Business people and developers must work
together daily throughout the project.

In the post on agile principle number two, I gave the example of a Secret Santa management system, as an example of how being able to accommodate changing requirements can benefit a project. As a refresher, here’s the key story points of the project:

• A user should be able to sign up
• A user should be able to log in
• A user should be able to get a recipient assigned
• A user should be able to add notes to their recipient
• There should be an “Add Amazon product” link that searches on Amazon
• There should be a “Buy on Amazon” button

I’m going to reuse this example to show the value of business people working closely with developers. You can refer to the original blog post if you like. I’m going to be counting the number of product owner-engineering interactions in the Agile scenario:

1. Meeting with the dev team to decide that sign up and login functionality are essential
2. Being notified of the sign up and login completion/deployment
3. Verifying sign up and login
4. Being notified of the recipient selection completion/deployment
5. Verifying recipient selection
6. Being notified of the notes completion/deployment
7. Verifying notes
8. Having developers stop work

That’s 8 different product manager-engineer interactions, and this is a tiny hypothetical product — we only did 4 story points! This doesn’t include questions or clarifications that inevitably come up in all projects while the developers are at work. You show me a client that thinks it’s okay for each of these interactions to wait for the weekly (or longer) review and I’ll show you a client who is overpaying for bored developers.

So what if you’re concerned that these interactions suck up time? Given that other than planning meetings (which occur in waterfall too) the interactions generally last 30 seconds for a quick question or notification, or 5-15 minutes for verification. I’ve never met a client who was too busy for this. Also these frequent interactions give you frequent input. That lets you guide your project — think about driving a car that you can only steer every 30 seconds. It’s worth it.

This is actually one area where Cloudspace adds it’s own flavor to Agile. Pure Agile processes mean an onsite customer, working as a product manager full time. We realize that when working with startups, they don’t always have the time or resources to devote a full person to being available immediately. So we give our clients flexibility. We find out why the software is valuable and what the business goals are so that we can make good decisions if we reach a point where the product manager is unavailable but we need to move forward. Of course, sometimes the good decision is to hold off on one ticket and be productive on another. Clients are always consulted on key decisions. We’re also good at batching these interactions into the daily meetings — a 15 minute meeting or email where we update the client on the day.

From the developer side of things, having easy access to answers is great. There’s nothing worse than trying to guess how an entire feature should work, and then having to rewrite the whole feature due to a difference in perspectives. Remember: happy engineers are productive engineers.

Speaking of happy engineers and productive engineers, in my next post we’ll be talking about the 5th principle of Agile: trusting a team of motivated engineers.

P.S. If you are one of those rocking motivated engineers, Cloudspace is hiring!

Where were you born? Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I was born in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  I grew up in a suburb of Ft. Lauderdale called Lauderhill.  I went to a small Catholic school in Lauderdale Lakes called St. Helen’s.  Typical Florida suburb upbringing; played with friends in the neighborhood after school, went to summer camp at the local park, played sports at school and with the city.  I went to the beach a lot and learned how to surf, skim board, wake board and water ski.”

What types of activities did you enjoy as a kid? What is your favorite outdoor activity?
“I played all kinds of sports.  Football, baseball, roller-hockey, basketball and Martial Arts.  My favorite was football, but when everyone kept growing and I stopped at 5’10 145lbs., it was time to give that one up. As I got older and busier I had less and less time for sports, so they slowly went away ”

Did you go to College? If so, where?
“I went to UCF and graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Information Technology.”

What was your first job?
“My first job was working in my Dad’s Transmission shop, National Transmission (not his anymore, sold it!), in Ft. Lauderdale.  I taped up and spray painted our logo onto the boxes that we shipped the converters in, swept up the shop and kept things clean.  Through high school, I had a number of bus boy jobs at a few small Italian restaurants.  I quickly realized that the restaurant business is not for me at all, which encouraged me to go to college!”

What got you into computers?
“There was always a computer in the house.  We had a Commodore 64 from when I was really young, I remember playing math games on it.  When I was in middle school, we got a subscription to AOL and I learned what chat room punters were.  I got our account banned because I was kicking people out of chat rooms and disconnecting them from the web.  I would say that is what started my interest in being able to make computers do what I want them to do. From there I figured out what mIRC was and found out that I could download video games and music for free!  I downloaded the original GTA overhead view video game on a 56K connection for 2 weeks, every night from 10pm-6am.  After I downloaded the game and installed it and it worked, I thought this was the coolest thing ever.  A video game appeared out of thin air, for free!  Genius!”

