The April ExoLightningTalk Event, held on the 22nd, had 6 speakers talking and sharing funny photos from our recent Xi’an ExoTrip. Thanks to all our wonderful Exo-mates 
ExoLightningTalk, a bi-weekly internal forum (only open to Exoweb staff for now) was kicked-off on Nov 4th. A lightning talk is a short presentation of your choosing, no longer than five minutes, providing each ExoMate a stage to share new technologies, information, views, and fun things.
The first event went well with 7 speakers, fun topics, and was attended by almost all of Exoweb. People had fun and there was a lot of interaction and feedback.
The talks were:
Our very own Ken Wong went up on the speaker’s podium again, this time at China’s largest software industry conference, the Software Development 2.0 Conference, Beijing, last October 22-24.
Similar to his previous talk in the Agile China conference, Ken explained how code reviews, although not a specific part of the agile development process, greatly reduce errors in production code. It also detailed the eventual integration of this practice into Exoweb’s development process, as well as the automated tools being used in speeding up the process and best practices learned.
Check the SD website for the Chinese version of this description and brief speaker introduction, as well as further details about the event.
(If you open the September issue of Programmer and look on page 80 in the Mr One Minute column you’ll find an article on staff motivation by Exoweb’s very own Ken Wong. Following is the original English version of the article.)
Most people inherently want to do a good job. Once de-motivators like poor compensation, bad working environment, etc, are removed, the main concern is to help them find a role that fits them well and provide timely feedback.
Every human being is different and finding their best role can be a challenge. A common example in IT is promoting a good technical person to management, only to find that he is not at all suited to being a manager. Putting a person in a job he cannot do well is a major de-motivator.
Once a suitable role is found, clear expectations and feedback are the main priority. A common reason why people under-perform is because of a misunderstanding about organizational priorities. This causes people to waste energy on non-critical activities. Giving feedback the moment it is observed, either good or bad, helps to quickly correct this. Positive feedback especially important for motivation. One positive comment can outweigh many negative comments.
How to Foster Professionalism
Human beings are very social and they pick up their cues from people around them. If most people around them are very professional, they will be too. Since senior management has a much greater influence on others around them, you start with them first. Have everyone lead by example.
Respect is also earned, not demanded. To have people respect the organization (and thus their jobs), the organization must respect them and treat them as humans. Nothing is more toxic than having junior staff pulling inhuman amounts of overtime while senior management is on the golf course. Basic human rules must apply to all. An organization that acts like it respects all of its people will receive respect and devotion in return.
There will always be those few that believe the rules don’t apply to them though. In these cases, feedback is required. If behaviour fails to change, then more drastic feedback is required like warnings, reprimands or in the worst case, termination.
This September 11-12, 2009, our Kenneth Wong, Director of Exoweb Services, will be speaking on the topic of code reviews at the Agile China conference, the largest agile software development conference in China.
Also included in the roster of speakers is Kent Beck, one of the founders of the Agile software development method and signatory of the Agile Manifesto, as well as creator of such methodologies as Extreme Programming and Test Driven Development. Check out more details on Ken’s talk, and find out how to join the conference in Beijing.
As you might know, last year Exoweb started Happylatte, a division dedicated to developing our own iPhone applications. Our first game, Pee Monkey Toilet Trainer, made the #1 spot on appstores around the world, including the US appstore in May. Since Exoweb’s business is outsourced agile software development, the next move should come as no surprise
Starting in July Exoweb is opening up iPhone development services for clients. We will do them the good-old Exoweb way: by using the Scrum agile methodolology and by recruiting great software developers (we have a 300:1 resume-to-hire ratio).
Ken Wong, Managing Director of Exoweb Services, is heading up this operation, and Matt Jung, is our North America Sales Director, based in San Francisco. Please help us spread the word, and if you know of any potential clients, please get in touch or refer them directly to:
World-wide sales:
More information will slowly appear at www.exoweb.net/sales.
And be sure to fan us on Facebook if you want to stay up-to-date on what we’re doing:
