical Agile Coach Emily Bache on how to take the Coderetreat to the next level:

• Which teaching elements could we add to a Coderetreat?
• What about learning goals?
• How to adapt the (learning) material to the group?

Download the MP3 (11 minutes - 8 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Emily for sharing your knowledge about teaching. You can reach Emily on her Twitter for further discussion.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Ensemble/Mob Programming
• Bloom's Taxonomy

New RSS Feed: If you subscribed to this podcast before August 27th 2020, you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again to the new feed https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

23: All first time participants, facilitators knowing Game of Life and supporting the global event

In this episode I am answering Lars' questions:

• Any problems when all participants are first-time Coderetreat participants?
• Any problems when all participants have never heard of the Game of Life?
• Is it required to solve the Game of Life before facilitating a Coderetreat?
• During (pre Covid) Global Day of Coderetreat, which activities support the global event?

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 13 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Christian Hujer's Game of Life sample solution
• Game of Life, Apache Ant
• Game of Life, 1 line APL
• Game of Life, short functional solution in Clojure
• Game of Life, 256 bytes Commodore Assembly
• Game of Life, TSQL
• Game of Life, XSLT
• Join the Software Crafters Slack Team (Channel #coderetreat)

New RSS Feed: If you subscribed to this podcast before August 27th 2020, you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again to the new feed https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

22: The Coding Dojo, using Coding Dojo exercises and are constraints overrated

In this episode I talking with Technical Agile Coach Emily Bache about her Coding Dojo Handbook and bits of the Coding Dojo can we use in a Coderetreat:

• What is a Coding Dojo?
• What is Emily's Handbook about?
• How can we use smaller exercises in a Coderetreat?
• Are constraints overrated?

Download the MP3 (10 minutes - 7 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Emily for sharing your knowledge about Coding Dojos. You can reach Emily on her Twitter for further discussion.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Coding Dojo Handbook by Emily Bache

New RSS Feed: If you subscribed to this podcast before August 27th 2020, you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again to the new feed https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

21: Participants not getting TDD, increase participation in inhouse Coderetreats and questions in session retro

This episode was inspired by SoCraTes Day Switzerland:

• What if participants don't "get" TDD?
• How to increase participation in inhouse Coderetreats?
• What questions do you ask in the session retro?

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 13 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

New RSS Feed: If you subscribed to this podcast before August 27th 2020, you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again to the new feed https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

New RSS Feed

TL;DR: Feed URL has changed - you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again to this podcast: https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

When I started this podcast last year, I wanted to get it done quickly. I did not think much about Podcast hosting services. I decided to use Google Blogger (again), mainly because I was familiar with it. The Google FeedBurner service worked well to convert the Blogger feed into a podcast one. I was able to subscribe to the feed using my podcast catcher on Android. All was well.

Then people kept asking me if I could put the podcast on iTunes, e.g. Steve Korzinetzki asked Peter, is there a chance to find your podcast on iTunes Podcasts in the near future? :) I considered it a sign of success of the show and had a look. That was five months ago. I faced some technical difficulties and was not sure I could make my feed Apple compliant. FeedBurner allowed only limited customisation. In the end I had to roll my own RSS. While I had not wanted to do that in the beginning, I accepted the need after half a year of podcasting. Further there was no time pressure as the podcast was already life. By creating my own feed, I was able to add extra meta data, e.g. derive the episode number from the file name of the audio file. Win.

So if you subscribed to the podcast here on my website before August 27th 2020, you need to unsubscribe and subscribe again for the new feed URL to be used. The new feed is https://www.code-cop.org/podcast/rss_feed.php.

Thank you all for encouraging me to do this. Now you can find the podcast listed on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, too.

As always, if you have any questions regarding your Coderetreat, Coding Dojo or hands-on workshop, please send me an email or leave a comment. I will answer the question in one of the next episodes.

20: Dealing with distractions and support of coding setup

In this episode I talk with my co-facilitator Oliver Spann about:

• How to deal with distractions and negative surprises?
• How to support people with their coding setup?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 10 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Oliver for sharing your knowledge. Read more from Oliver at his blog.

Coding setup mentioned in this episode:

• kata-bootstraps
• Cyber Dojo

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

19: Saturday, communication up front and splitting the group between facilitators

In this episode you learn about:

• Is Saturday required for a Coderetreat?
• Should we communicate about learning before the event so we get the "right" people in?
• How to split the group between facilitators?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 11 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

18: Corey Haines' Cleveland Coderetreat Introduction Part 2

In this episode Corey Haines will introduce you to

• Coderetreat Day Structure.
• Using different programming languages.
• Conway's Game of Life.

