WOPR7 is a workshop on agile performance testing. See
www.performance-workshop.org for details, including how to apply.
It will be held in Exeter, England on October 12 - 14, 2006 (Thursday
- Saturday). WOPR7 is a peer-level mini-conference, invitation-only,
deliberately small and collegial, and free. James Bach will conduct a
related one-day tutorial on Wednesday, October 11, also free.
Prior WOPR workshops have uniformly been rated outstanding. WOPR6, for example, was held on the Google campus in California last April, and attracted 120 applicants for the 20 seats available.
Some myths may make people ambivalent about applying to attend WOPR7 --
Myth 1.. Travel to the U.K. is a hassle / we do not have a budget for European
travel / the food is bad in England. Actually, Exeter is a delightful, semi-medieval university town. The climate will be great in October. So will the camaraderie.
Myth 2.. "In my organization, we do not do agile performance testing and thus
do not have any experience reports (ERs) to share on this topic." In response, I ask questions like: "Well, do you test and compare the performance iteratively?", and "Do you have to be agile and respond adroitly to fast changing conditions, often under tight deadlines?" They always say: "Of course! But we do not rigorously follow XP, Scrum, etc."
Myth 3.. "I would like to go to WOPR7 as a participant but have no ER to
submit, so I know I will not be selected." We have room for motivated beginners as well as experts.
Myth 4.. "I would like to go to WOPR7 and I do have a story (an ER), but it
could not possibly be selected over ones by Harty, Sabourin, Pearl, Barber, etc.". See comment above on myth #3.
