Okay, I think we should start all right Okay, how many Try to figure out who's here How many stakeholder Product owner type people are in the room web producer types kind of like client types What about project managers? Developers Okay, cool. All right How many people are familiar with the terms agile and waterfall it's kind of like everybody, right? Like I should have done this session like two years ago. Now. It's kind of like over great Okay, how many people in the room are considering going for an agile methodology in an upcoming project or something How many people are kind of unsure of that decision or have Entered into that decision. We're gonna go agile and I feel kind of uneasy about it Not really sure how it's gonna go How many people in the room are just like yeah, absolutely agile all the way every day Okay, what else does it want to how many people have had an agile project go great wonderfully like everybody, right? What about horribly? Nobody's immune, right? It can go anything yet can go great or terrible. How many agile experts are in the room? Right, okay humble humble man, but good go easy on me This is supposed to be like a ten thousand foot view, you know of a situation. It's kind of been happening where consultancies are taking on agile methodologies and Kind of to some extent forcing it upon the clients or also more clients are getting You know, they're getting trained at their university in some form or another And they're coming to consultancies saying we want to go agile, which is like a dream for consultancies Okay, so let's see Okay, so the for the purposes of this talk I'm going to Define agile as an inner iterative development process in which getting something like what we wanted When we want it and for the available resources is kind of how we're gonna define that and waterfall is a sequential development Process where we try to get exactly what we wanted For what we wanted to pay for it when we wanted to get it I'm with the last call media and We're a Drupal focused web development shop. We've been doing Drupal for a long time We've done a lot of things Got a lot of battle scars Right now we just do national brands to local retail stores start to finish graphic design social media content strategy Copywriting like we we've got a bunch of people do a bunch of stuff Really our big strength and all that the thing that we're really proud of and we're always trying to push forward is enterprise development workflow and best practices around all that we really get into the Deployments I love deployments and I love testing the deployment just everything tested helps you sleep at night because otherwise That's a major risk. If something's gonna blow up on production It's gonna come down to me to deal with it and that makes me lose sleep That's what we like to do. I'm Kelly Albrecht. I'm the CEO of last call media that just means I've been there the longest and I've been doing Drupal since 2007 pretty much once I figured out Views and cck. It's just like all right. This is this makes sense. I dropped June will like immediately I'm the lead organizer and presenter at the yearly Drupal camp that we do in Massachusetts in the United States and So I have a lot of respect for what goes on at these conferences because I can just imagine that effort that it takes to do a Camp and then multiply it by 20 and that's what they pull off here And they do an amazing job. I'm really honored to be up here today as well So I presented those camps and now I'm at this conference Okay That's a picture of a young me right It's almost a former life at this point I really enjoyed being able to do that. I don't know if I still can but I put this up here because I do like going fast. I do like taking risks I like the excitement, but you can't tell from the picture because it's kind of crazy But I like calculated risks I like the what I loved about this is you can start building small jump jumps and kind of learn the physics of it and get bigger and bigger and bigger and Small steps, you know one small step at a time and you're doing something super fun But in building those those jumps you're kind of straining the order you're you're like pushing pushing the limit and You're kind of right there in the chaos, you know if you fall that's kind of chaotic like the The bike goes everywhere dirt goes everywhere, but really there's some order behind that too Gravity right it's like a rule. It's a law. It's always pulling everything down So you kind of get in the middle of all that thing and you can kind of see when you're walking that line it's really fun, it's a really fun place to be and It's very can be very introspective. You can kind of see where things can cross over from order into chaos And you can also see start to see where things cross over from chaos in the order This is also a young picture of me, right? I stopped combing my hair for him for about six months I had a head full of chaos Right, but then this really cool thing started happening, you know, I was young studying politics And I was just kind of experimenting and stuff and I just thought this would be great This really cool thing started happening where like the strands like ordered themselves And it was it was just a really neat thing to have happen. I don't know. I think the dread think dreadlocks are really cool Everybody may not agree, but Order does kind of find its way into things. I've grown up a bit since then I've cut my hair I Become absorbed in my family and my work I still enjoy things like roller coasters and the beach and hiking and rock climbing.    I have trouble planning and just a general way, you know We all struggle with some things but So that's a struggle I think for everybody right with it, you know, let's let's plan Let's get the specs done So I don't have a bias towards over preparedness or preparedness. I don't make lists I don't make lists of the lists I need to make and I'm not saying that's a bad thing The people that do that are amazing and we need them. We need them. We need them to write the specs and everything But I think at each one of our cores There's a little bit of that dreadlock Kelly that we saw a few slides ago like let's just go Let's it's gonna be fine. It's the order is gonna happen, you know It feels like chaos right now, but we're just gonna get to work and we're just gonna get it done and something great is gonna happen So any order that you see here for me personally and probably for a lot of us kind of fell into place as We were growing between the order and the chaos in our lives. It kind of a lot of times It just falls into place. It's really hard to force it in there So a lot of it happens by happenstance basically so At the time of this picture I still dreadlock Kelly a little bit, but I'd started to become eyeglasses Kelly, right? so in this picture I've got on this shirt of this computer company that I started a long time ago and Computer repair shop and I just kind of went at it. This is the This is the empty shell of a space that I rented and I kind of knew where I wanted to go I kind of knew what the end deliverable was going to be Bought some flooring over there oh And I knew where I wanted to go, but I'd limited resources also and so I started building it just went at it Added things if you know if I needed to change the requirement along the way. I just did so I just kept chipping away at it Here's some more pictures. You know the electrical got put in we got in some lights up there I've got an air compressor I borrowed from my dad Just kind of you know I didn't really have any specs and a lot of times when I think back to this time in my life I think man if I had spec to this whole thing out if I had planned all the pieces that it was going to take to get This thing off the ground. I wouldn't done it Sometimes you only can get things done by just getting to it and getting to work and you know change being allowed to change the requirements I've got some paint up on the walls there some some Retail grid wall, which is surprisingly hard to find You know buying buying things to sell things is not like a typical thing that people do And so here it is. Here's my launch ready product product It launched like this about when I wanted it to launch There's still some things about it that I just had to live with Like I never really liked the this paint color. I think you can agree right? It's like Right, it's like it's like a brick. I don't know. I don't know what I was thinking But I wasn't going to buy a new paint and I wasn't going to paint it again. Just said oh, well, all right This is this iteration the store doesn't look anything like this now. We've you know, we've redone different things move things around It looks amazing now But really this worked really well for me And I think mostly why this worked really well is because I was the product owner. I was the project manager I was the developer. I was the QA. I was the judge jury executioner I was the dictator on this project and it's really easy to get along with yourself Right so that base was covered my team was me and that and that really worked out and even with my Short hair and glasses at this time. I was still mostly dreadlock Kelly just getting the job done So the business evolved and grew and it's got a couple of locations and you can't really see inside on the left Hand picture there, but it looks great. And this is another location and Things have changed quite a bit well, I'm actually I'm not really involved in it anymore and I'm definitely not allowed to pick up a hammer anymore when When they want to do something it goes quite a bit differently there are specs and requirements and statements of work and we get bids from the contractors and This works really well This isn't like invaluable for them because they need to know exactly what they're getting from who and when and what it's Going to cost and it needs to go exactly when it's going to start You know and because I put a budget on it and they say this is what we're going to do You know so like I think eyeglasses Kelly would be proud that this much effort goes into these things This is a picture of an office space that last call media is Working on moving into and we have to do a lot of construction and we've got a hat We have a budget for it and we need to know we don't want just something like what we wanted We want we're going to hire somebody and We're going to get and you know getting a lot of suspects. It's all getting planned out It's going to go a certain way and we're going to get this. This is what's going to happen In contrast projects that are done internally go quite a bit differently Who here works at a place where projects get done internally buy your own resources for your own resources? Right proud, you know, I mean some of you may and it's great if you do but you probably don't prioritize spec writing and and and a lot of like planning of the deliverables and this is exactly what's going to happen How it's going to go right so as software developers we we prefer the agile methodology right so let's Let's take a look at this right group of software development methods iterative and incremental development requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organizing cross-functional teams Adaptive planning evolutionary development time box. This sounds awesome, right? This sounds amazing this sounds like everything that we want to do to get the job done and None of what we don't want to deal with just I don't like doing that.  