All In - Reflections on Software Development Through the Eyes of an ex-Poker Player
Thursday 15th November 7:00pm at Plant NOMA
This month we have a talk from Mark Kirschstein of XP man fame.
You don't need to know anything about poker to get value from this talk.
All In - Reflections on Software Development Through the Eyes of an ex-Poker Player
At its core, software development is rational logical. However, that core is smaller than most think. Knowing the rules of programming, language syntax and grammar etc, is only the first step. As soon as a project has more than one person working on it - or indeed using it - Human behaviour and statistical variance (the fancy term for 'luck') enter the equation.
At its core, poker is rational and logical, but knowing the rules of poker is only the first step towards playing it. Human behaviour must be taken into account to pick the best next move. Statistical variance means that the best move doesn't always win.
This is a non technical talk about managing software projects and teams. It includes examples and anecdotes of mishaps and misfortunes of both software and poker, examining the flawed logic that lead to the mistakes, and some suggestions how to correct that logic.
About the speaker
Mark Kirschstein is an independent software developer and trainer living and working in Manchester. He doesn't play poker much anymore, because he learned enough about it to realise he's not very good at it. He's not learned enough about software yet.