Download the MP3 (10 minutes - 13 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Check out the full video here:

Material in this episode and related episodes:

• Corey Haines' Cleveland Code Retreat Introduction from Corey Haines on Vimeo
• Episode 16: Part 1
• Episode 05: Coderetreat Day Structure
• Episode 01: Learning a new language
• Episode 02: Explain the Game of Life
• Conway's Game of Life

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw.)

17: Preserving energy as facilitator and activities to help switch pairs

In this episode I talk about:

• Preserving my energy as facilitator.
• Activities to help switch pairs.

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 12 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

16: Corey Haines' Cleveland Coderetreat Introduction Part 1

In this episode Corey Haines will introduce you to:

• The goal of the Coderetreat
• The 4 Rules of Simple Design

Download the MP3 (10 minutes - 14 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Check out the full video here:

Material in this episode:

• Corey Haines' Cleveland Code Retreat Introduction from Corey Haines on Vimeo
• On the goals of Coderetreat
• Kent Beck's four rules of simple design

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw.)

15: The intro, facilitate forming pairs and difference to a Coding Dojo

This episode contains:

• What to put into the intro for the day?
• How to facilitate forming pairs?
• Which are the differences between organizing a Coderetreat and a Coding Dojo night?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 12 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

14: Alex Bolboaca's Message for Coderetreat Attendees

In this episode Alex Bolboaca will answer the following questions:

• What makes Coderetreats magical?
• How to get the most out of a Coderetreat?

Download the MP3 (7 minutes - 10 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Check out the video here:

Material in this episode:

• Alex Bolboaca on Coderetreat from AgileWorks on Vimeo
• How to get the most out of a Code Retreat
• Episode 07: Deleting the code
• Episode 01: Seeing different languages

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw.)

13: Primary job of facilitator, first session without pairing and supporting participants' learning journey

Today I talk about the following questions:

• What is your primary job as facilitator?
• Is it allowed to run the first session without any pairing?
• What is Ping Pong?
• How to support participants to continue their learning journey after the Coderetreat?

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 13 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Managing the Difficulty of Coding Exercises
• A box of things to take from the Coderetreat

Thanks to Christian Haas for feedback on audio quality of this podcast.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

12: What to look for and ask about other than the code

In this episode my co-facilitator Oliver Spann shares some tips for non-coding facilitators:

• What to look for during sessions (while people work) other than the code?
• What to ask in retrospectives if you did not understand the code?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 6 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Oliver for sharing your knowledge. You can learn more from Oliver at his blog. Related to this episode is Oliver's latest article Can you facilitate a Coderetreat as a Scrum Master?

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

11: A remote Coderetreat and overview of constraints

In this episode:

• How to run a remote Coderetreat?
• What are constraints?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 12 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Material used for this episode:

• Retrospective on a Remote Global Day of Coderetreat
• 20/80 - A coding dojo constraint just for fun

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

10: Coding Dojo Mindset and Game of Life is mandatory

In this episode I am answering

• What is the Coding Dojo Mindset? (What is the core mindset of a Coderetreat?)
• Is Game of Life mandatory?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 12 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Alex Bolboaca: The Coderetreat Problem Is Not The Problem

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

09: Constraint for first session and alternative exercises for Game of Life

In this (longer) episode I asked Sandra Parsick about

• the best constraint for the first session and
• alternative exercises for Game of Life.

Download the MP3 (12 minutes - 9 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Sandra.

Mentioned in this episode:

• The Coderetreat Problem Is Not The Problem
• Mars Rover kata
• Snake/Nibbles/Tron

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

08: Why pair program, finish the Game of Life and how many facilitators do we need

In this episode:

• Why do we pair program the whole Coderetreat?
• Is it possible to finish the Game of Life assignment in a single session?
• How many facilitators do we need and when do we need more than one?

Download the MP3 (8 minutes - 12 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

07: Deleting the code, questions that people ask and single participant staying alone

In this episode I answer these questions:

• Why do we delete the code after each session?
• How many questions do people ask?
• What about a single participant staying alone?

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 14 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

06: Facilitating ensemble/mob programming and choosing your pair facilitator

This is the second part of my discussion with Lisi Hocke. (The first part is here.) This time we talked about:

• How to facilitate an ensemble/mob programming session?
• What to look for in your pair facilitator?

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 6.5 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Thank you Lisi for visiting the Coderetreat Facilitation podcast. You can reach Lisi at @lisihocke.

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)

05: Day structure, facilitation styles and non developers showing up

In this episode I am talking about

• Coderetreat Day Structure,
• the best way to facilitate and
• non developers participating.

Download the MP3 (9 minutes - 13 Mb) or subscribe to the Feed.

Mentioned in this episode: Structure of a Coderetreat

(Music from Synth Loop 1 by allpurposedw and Gong 001 by tec_studio.)