I'm just gonna I'm just gonna get to work So almost intuitively we know this can be more efficient this is a lot like Sounds a lot like when I was building that computer store and then and even afterwards when when it wasn't just me as the sole developer Designer dictator of the whole thing even it was just a few of us We had a limited amount of money and we wanted to do a certain thing and we just did what we had to get it done Right so agile is delivery driven and back to that beginning I'm gonna I'm defining it as something like what we want delivered Delivered when we want it and within budget right and this is really like I don't know It's not really the case anymore, but I remember Several years ago everything was beta Right because it was just we're just getting this to market use it. Let us know we'll fix it on the next release There's some you know, there's some weird brick colored wall We didn't like the paint color, but we didn't have time. So just you know, just try it out it's still gonna work and You know the beta thing everybody's kind of used to it, but that's kind of a It was kind of a sign where people were just delivering things getting things done getting them out And I think it still continues to this day except the beta term has kind of faded away a little bit But it makes sense where if you're on an internal Internal project doing a project for yourself. You've already hired everybody. You've already done Done your due diligence on interviewing, you know, this is the best team you can get So why do you need to spend all this time with scopes and statements of work and and spec writing? When you've already got you're not you're not putting them on the hook for delivering this certain thing Necessarily in this certain way you've hired them. They're just if they hit a snag They're the best team you've got just work around the snag so So it's really it really works well on an internal basis and one of the things that is happening is Consultancies are either pushing for or being approached by clients that want to do an agile project But an agile project does have its pitfalls too like at the beginning I asked Has anybody had a agile project go horribly it definitely can happen. It can go terrible an agile project requires an Extremely solid relationship between everyone the whole team and when you when this is this is a solvable problem When you're internal and your team is your team and your product owner is on your team And you can do more training and get to know each other and you can build a Trusting solid relationship with each other, but when it's a new client You don't know you don't have that solid relationship if it just happens and that's just magic, but good partnerships take work So imagine a scenario right and this may have happened to some of you where so many different directions Evolve mid-project right here's the scope change that we're all we've all committed to being agile to adapt to and no problem, right and Gridlock develops somebody wants to go a different way. It's just before QA. This isn't going to be good The but your agile right you so you can do this I've now got a license to change scope as much as I want because you're agile and gridlock happens and You're spending more time Being agile dealing with these changing requirements and time runs out right and what gets delivered on time right because it's time boxed and Within budget because it's you know, it's fixed bid in this way Leaves much to be desired. I don't know if you can see that. It's really small It says leaves much to be desired and what that's you know You can't read it because you barely got anything because you spent all of your time as a poor team Being agile so it happens Totally happens. That's cool, right? I like did this arrow thing Cuz I'm I'm working on being a good presenter Who's had something like this happen to them on one of their projects? two three be honest right Your agile right? I'll just keep changing my mind and you got to deliver something that I like Okay, so right look alright, so I didn't see that many hands But what about these scenarios like somehow you you found yourself on an agile project with 20 decision-makers? Now everybody's got to say right universities and large corporations are great at this You think you've got the the the the stakeholder, but then they bring in their stakeholder you know right during QA or One stubborn pixel pusher right like I want it to match the psds does not match psds like right to the pixel or one time when When very early in my career, I had a client that didn't want to use Photoshop But she was very particular about where things were on the page and I allowed her to talk me into Sit down sessions. This was a long time ago. I don't do this anymore where move it a little to the left a little more to the left one Perfect Okay Great and then you know so the part of the agreement of going into this is like well I've got a bill for my time and then you know after you know weeks of pixel pushing The the budget was kind of blown and she wasn't completely happy, but we worked it out, but that happens or scenarios where Let's see You know someone's on the project and they just won't their thinkers, right? They won't stop brainstorming about better ways to brainstorm like let's talk about this This this project this process could work better, right? You're trying to be the builder and the Improver and the producer and one key player and the whole entire thing is Coming up with ideas all along the way. It's like just put a freeze on this Because we need to deliver something it gets it can be really hard Or you know trying to switch gears just before QA totally happens I've got a new idea super critical. It's got to go into this release. You guys can do it Said nearly every project ever It happens, right? It takes an extremely solid team to effectively navigate these potential pitfalls Somebody wants me to sit down with them and push pixels I now have years of learning on how to appropriately handle that request When we start a project with a client we refer to it as an engagement No matter your chosen dev process. This is pretty serious. This is a big project It could be a lot of money to them They're gonna take it very seriously you need to work together and it's commitment on everyone's part the client's part, too Here's a very stock picture of a very stock engagement I don't think they all go like this anymore, but this is a Ring on the finger So a project kickoff it is an engagement you're a team now a partnership with a major goal in common Till site launch do you part unless you do? Post-launch support and then you renew your vallas or something So either way you're gonna get gray hairs where you're going or a few enough gray hairs that you'll pretend They're not really there Upfront open honest communication is key to these relationships Especially if you're going into an agile project You've got to be a team but also if it's waterfall to they've got to respect that it's fixed bid and not push scope They've that's their commitment And so you've got to hold them to that in either process as a commitment. This is serious This involves having each other as as a priority in the team The most successful partnerships will know where they were where they're going and how they will get there, right? So a lot of times engagements end up leading to a bad place because there wasn't a lot of communication So You may recognize this type of picture, right? This is the process we all know and love. This is our old ball and chain if you will It's got the typical sequential Development process we're going to do our requirements and our analysis Then when that's all set, we're going to design it Another term you may hear a lot of times throw it over the wall To coding you do your stuff coatings all set testing launch maintenance easy-peasy very understandable All order no chaos Wonderful, right? but It's become notorious for being inefficient because if this is like a year-long process And you're trying to get all this stuff done up here You're doing a lot of guesswork and a lot of padding and it's really irritating to spend all that time on it and you're you're putting your As as a CEO of a company on this process I'm going to be expected to sign my name at some point like this is what's going to happen. I promise And that can be frustrating that can be like I don't want to do this anymore. I just don't want to do this stuff, right? Maybe time consuming and inaccurate Every step of the way needs to be planned Perfectly so that this container is the right size For the stuff that happened in these two containers so that it fits And it needs to be at the right angle so that it flows down and everything needs to Happen at the right time so that when you get to here it's on time and with budget just like you signed for And another thing that happens in this thing is you end up getting really adversarial with your client, right? because you've got to protect this because they're having ideas all the time and right And anything that changes mid project you have to consider a change to scope hold on right So here's lucy. She's got a new idea This new idea could potentially blow the whole project to pieces and you need to find that out You can't just say okay because they're not going to care that you were so accommodating mid project when they're things off the rails on launch day You've got a backtrack you've got to go right back to that whole waterfall thing and make sure can we fit this idea in How does this change everything the whole development structure could need to be restructured to avoid catastrophe, right? surprise scope change Right, here's lucy. She thought it would be a critical good idea for the footballs to be on shoulders Right on launch Who here has had something like this happen to them, right? It had you just want to like strangle somebody How can we prevent this we need to prevent this is Right and this happens in agile too because you're agile You can just you know, you can just kick it off the shoulder at the last second. No problem But all right. So this is the incumbent process is where we're coming from I think we all know it We can all be good at it. You can I propose And we'll keep going after this proposal that we honor and value its strengths at least right Especially for the clients that desire require this it can feel really chaotic being a client And going into an agile project where you don't have that trust And you're on the hook to your stakeholders for something really good All you've got is your budget and it's really hard to just hand that over and don't worry boss We're gonna get something like what we want But they'll they'll spend all of our money the money that we've given so it's you know within budget And we'll get something like that on time So when you when you plan all this out when you do all this planning When they need you to do it, it's really valuable for them and and clients are worth it They're your clients or if they're not worth it then get clients that are worth it um right so There can be a lot of unknowns and it can feel really chaotic if you're not planning everything out So go back, you know, if you go back in analogy think, you know, preenum These are oftentimes seen as good ideas in hindsight Or you know, maybe just some really good solid upfront communication before Engaging Here's a little data because data is cool um This is an agile process and a waterfall process And this is basically I'll I'll do another slide, but this is the estimate And this is like oh well, we'll get something like what you want And then here's what tends to happen anyway You know give this huge ballpark from all the ideas you're giving me it could be somewhere in here And it tends to just balloon out And the waterfall process is basically you win some you lose some and we track all our projects and our time spent And when you average them all out This is this is kind of how it goes and I do also want a small tangent from a business perspective from the CEO's chair The difference between these two processes for us on a business standpoint as a consultancy being asked to do these is Change your mind all you want. We're billing hourly. We'll get those extra features in an additional sprint The waterfall process we just signed that we're going to do this for this amount of money So remember we got a protect scope So the green is the estimate And the blue is design development project management qa and as uh As you get in the process and it starts working and clients see what they can do And they they realize that that your agile and you can change your mind Things grow right and and it tends to cost About what I've ballparked at the beginning when I heard the spew of initial ideas Um, but basically the thing about agile that is required here for this to not be a horrible experience Is while you're going from here To up to the top up there you need a lot of communication and you need the client On your team in the trenches with you so that they know that as this thing was ballooning It wasn't happening while you were just playing xbox They were there In like a ticket tracker is is preferable. So they're making the requests. They're seeing the back and forth You need a lot of transparency And here's uh, the the waterfall one fixed bid Kind of an estimation by third, you know by thirds we're going to get this thing Here they they they creeped us for some scope change and we accommodated and you and you win some and you lose some All right, that's just kind of how it goes And the client gets what they're what's promised and there's a motivation on your part To be really efficient because you've got to win some, you know They they got us on the scope. We accommodated. We've lost the last five in a row. This one's going to be super easy We got to do this right. We got to get this done. This is the one where we're going to make up for all the past stuff So So you so you're you're uh, you're motivated to be efficient. So let's look at some efficiency stuff, right? This is a burn down chart. Who here knows what this is? Don't get me wrong. I love I love this thing. I love it, right?  