What attracted you to working for Cloudspace?
“I had been programming in college for a few years and in Spring 2003 I decided that I needed a job in the field.  One of my friends, Michael Orr, who had just been hired at a local small web shop called Cloudspace, mentioned that they were looking for part timers.  I had no PHP, HTML, MySQL, CSS or JavaScript experience, and knew nothing of web standards, but I could code up some mean C and Java programs so I asked Michael if he could get me a job.  Since I didn’t understand anything beyond basic programing, I worked for free in my spare time for a few months while I learned HTML and CSS enough to become productive.  Six years later, I am planning and coding large scale projects from start to finish.”

What do you do for fun?
“I love snowboarding!  I go on at least one trip every year.  A couple of my favorite places that I’ve been to are Copper Mountain and Jackson Hole.  The ol reliable is Snowshoe, West Virginia because you can drive there in 14 hours from Orlando.  It makes for a good spontaneous or quickly planned trip.  I like to go out to concerts and live shows whenever my favorite bands come into town.  My favorite type of music is metal, so the tickets are really cheap!  My favorite bands are ‘Between the Buried and Me‘ and ’Norma Jean’.”

Favorite way to relax?
“Pinball!  I love playing pinball.  There is one local arcade called Rocky’s Replay that has good new machines in great quality.  I go there about once every 2 weeks.  On a good day I can get a replay on the 5 machines they have in under $8.  My favorite machine of all time is the Terminator 2 table from the 90′s when I was a kid.  Sitting next to the lake with a drink and my feet kicked up is always good too.”

Do you have any pets?
“I have a small stray cat that I took in when she was just a few weeks old.  She’s kind of like the artist formally known as Prince, she has a symbol for a name.  Her name is the Greek symbol Mu, also the coefficient of friction.  When I first got her, she used to do this weird thing where she should lay on the carpet sideways and try to run, laying down on her side.  Needless to say it wasn’t very efficient.  At the time I was taking physics and we were studying friction, so it seemed suitable.  My cat is named after the coefficient of friction.  She’s also spoiled!  She has a carpeted kitty tower that is as tall as I am and about 5 feet wide and she won’t let any other cats get on.”

What is your favorite drink/food?
“I love Italian food.  Most of my family is Italian and they cook great Italian food.  My favorite part of going home is getting to eat Mom’s Italian food.  Ravioli, lasagna, sausage, tortellini….mmmmm.”

What is your favorite sport?
“Football!  I have season tickets to the Dolphins that I share with my family.  I’ve been cheering for the Dolphins and the Hurricanes for as long as I can remember.  I don’t know what to do with myself when there’s no football on, it’s also probably when I’m most productive.”

What is your favorite word?
“indubitably”

What is your least favorite word?
“apathy”

What sound or noise do you love?
“Really fast double bass pedals on drums.”

What sound or noise do you hate?
“Anything scratching.  Finger nails on chalk board, desk, wall. Knife or fork on a plate.  Makes my skin crawl.”

Thanks for the interview Dave!  Next week I will be introducing you to our in-house server and email guy, Matthew Cupples.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I was born in the United States, but I grew up in several parts of the world, namely the USA, Russia and the Philippines.”

What types of activities did you enjoy as a kid?
“Most of the things I did when I was younger, I still do (though less reading and more drawing.)  When I was younger, I played in a junior soccer league, but that was the only regular outdoor activity I did.  Through middle and high school I played the oboe seriously, but I dropped it during college for time and money reasons.”

Have you gone to college, if so, where? And how far did you go?
“I’m currently attending the University of Central Florida.    If I play my cards right, I’ll be done in a few years.”

What was your first job?
“My first job was being a summer clerical worker for the school board in my county.”

What got you into computers?
“I was exposed to computers at a very young age, so they are very familiar to me.  My first exposure to programming was in the 3rd grade, where I started programming in a simplified form of C for a computer game.  It also helps that I’m constantly on the computer, and it’s natural that I eventually learned more about them.”

What have you liked most about working at Cloudspace?
“It’s laid back and friendly.  That’s a great environment to work in.”

What do you do for fun?
“I play board games, do various forms of art, read stuff on the internet, and I travel from interest to interest.”

