December XTCs

Well folks, the first year of XTC-NYC is drawing to a close. We've just 2 more meetups left, tomorrow and on the 18th. We've been having some corking discussion of late (and no, not just about home brew and eurogaming) so come along and and join in!

XTC London moves

I first went to the London version of eXtreme Tuesday in early 2002, and it took place then, just as it has done for most of the last nigh on 6 years since, at 'The Old Bank of England', a cavernous Fullers pub next to the Royal Courts of Justice where Fleet Street becomes The Strand.

It was therefore somewhat of a surprise that I read today that London XTC has moved to the 'Counting House' on Cornhill, closer to the Financial District. More details from Nat Pryce here.

November XTCs

As the evenings get darker and the weather gets colder, what better excuse for some geeky comraderie at the eXtreme Tuesday Club? We start the month's meetups tomorrow night and then on the 20th for a Thanksgiving Special..

Hope to see you at d.b.a.

-- Mike

October 16 - DDD & alt.net follow-up

There was a healthy representation of XTC-NYC'ers at the alt.net conference in Austin last weekend so the next meeting on October 16 is sure to include discussion of that.

We'll also be welcoming New York members of the newly-founded Domain Driven Design group who will be dropping in.

October is a 5 Tuesday month so pop over to d.b.a. before we start a 3 week break.

XP NYC Blogs

Thanks to the web 2.0 goodness of Yahoo Pipes, I've setup an aggregation of XP / Agile blogs of people based in NYC. You can see it at http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=nBxJoGVb3BGBtu7ty6ky6g .

If you're an XP / Agilist based in NYC and would like your blog added to the collective then drop me a line.

Post-Agile 2007 XTC, plus Facebook

Last week a whole bunch of us were in Washington DC for the Agile 2007 conference. Come along to DBA this week for our 2nd eXtreme Tuesday of the month, and the last of the summer (the next one will be the day after Labor Day) to discuss the good (and bad) of our week in the capital.

Also, we now have a Facebook group so if all this social networking stuff is your bag, head here now!

XTC-NYC is going to Agile!

Hey all,

Seeing as Agile 2007 is the one of the biggest XP events of the year, it seems only fitting that eXtreme Tuesday Club meet up for our usual beer and shop talk.

On Wednesday (yes, _Wednesday_), August 15th, 6–9 pm, Cyrus Innovation is having a shindig over at the Old Dominion Brewhouse in the DC Convention Center. Help Cyrus celebrate a great year with beer and food on us.

Let me know if you can make it (feel free to bring a colleague, too) - just drop a line to agile2007 at cyrusinnovation dot com

See the link below for more details:
http://cyrusinnovation.com/Agile_2007_Cyrus_Party.pdf

Here's the link to the Old Dominion:
http://maps.google.com/?hl=en&q=Old+Dominion+Brewhouse,+1219+9th+Street,+NW+Washington+DC&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=38.909268,-77.030983&spn=0.015094,0.029182&z=15&iwloc=A&om=1

Hope to see you there!

-- Bonnie

XTC-NYC - July 3rd & 17th

This month's eXtreme Tuesdays are this Tuesday (yes, I know it's the day before Independence Day, I'll still be in the city!) and on the 17th. I won't be around for the 17th - I'll be in the UK and at London's XTC, but I'm sure others will be.

Site updated with location details, will no longer be giving them in blog posts

Since we've settled on a location (D.B.A.) I'm going to stop mentioning the location details in the regular blog postings. For that you'll have to come to the site and look!

XTC-NYC - June 19 2007

It's the last XTC before the days start getting shorter! So come along to D.B.A. !

• June 19th from 6.30 pm
• D.B.A. , 41 1st Ave, 10003, between 2nd and 3rd streets
• Very close to 2nd Ave stop on the F/V (Exit out of the 1st Ave end and D.B.A. is a 1 minute walk!)
  
• Map

I'll be there this time after my break, I hope to see some of you for a beer and chat.

XTC-NYC - June 5 2007

Following the 3 week break for the extra Tuesday in May, XTC enters double figures with #10 taking place on June 5th. As is now customary we'll be at D.B.A.

• June 5th from 6.30 pm
• D.B.A. , 41 1st Ave, 10003, between 2nd and 3rd streets
• Very close to 2nd Ave stop on the F/V (Exit out of the 1st Ave end and D.B.A. is a 1 minute walk!)
  
• Map

I (Mike) won't actually be able to make it this time (I'll be enjoying the Kings of Leon gig at the Roseland ballroom) but hopefully some of the usual suspects will be around.

XTC-NYC - May 15 2007

It looks like we may have found a home! D.B.A. has a great conservatory area where we can sit down, talk and not have to share a communal tab. The only downer is they don't have food, but apparently you can get food delivered so I might try that this time.

May is a 5 Tuesday month so the next XtC will be in 3 weeks time - even more excuse to come!

• May 15 from 6.30 pm
• D.B.A. , 41 1st Ave, 10003, between 2nd and 3rd streets
• Very close to 2nd Ave stop on the F/V (Exit out of the 1st Ave end and D.B.A. is a 1 minute walk!)
  
• Map

If you're looking for me I look a little like this.

XTC-NYC - May 1 2007

D.B.A. was great last week, so I think it's worth another visit. For those worried about transport, the 2nd Ave F/V stop actually has an exit on 1st Ave so actually it's a very short walk from there.

• May 1 from 6.30 pm
• D.B.A. , 41 1st Ave, 10003, between 2nd and 3rd streets
• Map

If you're looking for me I look a little like this. I'll try and get a table or two out the back if it's not too busy.

XTC-NYC - April 17 2007

This week we're heading to D.B.A. in the East Village.