There's even scrum of scrums, right? You add in all this stuff. You're adding order to to this chaos of let's just get things done And and maybe it'll work out you're adding this methodology and that can be a really good thing But it can also, you know, it can also be a bad thing when you have a whole team Of people making and analyzing productivity reports where a lot of the times what happens Is the devs get good at gaming the system and this is a real quote From every developer I've ever talked to about this chart. I've heard this called a burn-up chart I've heard this called. I'm gonna burn this chart down Where basically it's like well, I've hardly done anything but my charts look amazing, right? So agile can suffer from inefficiencies too One really starts to wonder when comparing efficiencies between waterfall and agile It's sort of like who's more efficient at eating treats, right? This guy cookie monster Or my daughter One's mess is on the face and the other's mess is on the floor We really when we're comparing these two methodologies We really need to be careful that we're not comparing the worst-case scenario of one With the best-case scenario of the other And I'm gonna steal this heartwarming moment right here To give a little insight to one of the main takeaways from this presentation And that is that people do projects Not processes people Over process we need to value the team and when the when it's a consultancy and the clients coming in They're part of the team And we need to we need to care about that we can't just agile all the way all the time We're not going to waste time on specs. They might really need the specs So but agile is taking over. I think for really good reason I think that it really fits in with how we like to develop and how we like to get work done And there's been a few reasons for its takeover It's now an ongoing business needs software modification is so you hire the best team you can get and they just get to work And so like it's like internally at my business.  I interviewed you. I love you. You're great Just start doing the job And clients when you have clients who here has some awesome clients you guys work great They trust you with everything. They know if something got harder. That's just because it got harder Right, that's an awesome place to be and when you have that relationship You can do more of an agile thing. You don't need to waste time covering your bases Promising deliverables that may turn out to be irrelevant down the road But Getting into an agile process methodology it needs to be done right And for the right reasons So how do you choose? How do you make sure That you're not getting into the wrong process or you're you're going too far with the spec writing Or too far with the with the trust and agile methods so I've got I've got a A way to Decide the way that I the way that I think about this is I feel like waterfall is the safe choice Because you're documenting everything out. You're taking the time you're doing the diligence And things are going to you're planning more planning better for better, right? Planning is safety Okay, so I've got some Criteria because really if you want to do an agile agile project Your team has to prove itself right So good efficient partnerships take work. It doesn't just happen. So you've got a You've got to prove that you can get to the agile Carrot thing that's in this. Does everybody recognize this? Right mario Dented Sorry it's stuck in my head Okay, so but basically You want to get here because this is how to work So you've got to prove yourself, right? If you're a client and you want to go agile you've got to be available and capable of full ongoing participation Because you're part of the team you've got to get in the trenches You must have complete trust in your dev team If something takes a little longer don't accuse them of playing xbox And if you can't trust them you might want to get stuff specked out in a statement of work And you've got to be flexible in the sub tasks because we're all right We are going to get something like what we want and the better team that we are the more like What we wanted we'll get right so A lot of times a client will fail in one of these scenarios And if you dive into an agile project where they're failing on one of these points, I think you're asking for disaster So we have you know, we've we've had projects where They wanted they had a big site they wanted done But the one thing that they had was they had it all the whole process was on paper And they just wanted to make that digital So the spec was it was really clear and they had really good specs And the one place where they failed on this part Was they were not available and capable of full ongoing participation. They all had full-time jobs And they just needed to hire someone to do this And they had a lot of bids on this and it's really popular in our area We only work agile right and we won the bid Because we understood that they had all the specs and we read through the specs It was clear to the developers And it was very easy to say we're going to do these things in this time frame for this amount of money And I signed on it And they went waterfall and we won that project against the other the other companies So for a development team to go agile Right, not that many requirements. You just have to be Highly skilled readily available Extremely dependable individuals You just need to have a rock solid team of rock stars and a lot of us do and they all want to work agile And also a lesser known one I don't know where I don't know if I got this in research or if I just thought of this one But really the team members need to be able to maintain their availability Throughout the life of the project Right because you're not doing all that spec writing beforehand. It's happening during the project if you're lucky There's everything's moving so quickly things are changing a lot of the institutional knowledge of the project That's developing as you're doing it is in the heads of a lot of people So they can't just be coming and going right so And I think that's the most common factor For not doing an agile project. Is it for some reason you're not going to be able to keep the same people on it throughout the project And a lot of times when we're all booked out on agile projects We'll entertain a more waterfall project that we can if it had if it's got clearly defined specs A comfortable timeline and we can just have people chip away at it in their downtime Because people can jump in and figure it out. It's all well documented and it's not changing under their feet So projects are best looked at from the other direction I think that a project has to prove that it can be a waterfall project So there are some requirements for a project to be a waterfall project Does everybody know who these two are anybody? No No hands All right go one guy in the back this is uh TLC TLC yes This is from when I was you know Come Oh, yeah, right Great. Um, I think this is I think tlc stands for the group members. So it's got teabaws left eye and chili chili wasn't available for this for this picture, but um There they are Okay, so for a project to go agile the requirements need to be extensively detailed and clearly defined They have to be if you're getting into a project on a waterfall process If you're if you're signing your name to getting this done, but it's not clear What's going to get delivered you're asking for disaster and the tasks and the steps To complete them need to be outlined fully understood going into it because basically you're saying like this whole thing That's going to happen this whole waterfall construction that we're going to do It needs to be understood going into the process because you're you're making this promise so If a project fails these it just has to be agile a lot of times a client will come and Well, how much would it cost to do this vague idea? And well, we need more information than that. I don't know. Maybe this should be an agile project and we've had situations where a client was looking for work and this the job was so big And that they didn't have the resources to build the statement of work, but they knew they just had to get started And they were asking us, you know To come up with a fixed price for this and we couldn't we wouldn't do it because you just can't do that You can't go down that road And we've been running an awesome agile project for them ever since and we lucked out on the teamwork part. They're they're pretty good team, but But yes, a lot of times projects can fail the requirements of going waterfall And you just you're gonna you're heading for disaster if you sign to that Okay, so the This picture is from the song Don't go chasing waterfalls, right? Don't go chasing waterfalls Stick to the rivers and the lakes that you're used to I don't think they were talking about agile software development but I think this is relevant because the rivers and the lakes that you're used to Instinctively agile, right just let's just be agile. Let's add order to that chaos Or else you've got to chase if you're going to go waterfall It's a it's a requirement of the project that you chase it down You build those specs because your client is worth it in that scenario. All right, so this is uh This is batman And he's selling an agile method, right? We're going to get all the things done It's going to be awesome We're going to do none of what we don't want to do And we're only going to do what we want to do and we're going to get what we want It's going to be great Agile needs to be done for all the right reasons Slow down keep it level head the client is your priority Make sure that there's a commitment from their side as well If you sell agile too hard your client your client or potential client is going to get the wrong idea And this is what they're going to hear we'll walk through fire for you change your scope all you want I don't you know, it doesn't matter. We're agile You need to set proper expectations So i've got this poem here. This is one of my favorite poets This is a poem where To what and to walk across the floor To an old dresser with a cracked mirror See myself ugly grinning at it all This is this is getting something like what we want And being proud of it and working hard grinning at it all right people over process The health of the team when it's a client