Favorite way to relax?
“Peppermint Tea and Oolong Tea mixed together.”

One thing you could not live without?
“My hands and eyes.  Everything I do revolves around using them.”

What is the last book you read?
“Maus by Art Spiegelman”

What was the last movie you went to see? What is your favorite movie?
“The last movie I actually went to a theater to see was Coraline (good stuff, very surreal, everyone should watch it.)  My favorite movie is Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, since I have a thing for British humor.”

What is your favorite drink/food?
“Filipino green coconut, and the coconut water that is in it.  (That’s ‘buko’ in Tagalog.)”

Have you traveled out of the country? If so, where to?
“I’ve been across Europe, mainly in Russia.  I’ve also been to India once, and the Philippines several times.”

If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
“I wear more or less the same outfit every day, so I’m already pretty close to being a cartoon character myself.  I guess I’d just be Jacob, but more heavily inked.”

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
“Life in a Red Sweatshirt”

What sound or noise do you love?
“Rain on a window and thunder (while I’m inside.)  Also, white noise, for similar reasons.”

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
“I’d actually like to try several professions, just to get a perspective of how it feels.  If I were to pick just one, I would want to try construction; weird, I know”

Do you currently belong to any social networks?
“I’m on Facebook, but I don’t use it seriously.  I’m a fan of more personal forms of communication.”

Thanks for doing the interview Jacob!  It is so true that you rarely see Jacob without his red or now blue (a gift from Scott) sweatshirt on.

Next week I will be interviewing Dave Geffken, our non-profit website and application specialist.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I was born in Owensboro, Kentucky and I moved around a lot. After Kentucky I lived in Knoxville, TN; Jacksonville, FL;  Lawrenceville, GA; Lake City, FL; Waycross, GA; Atlanta, GA; Palm City, FL; Orlando, FL.  I’ve lived in Orlando now longer than any of the other places, I came to Orlando in August 2000.”

What types of activities did you enjoy as a kid?
“I played a lot of baseball as a kid, little league until I was about 15.  I also really liked to go camping and play whatever sport the kids in the neighborhood were semi-organizing.  Lots of kickball. ”

Did you go to College, if so, Where? And how far did you go?
“I went to Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, GA for a year and half, thinking I’d get a Liberal Arts education.  Then I decided I wanted to do more with computers and transferred to the University of Central Florida and ended up getting a Bachelor of Science in Liberal Studies.  My degree was a mix of computer science classes and creative writing and literary analysis  classes. I thought about grad school for a bit right before I graduated but then I got a job at Cloudspace and haven’t even considered the idea of going back.  I’m having too much fun.”

What was your first job?
“I worked at a museum in Waycross, GA called Southern Forest World.  It was a pretty small museum that was funded by the forestry industry proclaiming all the good things that were done with the trees that they cut down.  It was a self guided tour, which meant I just collected money for entrance and people walked around on their own.  The tour started with a talking tree that welcomed you to the museum.  I often ran the place alone on the weekends.  We were also a place that you could come to do your community service hours for DUI and other minor offenses, except for this one time when it was arson.  They could work off the hours by raking the grounds or sweeping the museum.”

What got you into computers?
“First there was The Oregon Trail and Logo on the computers at school.  Then I did some programming in BASIC with a neighbor around age 11. ”

What was one of the first online projects you worked on?
“I worked for UCF helping teachers to create online courses in WebCT and posting documents online.”

What attracted you to working for Cloudspace?
“I was always more attracted to web development over other types of programming because its such a constantly shifting and evolving world.  There was always this wonderful blend of art and science to the way all of these different technologies come together to make such an amazing and open platform for communication and I wanted to be a part of it.   As a small business Cloudspace would offer me the opportunity to get involved in all aspects of web development and that has worked out to be an even wider range of experiences than I had ever thought it would be.”

What do you do for fun?
“Take my dogs on adventures, read  fiction comics (mostly DC), lots of stuff on the internet, watch movies”

Do you have any pets?
“Three.  My wife and I have one cat (Schizo) and two dogs (Greta and Angel).  We didn’t get to name any of our pets ourselves.”