• April 17 from 6.30 pm
• D.B.A. , 41 1st Ave, 10003, between 2nd and 3rd streets
• Map
  

XTC-NYC - April 3 2007

We're back to the Silver Swan this week. The beer at Vol de Nuit was great, but the space didn't quite work out.

• April 3 2007 from 6.30pm
• Silver Swan, 41 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003
• Map

XTC-NYC - March 20 2007

This week: Belgian Beer at Vol de Nuit! They have Westmalle and Delirium, so I'm going to be a very happy man by the end of the evening.

• March 20th 2007 from 6.30pm
• Vol de Nuit, 148 W 4th St, New York, 10012 (between 6th ave and Macdougal down a small alley on the south side of the street near 6th ave)
  

XTC-NYC - March 6 2007

This week we're going to The Half King at 23rd St / 10th Ave. Thanks go to Luke Melia who came up with the idea and has reserved some space (so if you can't find us, just ask for tables reserved in his name.)

• March 6th 2007 from 6.30pm
• The Half King, 505 West 23rd Street, New York, NY 10011
• Map
• 

XTC-NYC - Feb 20 2007

The 3rd New York City eXtreme Tuesday will take place at Silver Swan on the 20th February. Please add a comment if you plan to come!

If you want to find us and don't know what any of us look like then (a) ask at the bar for the 'Mike Roberts' table, (b) look for the likely bunch of geeks and ask 'are you extreme?', or (c) look for me - I look a bit like this.

• Feb 20 2007 from 6.30pm
• Silver Swan, 41 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003
• Map
• 

The second meeting of New York's youngest agile get-together was even more popular than the first - about 35 people came along (thanks in part to a big turn-out from the Travelocity crew.)

I looked at a couple of other places to try for this third event, but wasn't really happy with them, so have reverted back to picking Silver Swan. If you have any other ideas for venues please let me know.

XTC-NYC - Feb 6 2007

The 2nd New York City eXtreme Tuesday will take place at Silver Swan on the 6th February. Please add a comment if you plan to come!

If you want to find us and don't know what any of us look like then (a) look for the likely bunch of geeks and ask 'are you extreme?' or (b) look for me (Mike Roberts) - I look a bit like this.

• Feb 6 2007 from 6.30pm
• Silver Swan, 41 E 20th St, New York, NY 10003
• Map
• 

The first meeting of New York's youngest agile get-together was much more popular than I expected. All up, about 30 people turned up throughout the night and I hope everyone found it interesting and enjoyable! One thing I took away was that we really needed a bit more flexibility around ordering food and drink. The proprietor of the Silver Swan has promised me that having individual tabs won't be a problem, so I hope that will make people more comfortable.

Thanks also to people who paid slightly more to the tab than they needed to last week. If you'd like some cash back then please let me know, otherwise I'll put the kitty towards drinks for the next meeting.

Suggestions for Venues?

Before deciding to start XTC-NYC, I asked Duncan Pierce (one of the London XTC organisers) what he considered to be one of the most important things to do in setting up such a group. His answer was something along the lines of 'Pick a good venue, because once you've settled on somewhere it's very hard to move'.

To try and learn from this advice, I think that for the first 5 events / 3 months we should try 5 different venues, and I'm seeking ideas on this. Based again on my observations of the London XTC, I think important attributes are:

• Centrally located. I think saying 'between Houston and 59th, 2nd and 8th aves' is reasonable.
• Ideally a separate space for ~ 20 people; failing that enough space that some people are guaranteed a seat, and quiet enough that people can have a conversation without shouting at each other.
  
• Good beer. Hang on a moment, this is the US isn't it? (Sorry couldn't resist. Yes I know there are loads of great micro-brews available in this town!) OK, anywhere with at least something decent on tap.
• Preferably food. I know not everyone wants to eat out but since most people will be coming straight from work, some people will want to eat.

Is this too much to hope for in Manhattan? My hope is 'no', at least not on a Tuesday evening.

Anyway, please add comments with your thoughts on whether these are sufficient qualities to look for in a venue, and even better please suggest some venues of your own! If we don't find somewhere else in time, I propose Vol de Nuit (West 4th / 6th Ave) as our next port of call.

And of course, I expect this will be a hot subject of conversation at the first event at the Heartland Brewery - see you there!

Why XTC-NYC?

The original eXtreme Tuesday Club is a weekly gathering of eXtreme Programming practitioners that has taken place in London for 8 years or so. It has provided a great community for like-minded software developers, managers and coaches to get together in a very informal way to discuss the ups and downs of using XP and other agile Software Development methods on a wide variety of projects in all sorts of organisations.

I (Mike Roberts) got a lot out of London's XTC when I lived there. Even though I wasn't a 'regular' I still found it a great place to pop along to every now and then when I was in the mood. I miss the informality / beer / random banter that it provided so I've decided to kick off a similar event here in New York City. I'm not sure if the US / UK cultures are aligned enough that it will work, but you don't know if you don't try.

XTC-NYC - Jan 16 2007

The inaugural New York City eXtreme Tuesday will be at the Heartland Brewery, Union Square. Please add a comment if you plan to come!

If you want to find us and don't know what any of us look like then (a) look for the likely bunch of geeks and ask 'are you extreme?' or (b) look for me (Mike Roberts) - I look a bit like this.

• Jan 16 2007 from 6.30pm
• Heartland Brewery, 35 Union Square West, 10003
  
• Map
• 
  

Extreme Tuesday - New York Edition

Welcome to the XTC-NYC blog!

This blog will be hosting announcements for all the New York eXtreme Tuesday meetups. The idea is someone will announce the next meetup, and then people can comment to say whether they will be coming, and any possible discussions they might be interested in having.