and you you're each other's priority and the health of that team is the priority Followed by the tasks at hand You need to work together no matter your chosen dev process. You're partnering on something very serious It will be great at times It will be really hard at others good efficient partnerships take work. They don't just happen Waterfall ones and especially agile ones your team the clients the team if you're a consultant And you're getting approached by clients that want to go agile They need to make the commitment. They need the proper expectations. They need to be in the trenches with you You need to share the responsibility of the project. You need to have commitment from everyone involved Communication early and often to set honest realistic realistic expectations are critical You need to have confidence and humility You need to know how to be have a partnership and it's really important to value each other You need to determine what process is best for you as the team going into it. You need to determine it together Commit to it together And then walk through fire together Thank you This is all yeah, um, my name is taco from global rail in the Netherlands Um, thank you very much for your story. Um, I think it really went into the essence of how we want to work And how we want to build these relationships with the team My issue is can you go back to the slide where you compare the agile data with the Waterfall data, oh the loose averaging of averages Okay, because Um For me, it's a it's it's fundamental Uh, yeah, here we go. Yeah For me, this is a fundamental thing Because on the right side you say well, sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, right? We've seen this we've had projects where we're like, wow, absolutely got nice margin I'm I'm also the founder of my companies. We look at the margins And then we have this thing going up, which means like, okay, we put in more hours than we budgeted and We're losing money and sometimes we lose a lot of money And especially when you're a small company, you don't have to buffer Or where you do like two or three wrong estimations This can really hurt and it can really damage your company. Right. So so especially because Yesterday we had a discussion and somebody said, oh, you must be from Wunderkraut and you have all these developers No, we're actually a small company and and if we Get this wrong a few times it really hurts So my point is if you look at this and you say, okay, we've chosen to do this waterfall because we knew the specs And we you know, we we we kept this constraints We still weren't able to make a right estimation and my idea is You cannot estimate the amount of work For a project beforehand Like never you cannot do it cannot be done If you keep this in mind then it's like we're trying we're doing our best here and and you say well, I think it's a safe choice Like the waterfall safe choice I don't I don't agree. I think it's a risky choice. It's the more risky choice for both your client and for you I think the safe choice is agile and small companies Should are better off working agile taking less risk Because you cannot estimate beforehand just count. Well, yeah, I'm not really sure what's worse Getting into a poorly a poor relationship on an agile project or being a little off because you didn't spend enough discovery time I mean we ask if if we aren't sure about something We'll ask for a pre project of discovery time where we'll ask for payment to spend all the time hashing these things out and for some projects where that just seems impossible that fails My project thing where you just can't clearly define what needs to be done. So we won't do those projects This happens Right here where where you lose some and I and I remember, you know years ago You you just you need the work so you get it in their budget and you really lose some and you might win some But this happens more now. I think because we you get pretty good estimation. I think Where we've accommodated the client because we think we want to impress them and we've let them creep scope a little bit And we've calculated that loss and that loss is actually viewed as an investment in the relationship And then sometimes it's easier and you just win but right. Yeah, when you start out It's super risky and annoying and frustrating to be put on to to need to to the money To get the job And to sign on it and basically because you're hungry you're signing too early. So that's a whole other that's a whole other thing Yeah, so estimation are important and Also, I like to say that the trust you've mentioned is very important. Also the role of the product owner is something we see that if the come the person is Not tech savvy, for example, or not able to give a no-go decision. They should not be a product owner And in Holland we even have companies that say no the product owner is something for someone from our team, right? There's a lot of this like the guy from four kitchens has been doing a lot of work on what he calls consultancy scrum And in in the case in that case he's got Clients coming and they're already committed to agile and they're they're saying they want to do agile And so now there needs to be a develop a way to Make them good product owners or good team members so that the whole thing doesn't fall apart mid project Hi so To summarize perhaps just one angle of your of your kind of presentation or talk You're saying that some projects fit the waterfall model because they're well defined And agile projects are perhaps more risky because the scope is not defined Could you explain why you can't do a well defined scope project in an agile way? Oh, no, you totally can and that's why do we need No, you need to you need to honor and value the process the the writing of the specifications And I actually think you should bring that in To the to an agile process the more spec writing the better. Absolutely. You just don't do it all Upfront you still have to define the work. You're otherwise. How are you going to do the demo at the end of the iteration? How are you going to present what we've done if we didn't know what we're going to do? How do you commit to To a chunk of work and an iteration if you don't know Well, I think we still need the waterfall process because there are still clients that need it to some extent Where if they're a university and they're a great client and you really want to work with them And they have they don't have the time to be on the team And they have if they had they have the specs Absolutely. No that I would totally agree with so, you know that you were asking earlier Who's been on successful agile projects and I said me and who's been on bad ones and I said me And it's not to do with the scope. I've found in my experience. I've been doing agile projects for about five or six years now team leading Um, it's to do with the lack of the product only needs two things They need to be available and they need to be able to make decisions. That's it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah And if you don't have that Then you can't do agile. So it's a really what we're saying is some clients Can't or don't want to do agile. Absolutely and those clients maybe should do waterfall Yeah, and when and really what spurs this is they're going to fail anyway, sorry They'll do waterfall and then they'll fail. Well, you're right I think what spurs this is I think consultancy or kind consultancies are over compensating a little bit and they're getting into these Projects with clients doing agile where they shouldn't Fair enough and so this kind of gives a formula to those consultancies, I think I'll try and get the last word. No, honestly, I'm not trying to get the last word But what I was going to say is then those people just shouldn't do the project They don't know what they're doing. They're not available to make those decisions.  Oh, well, you know, if you if you've got a client that can't define the scope But they've got enough money and they want to get something like what they want And it's really critical that they get this particular product out And you can kind of feel like they're going to be a good team and they pass, you know They make the hurdles and they get to the agile side We'll you know, we'll just work hourly for them And sprints and we'll just work with them We'll we'll define the sprint at the beginning and just get it done And get them something like what they want. All right


Conflict, yes! Everyone's favorite topic. Hey, thanks for reading my article in May's Envision Magazine.  Love to gossip about it, or we'll even watch shows about other people living their real-life drama and fake conflict. But when it comes to dealing with conflict, most people just pretend it's not there. Most feel that that tension and do everything to try and avoid it. Though there are few who thrive on conflict, and there are even fewer yet that are constructive with how they thrive on conflict. Now, I'll start by saying this. As an optician myself, I will admit that the opticianary role is most equipped to deal with conflict because of our part in the patient journey when the patient decides to purchase eyewear, right? We here know the most, I think, of anyone in the office because we are in the sales position. So these uncomfortable kind of conflict-type scenarios are frequent. But just because opticians deal with the most conflict does not mean that opticians are good at dealing with it. Uh-uh. Equally as terrible as everyone else at conflict. So no matter your role in the office, listen up. If you're working in the administrative reception area, the pre-testing area, if you're a scribe, if you're the doctor, if you're an optician, you're in a position to absolutely abolish a patient's desire to buy eyewear. And I guarantee that you have unintentionally talk patients right out of buying glasses without even knowing it. Cheer story. Now, you didn't do this on purpose, right? No one ever does. But here's the great thing about this with the right verbiage. Each one of you, no matter your role in the office, also has the power to save a sale. Let me explain. When a patient says, for example, that they want to take their prescription and are going to go order their glasses online, which is a very uncomfortable situation, by the way. The awkwardness causes us to kind of freeze up or even stutter. Uh, oh, okay, okay here. Or cower away and pretend that we didn't hear them, right? Or sometimes just say really dumb things like, yeah, a lot of people order online. Don't do that. All of these completely close or even like slam the door on the patient getting their eyewear from you. Now, can we force a patient to buy from us? Absolutely not. I would have done it. But we sure as hell do not need to go about shutting the opportunity just because we get uncomfortable in a situation. Let me tell you this. When you and your whole team are properly equipped with the correct responses to give your patient throughout their journey in your office, you leave that opportunity open. Having responses all queued up and in your back pocket so that when something is said, you can confidently respond is amazingly empowering, not just for you, but for every single person on your team. At Spexy, we have a course that specifically addresses these uncomfortable situations that we're placed in with patients. And we discuss the proper responses to give your patient no matter when you hear an uncomfortable comment in their journey. Your reply to the comment should be one that is reflective of your role at the office yet keeps the patient open and comfortable with the idea of seeing what your office can offer them. We never want to make a patient uncomfortable and can absolutely avoid doing so with the right conversation. So rather than googling how to get your co-worker to stop saying stupid things, go ahead and type in bespexy.com into your browser and see how your team can start making a difference with your patients like right away. I'll see you next month. Bye guys.