What is the last book you read?
“Forget the last book I read, here are some of my favorite books:
Oryx and Crake – Margaret Atwood
Continental Drift – Russell Banks
The Martian Chronicles – Ray Bradbury
Microserfs – Douglas Coupland
Snow Crash – Neal Stephenson
The Sirens of Titan – Kurt Vonnegut
The Chronoliths – Robert Charles Wilson
A Deepness in the Sky – Vernor Vinge”

What was the last movie you went to see? What is your favorite movie?
“Underworld Evolution or The Wrestler, both were pretty good.”

If you were car what kind of car would you be? Why?
“A convertible because convertibles completely rule.”

What is the best trip you’ve ever taken?
“Anna and I went to France and Italy for our honeymoon for two weeks.  It was amazing.  Quick funny story: We both took French in high school and college and the first time we walked into a cafe and ordered in French, we were replied to in English. ”

Have you traveled out of the country? if so, where to?
“I’ve been to Toronto, Canada once and also stopped in Mexico and a few islands in the Bahamas on a cruise.  I’ve also taken three trips to Europe with my wife Anna.  We visited France, Italy, Germany, The Netherlands, Austria, Czech Republic, and Hungary.”

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
“You think I’m going to say Batman, but actually I’ll take the power of Green Lantern’s ring because its a weapon that runs on imagination and willpower.”

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
“I recently got to shadow a zoo keeper at the Central Florida Zoo for a day and that was tons of fun so I’d probably pick that, though I can’t imagine anything that could happen to prevent me from doing my current job where I’d still be able to work at the zoo.”

What are your all-time favorite CDs?
“Nine Inch Nails – The Downward Spiral
Tori Amos – Under the Pink
Jucifer – If Thine Enemy Hunger
Nirvana – Nevermind
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Show Your Bones”

Networks Michael belongs to:
“I’m on Facebook but I never log in and check it, same thing for LinkedIn. I’m not on Myspace at all.  I use Twitter just about everyday: @imbiat”

Thanks for taking the time to interview with me Michael!

We’re halfway there to meeting all of the Cloudspace team. Next week I introduce you to our youngest engineer, Jacob Hemphill.

Where were you born? Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I was born in Port St. Lucie, FL. At the time there wasn’t much there, now there are a bunch of houses, a beach and no self-sustaining economy. So, it’s pretty dull unless you like the beach, houses or a job in the service sector.”

What types of activities did you enjoy as a kid? What is your favorite outdoor activity?
“I used to build forts as a child. I like camping currently, though I don’t go very often.”

What was your first job?
“I worked at a car wash.”

What got you into computers?
“Video games got me into computers. Ironically I don’t play them anymore.”

What was one of the first online projects you worked on?
“A website for swing dancers.”

What attracted you to working for Cloudspace?
“I was interested in web development and some of my friends told me good things.”

What have you liked most about working at Cloudspace?
“The group atmosphere/dynamic. Also, I feel like I am able to grow as a developer here.”

What do you do for fun?
“I swing dance about 3 times a week. So I suppose that makes me an avid dancer.”

Do you have any pets?
“I have a fish in a television fish tank.”

What is the last book you read?
“I am looking through a Rails book. I last read a book called Nada which in certain ways can be compared to The Sun Also Rises”

What was the last movie you went to see? What is your favorite movie?
“Let the Right One In (Swedish Vampire Love Story); Pulp Fiction.”

If you were car what kind of car would you be? Why?
“If I were a car I would be the type of car that is smaller, most likely a two-seater. I would be one of the newer cars which are partially electric as to not emit too much greenhouse gasses but since everyone knows that cars live in the ocean, my electric car motor would kill me. Consequently, I am happy I am not a car”

What is your favorite drink/food?
“I like beer. I make beer. It is interesting. More regularly, I just drink water though. I like salsa and also make that. Home-made salsa is almost always better than store-bought.”

What is the best trip you’ve ever taken?
“It is a yearly trip to Asheville, NC. Each year, five days before New Years, dancers come from all over the country to this event to learn and dance. It is awesome.”

Name three people you would like to meet?
“Chaplin, Kid Koala, The person responsible for making Java Stout”

If you were a cartoon character, who would you be?
“Captain Tyler from Irresponsible Captain Tyler (without the spaceship)”

Why are manhole covers round?
“Because round covers use less material than square ones and the triangular ones killed too many people and were recalled.”

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
“Arnold Schwarzenegger”

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
“Teleportation!”

If someone wrote a biography about you, what do you think the title should be?
“Teleportation!”