After her, you can come. Namaskaram. My question is about being here the last two months and that transition back to it almost feels like there's a density or a blanket of the western consciousness or thinking that I'll be flying back to. And not only that, I'm having a sangha of many, many people that are most of them professional seekers themselves and wanting so much to know what's next and what now. I feel so much for them because I am one of them and have held a space of sort of a sanctuary for that. Now I feel the tremendous... Take your time. We have lots of time. I don't know if I can express the feeling of how precious this teaching is and how absolutely imperfection its timing is. Having held that space of professional seeker for every 69 years, the longing for it is tremendous on the planet and when I am speaking of it and sharing it just to give due respect to its source. My question is, I need a bit of confirmation for myself in terms of how much porosity or conformity or poor reality has happened for me during this time because when I think to go back in France, in family and in the people I serve in the community, there's so much suffering. I remember talking about being porous in Tiru, the novel I, and it really piqued my interest because my girlfriends in particular who are very, what they call, empathic and what I think it has been is a porosity because they're not really present in the body so they're taking on so much energy from people and so I want to kind of have a confirmation, yes there is a shift in myself and my own body to be able to face when I'm going home to face. Wherever you go actually, whether you're here in Rishikesh you're in your home country, wherever you are in the world the soul is the soul, is the soul, is the soul, is the soul is the soul, you know, it is the antar atman it is the antar guru, you can't run away from it you can't leave it behind here and go so it's going to be with you the point is to remember the living presence at all times but it's not about identifying it is not about I am it's about I am here and I am this and in that to bring yourself to this state of I am here I am this even to go so far as to say I am this in surrender to the soul here and this posture is your absolute let's say it's a spiritual guarantee and it doesn't have a limit so it is like a real solid thing when I look at you now and I see how you were a year ago that progress and that strengthening it's very solid, it's very real and it's very much a more solid present person no question about it I feel there is a lot of strength there you yourself have been a seeker as we say a professional seeker almost all your life and you've seen all kinds of satsangs and you've been to pretty much whatever there is on this planet and teachers and groups and all of that what you will have seen is that when there is any ambition attached to that experience the experience will delude you so there cannot be an ambition attached to it of bringing it to anybody else first it has to be concretized in your system because otherwise it will start to dissipate which is why I said take some time even if it is a year or two it doesn't matter to consolidate within yourself to consolidate through the practice of reminding yourself in every moment of the living presence of the soul and being in surrender to it not identifying with it it's a very fundamental difference and that realization that you have now after an emasive after coming to practically every single satsang in Tiruvannamalai single satsang here in Rishikesh it's quite a body of knowledge that has you can say materially entered into you and a body of experience as well now it's about consolidating actually solidifying actually being present because you've been spaced out in a moon suit for a large part of your adult life you also have to settle in and take residence in the system be here solidly present now, here, each moment, this moment, this moment give it a bit of time so that it solidifies here let the others be first it's about you when you solidify when this system is entirely coherent you will be able to actually let's say materially influence the matter of the other through a transmission of coherence and solidity as in the emotional the more you are present and in surrender surrender is your big magic word surrender and love these are the two words and in that surrendered state the emotional being will deepen it will widen and it will be mastery in place these are things which need some time to settle and the suffering around you will reduce if you go into that state of surrender it is about the sadhana first and it needs some time the details of how you will handle that big sangha that is around you because you've got many, many, many hundreds I think of people that are your students that is the next step to address we will address that no question about it there are also many spiritual masters who have spoken about their sanghas and how to take this teaching to their sanghas because they realize especially the spiritual masters they realize it they really do because finally it's about reducing the suffering of others it's not about which master is bigger than the other who cares I mean when you're dealing with that kind of suffering you don't really care about anything you just want to get rid of the suffering around you, right? so now it's about what means are there first step is the spiritual masters themselves now have to because it is a new teaching you know that you've been there and done that and one has to first live it oneself for a while at least give it a little bit of time and when there is a shaking and you don't feel that you can connect with the soul bend down, bend down and it'll come if it still doesn't come try to imagine you're sitting in this satsang here it will come this is the way forward now so many spiritual masters are asking how to take this forward what to do with their students because they're seeing that their students are all floating away and they understand that it's not the way forward we will find a way we will all sit together in fact even with you and we will find ways and means by which we can actually transmit this teaching so that it reaches a larger section of the as you know in 18 years I didn't even allow a website like in today's day and age and I'm very tech savvy I did not want this to go anywhere until we were sure and clear and had the solidity of the experience now we know that it's solid it's clearly not something which is going to be quiet no question also you know being here in India I've had to I'm saying a lot of things that are ruffling a lot of feathers what I say about kundalini shakti what I say about niyo advaita there are lots of gurus that are furious with me there are not just niyo advaita gurus there are also kundalini gurus they are furious who does she think she is? what does she have to say? so all of that has got to be contained also and I know that this teaching brings relief finally it brings the soul back it brings you back to your master to your divinity yes after him you can come


But, shallon of the Yukon! On King! On you, Huskies! The Wonder-dog King, fastest and strongest of Eskimo-lead dogs, blazes the trail through storm and snow for Sergeant Preston, as they meet. But, shallon of the Yukon! Sergeant Preston was typical of the small band of Northwest-knotted police, who preserved law and order in the new Northwest country, where the greed for wealth and power led to frequent violence and bloodshed. But, in spite of the odds against them, Sergeant Preston and his Wonder-dog King met that shallon, and justice ruled Plampin. The howling winds seemed to resent the defiance of Sergeant Preston and those with him, who made their slow way through the blinding blizzard toward Hutchins' trading post. The malty was taking in the killer, Jules Bazar. Joe Grant, the fur trapper and his daughter Marie, had insisted on going with Preston. In the fury of the Yukon storm, with early darkness closing in, they regretted their decision. Big rock up ahead. See it? Is it? Is it a landmark? Get behind that rock. Here, King. Self-join, eh, fellow? You missed my shoulder to release. This will give us a chance to catch our breath. Sergeant, are you sure we're going in the right direction? King won't lead us to Stray, Marie. He'll get more confidence in that dog than I have. This one? Come here. Now what is matter, Mr. Law? You want to tie this rope around your waist.  You'll not escape. Here, Grant. Tie this rope around your waist. I shouldn't have insisted on coming with you. Now let me tie it around your waist. There you are. Father was so anxious to get to the post before we got snowed in. Why are you tying us together like this, Preston? We've got to go along the rim of Longfall Canyon. Be safer if we're tied together, like mountain climbers. We're going a single file about 10 feet apart. Right, Grant? Yes, I guess so. I am in no hurry. I didn't ask you. Come on. On your way, King. Darkness closed in as King led the way along the rim of Longfall Canyon. King led the way with unhearing instinct, but that instinct didn't give one of the dangers. The canyon's overhanging rim, weakened by the battering of storms through countless years, was burdened by deep snow. It couldn't support the weight of those who made their way toward the trading post. There was a sickening lunge. Get back! Excuse me! No! No! No! I'm not trying to! What happened? Anyone hurt? I guess I'm all right. Deep snow saved us. How about you, Grant? Well, I think I'm all in one piece, but... so what happened? We're to the canyon both the way. Good Lord! You don't mean to say that we... We saw less than 30 feet, Grant. I'll see about this eye. We're on a lead. Yes, we're about 15 feet wide. You better stay close to the wall. Your dog didn't fall. He's up at the top. Quiet, King! He's looking down at us. Keep back. Close the wall. Do you hurt me, sir? Me? The jewels? No. I am not hurt. Come over here. Let's close the wall. It's not Mr. Law with his rope, sir. Good to know from you. How are we going to get off this ledge?  How far is it to the bottom? About 200 feet. Is this all the rope that you have? Yes, Grant. It wouldn't go a quarter of the way. Well, we can't climb back up. No. Are we trapped on this ledge? Let me look around. I miss you, Law. I have looked around. I look over there. A few yards away, it is another ledge like this one. Do you see? Yes, I can see it. It seems to slant upward. It does so. Right to the top of the canyon. We'd be all right if we could get to that ledge. There is a connecting shelf. Do you see? It's less than four inches wide and slick with ice. What are we going to do? Just a minute, Grant. Look! Your dog seems to know we're in trouble. James! Get Hutchins! Understand, boy? Hutchins! Onward! Hutchins was a word that King knew. Combined with the familiar expression on King, the big dog thought his master meant for him to leave the scene. To go on his way to Hutchins' trading post. King wasn't sure. He moved back slowly, keeping his head turned toward the canyon's edge. He signaled his movement. Then he waited, listening. The sergeant didn't call him back. Instead, the commanding voice that rose from the canyon shouted, Onward! Then King knew. He knew he was to leave as master. To go as quickly as possible to Hutchins' post. Onward! King understood. He's gone. That dog. Counting on a dog to go to the post and tell the trader that we're here. If that's the best that you can do, Preston. Father, please! I have confidence in King. Well, I haven't. Nor I. I suppose we're to sit and twiddle our thumbs while we freeze. Well, not freeze. We can practice deep snow around us. Well, if we don't freeze, we'll starve. Dad! You keep quiet. King will bring help before we starve. King! King! King! King! In the neighbor's heaven! Don't depend on that dog! If, uh, it's so brave, Mr. Law climbed to the other ledge and took one end of the rope with him. He could fasten it, and we could all cross to safety. I say it's worth the risk. No, no, it isn't. Perhaps, Mr. Law is afraid, huh? We're going to stay here until help comes. That's final. This laden blast of snow drove hard against King as he raced for the trading post. Moisture froze around his eyes and nostrils. Snow clung to his furry coat. It ran on, struggling to the storm, fighting through deep drifts, calling on all his strength in the battle with the element. Despite the dog's great efforts, progress was painfully slow. When the storm had set itself, a great silence fell over the white wilderness. A silence that was broken only by the infrequent howl of a wolf. Listen to those devils. Take it easy, Gramps. Easy, easy! How can I take it easy while we sit there on this ledge and wait for death? No one can find us here. We'll be found. Those wolves know we're going to die. They howl like that when death does.  It is no good to count on a dog. Time dragged on 11 minutes, each one of which added to Joe Gramps' feeling of helplessness. His anger was slowly giving away to panic, and Jules Bazaar helped the transition. Oh, that dog. He finds a place to fill his belly and sleep, and he forgets us. Hello, Bessar. He's right. Bessar knows what he's talking about. Gramps, King's no ordinary dog. I don't know what he's talking about. King's no ordinary dog. Of course he is. The dog left us to find a place where we could fill his belly and go to sleep. I know dogs. Dad, please. You don't know King. A savior's sentimental slobber for someone else. These long nights get under your skin when you're trapped as we are, Gramps. Don't let the strain get you. Don't preach. I'm not preaching. Well, then do something and get us out of here. If you had courage, you could cross to the other ledge. Of course you could. No, no, please don't even... You're not supposed to be able to do anything. Gramps. I will show rage or do it myself. I'd walk along that narrow place. I'd get to the other ledge and go for help. You wouldn't go five feet, man, before you slipped and went down. If you are afraid, Mr. Law, let me do it. You're afraid of making that offer, Bessar. You know I won't agree. If Bessar can cross over there, you can do it. I can't do it. And neither can he. I am not afraid to try. Hey, you hear that, Father? Don't listen to Jules Bessar. Hey, it's not that Mr. Law was afraid of nothing. Bessar, you'd like to see me fall into that canyon, wouldn't you? That might mean escape for you when King brought help. Well, I'm not going to do it.  He got to stand trial before he dies. Father! Hold on. Now we'll see. Gramps, give me that gun. Don't come any nearer. Don't be a fool, man. Return my gun. I'll give the orders from now on. Gramps, listen to me. Jules Bessar is a killer. I don't know what he is, but if he can save us, he'll have the chance to do it. Go ahead, Bessar. You can make the other ledge. Go to it. It will be better for Mr. Law to try it first. He is more clever, huh? All right, Besson. No, no! Get going! You slip into the canyon. Bessar can try it. If he fails, I'll try it myself. At least we'll die making an effort to save ourselves. All right, Gramps. We'll make an effort. Good. But we needn't die on that effort. I know a better plan.  I'll handle it. Gramps, if our rope were four times as long, it would reach the floor of that canyon. What of it? We'll make it four times as long. How? By making it thinner. It'll take a long time, but we can do it. Unwind the rope and then braid the strands. Yes, we can do it. You three fix the rope. I'll keep the gun to make sure there are no tricks. Very well, Gramps. I'll show you how to do it. This rope is hard to work. Two hours, and you've only got three feet, Wolven. It took a long time to unravel the rope. It'll go faster from now on. Yeah, he's just no good.  Three hours. Things reached the post by now. Forget that dog and work on that rope. Better cover your hands again, Marie. I want them to freeze. You've been at it for four hours. Well, at least we're making a headway, Gramps. About 20 feet of rope. Oh, all right, man. We're not going to freeze, and we can surely finish the rope before the danger of starvation. Here, take your gun, Preston. I'll work on the rope with you. Good for you. Gramps became interested in the weaving and braiding of the rope. He forgot his fears and forgot the passing of time. After six long hours, a thrilling sound fell upon the ears of Stockin Preston. Gramps, do you hear that? I didn't know who's that. That's no wolf. That's King. King. Hutchins. Everyone in, sir? No. Did you bring any rope? Back at Hutchins' trading post, everyone relaxed around the huge stove. Jewels were locked up safely in the local jail. Preston patted the head of his lead dog and looked at him proudly. You sure did it, King. He did. And if he could understand an apology, I'd make one. This rope you were braiding, do you think this would bear your weight? Well, I know. I was sure it wouldn't. What's that? You were sure it wouldn't support us? It wouldn't bear our weight, Gramps, but it did support our morale. It kept you from going to pieces. I... Well, Preston, this is the time I'm glad to have been fooled. You fooled me and so did that dog King. These copyrighted dramas originate in the studios of WXYZ Detroit. And all characters, names, places, and incidents used are fictitious. They are sent to you each week at the same time and ratio from our transcription studios. How, Neil speaking, this is the machine...


Well over the next several days get ready to enjoy some great baseball. A couple tournaments coming to Bemidji tomorrow starts the 14U Minnesota state championship taking place at BSU three pools with three teams each feature the next two days. Northern heat open up tomorrow at 2 and 130 on Thursday Friday. The single elimination bracket begins including with a state champion crown Saturday at 4 p.m. So again the next two days will be pool play the elimination tournament will be the two days after that at BSU. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.


Hello sir, my name is Pajai Baulala, I am currently in a B Mechanical final year. My college name is R.C. Patel Institute of Technology, Sherpur. This college is located in Maharashtra. I am placed in a Sunlit photovoltaic Private Limited, Dhule. I have done the course job competing using Python. And only one course I have done. This course will help me to handle different tasks using programming. This course also helps me to develop myological skills. Thank you.


Hi. Good morning. How are you doing, Chris? I'm Wolf. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you, too. Yeah, good to see you. I mean, it's like you're over here. Thank you for calling. Actually, last time I met you, I was cooking food for a fundraiser. Where? At, uh, Dorris Townsend's house. Oh, you didn't get it first. Yeah. This is my other outfit. Yeah, it would have been great. It was really good. I'm in trouble. Yes, I know. Here. This is the first-ditch-step, Christmas Day. Mr. Wolf, Jason Moore, high school magistrate. Nice to see you. Pleasure hearing me speak at the district conference for a small council. See you there. Oh, you were there? Yeah. Very nice, thank you for coming in. You're welcome. Great. How are you? Hi, we're welcome to see you. Hello, Kevin Thomas. Nice to meet you. Yeah. Oh, great. And it, too, you know? Nothing. No. Nothing. No. Nothing. Nothing. Nothing. No. We are. Yeah. We are. Do you have anything to say? No. No. Please. It's kind of neat. Well, I really appreciate your allowing me to come visit this Ruffian case, but I'm just visiting a number of schools around the town of Oaks because I want to just make clear what I'm trying to do here. But three things I just want to point out that I'm trying to do in that year for you is what you think about this. But I come from a business background. My business is headquartered in New York, but now I'm 30 states. I know health work and education. We have a limited government democracy. And we believe in the free market where we ought to be. And the best thing we can do is make sure of the best social policies to make sure everybody has a really good job. So working back from that, what is it that we can do, the limited levers that we have in public sphere, education is one of the key investments. And part of what I need to do is make sure that we don't understand that. We understand I need to take a direct involvement in something that actually we need to invest in. We also need to raise money fair. So I'm proposing to put, what, $3 quarters of a million dollars more into this school district. I think the second thing is we need to make sure that we're raising money fair. I mean, one of the things I think we've done with our reliance on the property tax is that we've created real opposition in parts of some people who really shouldn't be opposed to public education. But we have, because we've raised money so unfairly. Pennsylvania, we have a huge reliance on the local property tax. The Economist is a magazine that is fairly conservative. And a couple months ago, they made this case that the United States is one of the, it's not the only developed country in the world that funds its education system with the property tax. And that means that just the math of the property tax, the poor of the school district, and maybe the bigger the challenge is, the less money we give you. And we charge you more for it. We raise your bill each week. That's just the math of the property tax. And the more we rely on that around the country for education, the more unfair the funding. And that's magnified in Pennsylvania because we have relatively small school districts. We have 500. Some states like Maryland have bigger school districts. And I don't like the sizes we have, but it does magnify the disparities between districts, especially to the extent we rely on the property tax. And in Pennsylvania, the state only puts up about 35%, I think, of funding for education, which means that there's some federal funding in there, but a lot of it gets back to the local taxpayer. And in most, outside of Philadelphia, every school district, that means the property tax. So I'm proposing a 50% reduction, a 51% drop in the property tax burden in this school district. So I'm proposing. And I think that's important because it means that you no longer have the case where, at least in Northeast New York County, I had neighbors who were looking at maybe losing their homes to try to keep up with the property tax. They weren't against education, but we were giving them a really bad choice. They're saying, yeah, I want you to pay to educate my kids, and you have to lose your home as a result of that. You'll pay with that. Other ways, I think, a fair way to raise additional funds for education. And then the final thing is, I think we all need to, and this is really a bad word, the A word in education, accountability, because, since now, it has been a really nasty thing. In my business, I think I have a pretty good business, but I'm not perfect. And we need to, we're always looking for ways to improve. We're in an improvement process. I'm a disciple of Demi, and he says the first thing you got to do is drive fear out of the process. Well, what we've done is driven fear into the process of educational approval. So everybody's scared. We have to hide state tests. We have pointing fingers, you know, yelling at educators and saying, you're not doing good. Move the opposite direction and say, yeah, we need to get better. And we need to work together to figure out how we're going to figure out if we're getting better and where we're getting better. We're going to figure out how the streets will do better than others who happen to learn from each other, but take the fear out of it. Take the high stakes out of that. And so what I hope we can talk about today is the state's shared 50%. I want to be able to go back to the taxpayers of Pennsylvania and say, your dollars are being invested really, really wisely. They're going into the classroom. They're going into making the lives of the students better and into a good word. We sort of take the body language, unfold the arms and say, okay, let's work together to see if we can make this better. And that's something that we all need to work together. And I don't have the magic formula to say to the taxpayers, look, here's what you're getting for your investments. Pretty good. We're really proud of what we're doing here. And we need to work together to figure that out. So that's what I'm doing around here. I want to make the case, whatever the arguments are that come from the unfairness. And I want to make sure that we have a system that we can show the taxpayers who are investing in education who are buying into my argument. Okay. So tell me what you're doing here and do Oxford to help me. Sure. I can give you a little bit of background in regards to our district. And we are unique here in our district because we've grown quite a bit. The funding formula that was put in the place in the early 90s, we're still being funded on about 2,800 kids and we have 4,000 children. So that's one of the losers in that. We are wholehearted. We are. And right now, in regards to what we spend for people, because a lot of people will ask us, are you overspending? Are you not being fruitful with your money? I would say no, because right now we are out of 500 districts, 482 in regards to what we spend per child. What do you spend per child? $10,000. So it goes from nine to 30. We're just over 10. But the good thing about it is, is I'm very, very proud. I'm very proud of the fact that when you look at our accountability component of the SPP scores, when you look at it, we did a little study and Adams, York, Franklin, some come in and some doffin. There's only three districts who can claim the fact that all of our buildings are over 83%. All of that. Us, York, Suburban. And so. Northeastern? Maybe. I know. I know. The reason I say that is, is when you look at us compared to the other districts, it's comparing apples to oranges and the investment that we're putting into our students is a great investment. And our teachers, our faculty, our staff are doing very well. We're certainly not complaining. But some of the things that we've had to do over the past, you know, we've had to eliminate a pre-K for, you know, we would like to utilize funds to sustain our full day kindergarten program. Right now, our third graders is the first class that we have going through that we're going through full day. And we're anxiously awaiting the numbers to see how that's fair. Teachers and the administrators say that there's a world of difference. So we understand that we want to utilize the funds that we have to sustain the full day kindergarten. So that's very, very important to us. With the budget condition that we're in, you know, we haven't replaced the entire teachers. So that's caused a stress on our current faculty and administration that we're doing right now is is that we're not becoming irrelevant to our students. That's a grave concern that I have. And because of the budget, you know, we want to make sure our kids are career college-ready. We're currently working with the Gettysburg-Harrie Chamber of Commerce to partner with the local businesses to see how we can help each other out. And it wasn't until a month ago where I had a few business leaders here when we took a tour and we went into our graphics area and I said, I'm going to show you that what it is. So if you look at what we have, we still have the old print presses and things of that nature. We give our kids a solid education and do some great things. But I'm concerned that we have to retrain our kids. Our kids have to reinvest. And because of where we are with our budget, it's caused some problems. But aside from that, we still want to move forward. We want to do some unique things. We are creating a learning center in our high school next to you. I'm really, really excited about that. It's an opportunity for our kids to become an academic hub for our students to be able to do some tutoring, some academic work. So it's a different concept that we're initiating. So we're excited about that because Rootsville is doing some things. Who aren't passing these exams the first time are your lower level kids who may not be college bound students and then they are losing out on the electives that are going to help prepare them. And an instance that I would show that these are qualities that aren't measurable on a key student exam. And he's going to be a good worker for somebody and he's going to be a good husband and a good father. And these are all things that are, the public doesn't always get to see and hopefully that today on your tour you'll see some of the things that some of those kids are doing in our schools. But the impact that we see from the remedial side of it is that those kids sort of lose touch with the things that they're passionate about. That's not always the math and the science. So how would you look at his educational career differently if you didn't have the key study thing? Well, I mean everybody meeting the requirement of everybody meeting the requirement, you know. I'm still, I can still say how Secretary Rivera in terms of being able to work with him as a teacher as a principal. This is the front of the house. What we're going to do here is we're going to we're going to we're going to we're going to take breeze in. We've got a lotta people here. We're gonna take those pieces right there. Hey Kevin, how long has Jason been here from? First ten months. is it based? the president's it doesn't matter on this topic it could be Democrat, Republican it doesn't matter what works best with it. What? tribe Good morning everyone I've been working my way down here. Hi, how's that? How are you? Good. How are you? Good. Now I know each other. And... Mr. Cross, I didn't get to... Oh, did I get to... I didn't see... Erick Castle. Tom Wolfe. Jason Cross, I think he's done it. What did you register here? 2005. So, what's that? Actually, yeah, that's it, yeah. I can remember. Hey, I gave him his diploma at your college. Really? Yes. Before when? All the way back now. Look where we... Look where we've come, huh? Thank you very much. Sorry to interrupt. It's okay. It's kind of a big deal. It was good to see you. So, are you... What are you looking at? Talk to me. They had to rank them. Good old-world news, old-style. Right. And now we'll decide if we're going to rank them. And now we'll decide if we're creating a hybrid monster president. The next president we would have has to have... So, right now, we decided on domestic, and three to two, they picked Clinton for domestic side. Okay. We're right now debating foreign, and it's a Reagan-Clinton... We have one student who's kind of lost her mind. I can't quite...  And then we go... You know, there's... I don't know why I don't see this as a beard. I think that's a key piece to any president. Maybe. Okay. This is great. Well, I'm sorry. Let's go with that. What year are you... June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18. June 18.une 18. June 17. June 18. June 18. June 18. And that, I think, is what the president kind of won against the president. We're trying to talk to him about就uuuuruction. So, how do we know if you're in public or not? So, I'm going to put the situation into order and then we're going to sticky Re empezatron. Yeah. Yeah. It's fine. Right, yeah. We're close to doing it. that's on our work. So how was it? Good. I'm sorry I interrupted. You're welcome. Thanks for coming to see us. Thank you for having me. Thank you and thanks for having me. Anytime. You can come to our house anytime, that's right. See you later. Thanks a lot. Good morning. Alright, so what number were we at? Barry? Wait, now I want to make sense. This is precap. This is right. We just have to find Mary. Is there another 17? Yes, there's another one here. Just like we've done the other ones. Yes, sir. So you're going to end up with capitalism? Yeah. Are you real? What do you want to do with it? I want to be it. I'm looking at Mary. No, I have to do it. You think of them? Keep us. What are you? I'm a sophomore.  I'm a little serious. What is what you're doing? Do these things like this? This is Souter? This is Souter. There's a question for you down here that I can't answer. I didn't even try. I did my part, okay? Okay, thank you. Thanks a lot. Thank you so much. Thanks for the interview. So, two Steelers came in. Mary, anything? Why are you here? May the moon's locked at work. Please, however the moon's locked at work, please remain in the main office. I feel so, yeah, because... You're going to look the theater back where they sit in class and wait for you to get done. I'm sorry. Okay, I'll let me start by apologizing to all the students in this school. You're keeping it from what? Governor, why are you here today? Evidently keeping students from lunch. But no, I'm here to really learn about what's going on. I've been doing this for now three months and it's helpful for me to understand what's going on in the schools, what I need to understand so that I can refine my policies better. It gives me a chance to tout what's going on in public education. I'm trying to convince the voters of Pennsylvania that this is something we really... it's a really smart investment. We need to do it right, but we need to make an investment and so it gives me a chance to make that point. And the final thing is it really... because people like you, it allows me to help show the rest of Pennsylvania the great things that are going on in our schools all across the state. So those are the three things I'm trying to do. I learned that this is a system, our education system that's under stress. We've under-invested in it. We have not taken it seriously enough. We have not appreciated the importance of what goes on here to our futures, all of our futures. Our economy, our communities, our families and I think they understand, they see that here, they see the results of that here and they're asking for help. They think they can do a better job. They'd like to have the resources and I agree with them. I think we need to make sure they have the resources to deliver on the promise we all make to our kids that they're going to get a good education. So what are you going to take back to Harrisburg? That I'm right to think this is really, really important. Can I get you on another topic? Sure. Where do you stand on the marijuana or the decriminalization? I support the decriminalization of marijuana but I had a round table at the residence on medical marijuana and my key thing, I want to legalize that because I want doctors to be able to prescribe the drugs they think their patients need to get better. We give them the ability to prescribe drugs that are derived from opium. It seems to me that we could give them the same right to prescribe drugs that are derived from cannabis or less serious drugs. I also think that it gave me a chance to meet with families and people who are suffering from illnesses that could be ameliorated with drugs, proper drugs and it's quite poignant. So it was a good learning experience. I think we need more information. People need to have access to it. I think the more information we learn about this the more people want to legalize medical marijuana. We're very conservative Republican state senator, very liberal Democratic state senator, both of whom sponsored a bill that was successful in the Senate. So you think it's more important to get medical marijuana passed first before we go into decriminalization of marijuana? I'd like to do both but this has come in first. I think we ought to do both. I think decriminalization right now, what goes on in this school, we're trying to prepare our fellow citizens for really good careers and good jobs. One of the things that we do with mandatory sentencing and we have too many people in prison, we break up too many families, we destroy too many lives and we keep too many people from getting the kinds of jobs they want to get a conviction for a felony which minor drug possession is right now and marijuana possession and they don't want to give them a job it just destroys the futures for too many people. So I think we need to look at that but the first thing to come my way looks like it's going to be the medical marijuana. Thank you. Thank you for your message. That's okay. My question is you were in Upper Deppie yesterday here in New Oxford today from this area but I mean can you just talk a little bit about why you know a single school district needs to be concerned about the education funding that's going on in the state right now and the improvements we need to make. Right, this is sort of in my backyard and I'm from right across the border in York County, this is Adams County but my point throughout has been that I think as I've gone around the state the diversity of our school district is clear. Upper Derby is very different from the New Oxford area but we all have a shared interest in the education that the kids in each of those schools get. The school program needs to be tailored to the kids in Upper Derby and the school challenges for the kids here is different but the outcome has to be a good one for all the kids. We have to make sure as Pennsylvanians that everybody gets a good education that's the return we need so I'm from York County I care about those kids in Upper Derby I care about the kids here they should care about the kids in Northeastern York County and I think if we all look at this as the collective responsibility the shared responsibility that it is we're going to have a better outcome of the education we need to invest not just in our own kids not just in our own grandkids not just in our own school district but in all the schools in Pennsylvania because we care about the outcomes so Governor this is the 26th school you visit across Pennsylvania so what are some key takeaways that you've learned from the state of education I think there's one big one and that is the first one is that every school is different that the challenges the blend of students the things that those students need to learn the way they need to learn are all different and that's why we have professionals in the classroom looking at the students and they'll change from year to year this year's class is different from next year's class so the diversity is amazing we need to make sure that the school districts have the ability to tailor their educational program to the needs of those students so that we can end up all end up at a great place second thing is you can't throw money at any problem you can't keep disinvesting in this process this is something that requires investment we need to make sure the teachers and the educators here and every school have the resources they need to deliver on the promise we all make actually in our Constitution a thorough and efficient education so everything is different and that's great we have local school boards we have management in the buildings and the school districts and we have teachers in the classrooms trying to tailor the educational experience to the needs and challenges they face we need to allow that to happen we need to make sure they're doing a good job we need to make sure that we're investing adequately in what they're doing okay, thanks a lot what are your plans for the more day we can you know what? Monday is going to be my first day off I took Easter Monday off so it's my second day off stay at home and sit and watch the grass grow


Marines and sailors are currently spread throughout Helmand Province, Afghanistan, conducting multiple operations. Combat Logistics Battalion 4 has detachments of Marines at multiple forward operating bases who are responsible for coordinating the movement of personnel and cargo throughout the battle space and the on-load and off-load of aircraft. At Forward Operating Base Nole, a group of 12 CLB-4 Marines and non-commissioned officers complete many tasks. In addition to running the Arrival Departure Airfield Control Group, commonly called the ADAG, the detachment also runs heavy equipment operations. At FOP Nole, Sergeant Matthew Leshinsky and Corporal Anthony Vasquez run the show for their battalion. These two non-commissioned officers ensure the CLB-4 mission is accomplished at the FOP. Corporal Vasquez, the FOP's ADAG non-commissioned officer in charge, is responsible for cargo and personnel. Our mission here is to support 1-7 and the surrounding units. We manage the inbound and outbound of all cargo and personnel to the FOP. We also push out cargo to the smaller PVs via external lifts. Sergeant Leshinsky, the chief heavy equipment operator and the CLB-4 detachment non-commissioned officer in charge is responsible for the safe on-load and off-load of all arriving and departing aircraft. Additionally, Sergeant Leshinsky is responsible for his battalion's Marines at the FOP. I'm responsible for all the CLB-4 Marines on this FOP.  Having the opportunity to run their sections in a deployed environment is something both of these NCOs appreciate and enjoy. It means a great deal to me. It just shows me that my staff and COs, my officers, they're confident in my ability to run this ADAG by myself and with my junior Marines. To me, being out here all alone without any supervision, it's just one of those things that you don't really see every day back in the rear. With CLB-4 detachments spread throughout the area of operations, the battalion's Marines and non-commissioned officers work day and night to ensure personnel, gear and equipment gets to where it is needed throughout the battle space. Reporting from Helmand Province, Afghanistan, I'm Sergeant John Jackson.


Is there a model of the stages that you guys have been talking about in the milestones that you've been talking about? Is there a model that you see as fairly universal or is that kind of determined by the nature of your startup and if so how do you sort that out? There is no specific universal rule but and there are specific measures that differ from Europe standards from the US standards if you want to see it this way. Like the budget that an angel investor would have in the US is a bit different from what he would have in Europe basically. And it differs as well from industry to industry so social entrepreneur would be a bit different from a technology entrepreneur from different industries, entrepreneurs as well. Since we're focusing on technology here and then it's ITU definitely so it's about technology. It would be I would say that the stages are almost similar for any entrepreneur but the how much does it differ between a VC or an angel investor or maybe even not going towards investors but using crowdfunding. Crowdfunding has become very popular and people are willing to actually pay a lot if they love the idea and want to support it and want it to become live. And I've seen several examples of ideas that have generated 1000% out of crowdfunding. They wanted a specific amount and they got 10 times that amount because people believed in the idea that they're doing and it really works for social entrepreneurs specifically and for technology as well. So I think this is also a good source of getting money but as Varun said as an entrepreneur you need to think about why do I need the money and do I really need that money and what stage am I in basically my startup to decide on that. I think it's at an early stage I think it's really important that there are a few milestones these are core and essential to any kind of business. They come at different points of the cycle of the organization because of the way these ideas started or how the team got together but I think it's fundamental to remember that they're always early stage ideas until they have been validated. I think so you have an idea you have a theory for change in the world and I think the next most logical step is validating it and validating it doesn't necessarily mean building a product out of it or going in the market or releasing something. Validating the need is making sure that the gut, the theory, the hypothesis that you have is actually a real problem in the world and other people face it and they're willing to maybe pay for a product that you're going to serve or they actually feel the need as much. And once you're validated I talked about this loop of building and measuring and learning. If you want to go from this validated idea I think that the problem is X and I've actually tested in the market by going to a lot of people by talking to customers by spending a lot of time with them by shadowing them that this is a real problem and they claim it's a real problem and they will give me $5 or five reals for it and then going to the process of actually building something measuring it to taking it out establishing really really concrete metrics about what you think is success for you and then learning about what worked and what didn't and once you do this once you realize it's a beautiful path to help you discover things that you can feed back into your product into your service feeding it back into your service and then going through this loop several times until you think you've nailed it or you've gone long enough until you feel like your customer is happy and they're willing to pay for their or they really want to use it. I think once you've used the then things become a little more clear that then you know that the problem is growing then you know that the problem is going from 10 happy customers to 100 happy customers and you do the next logical thing and I think a lot of people get caught up in hiring I know I did a long time ago and I think you should put off hiring until it's actually the biggest problem. Growth is the lifeblood of all startups as our investors say and you've got if hiring comes or lack of the capital comes in the way of growth then you've got to hire and these are kind of the rough kind of stages that you want to grow into.