How would you describe yourself in three words?
“Enthusiastic, Awesome, Modest”

What is your favorite word?
“Disestablishmentarianism, or Estacionamiento”

What sound or noise do you love?
“Jazz”

What sound or noise do you hate?
“The sound that modems make.”

You can find Austin on most social networks as ctrl4ltdeleteme or MrAustin.

Thanks for doing the interview Austin!  I hope you have enjoyed getting to know him and take him up on those dance lessons.  Next week I introduce you the CEO at Cloudspace, Michael Orr.

Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I grew up in Tehran, Iran.  It’s not like what you see on TV or the news, it’s a different culture.  It has a big city feel like NYC.”

Did you go to college, if so, where? And how far did you go?
“I graduated from high school in Iran. When I moved here I had to go back to high school since we graduate in three years in Iran. After that, I attended college and graduated from UCF in December 2007 with a Bachelors in Digital Media. I am looking forward to getting my Masters in Business sometime in the near future.”

What got you into computers?
“I got into computers when I first came to the states. My uncle had a computer which I used to play video games on.  From there I got more and more into it. I started messing around with the software and hardware and learned some basic programing languages.  I took some classes and everything went forward from there.”

What was one of the first online projects you worked on?
“Personal Portfolio, my goal was to learn everything by myself without going to school/taking any classes. I still can remember the first HTML page I created using tables (OLD SCHOOL)”

What attracted you to working for Cloudspace?
“When I moved to Orlando I was getting more into web design and I was putting more time into designing web pages. As part of one of my classes, we had to do design analysis, web design, creation and problem solving. I enjoyed it a lot. Then I saw the ad for Cloudspace at UCF and gave them a call.  I showed them my unfinished portfolio plus other visual things I had done; such as illustration, graphic design and photography. I got hired and it felt great.”

What have you liked most about working at Cloudspace?
“Laid back and friendly environment. Good people. Great knowledge.”

One thing you could not live without?
“iPhone and my Mac, happy attitude, goals in life, good people around me.”

What is the last book you read?
“I’m not a big reader but the last book I read was a week ago and it was called “It’s Not How Good You Are, It’s How Good You Want to Be” by Paul Arden.

What was the last movie you went to see? What is your favorite movie?
“The Spirit was the last movie I saw.  I have way to many favorite movies.  Some recent ones that I can think of are Sin City, Wedding Crashers, 300, Life of David Gale & Lucky Number Sleven.”

If you were a car what kind of car would you be? Why?
“I would be a Lamborghini. It’s different, innovative, fast and sexy.”

What is your favorite drink/food?
“Adios MotherF8888, Martinis, steak and pomegranates”

What is the best trip you’ve ever taken?
“Vegas, NYC, Toronto and Europe. I enjoyed each one for different reasons.”

What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
“Music, good scenery, browsing peoples’ work, chatting with knowledgeable people & researching.”

What sound or noise do you love?
“Thunder, wind, dry leaves breaking when people walk on them.”

Is there any profession you would not like to do?
“Everything helps you become a better person, and learn from it. I’ve kind of done anything that came my way and I learned from it and I think I’m a better person from it.”

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know Roozbeh.  Thanks Roozbeh for doing the interview!  You can see some of Roozbeh’s work at www.meghdadi.net.

Stay tuned next week when I introduce you to one of our newest engineers, Austin Flores.

Did you go to college, if so, where?  And how far did you go?
“I graduated with my B.A. from USF Tampa in December of 2007.  I got my degree in philosophy.  No, I don’t know what you do with a philosophy degree.  I plan to go back to school for something, but I’m not quite sure yet what that something is.”

What have you liked most about working at Cloudspace?
“I’m always doing something different, and talking to awesome people, and Cloudspace is the right sort of company for me – agile and socially aware.  I LOVE that we’re participating at Kiva, and I love that we’re just a big family that laughs at each other all the time.”

What do you do for fun?
“When I’m not knitting and watching the Golden Girls, I’m riding my motorcycle with my turn signal on or philosophizing very loudly in coffee shops.”

Do you have any pets?
“Two cats, one female tortie named Ashnod (after a Magic the Gathering card I HAD NO PART IN THE NAMING OF THIS CAT), and one male tux named Tobias Fünke  (he’s really big and dumb, but so cute :3); they were both strays I adopted.  I love animals, so if I could, I’d have like a bunch of pets and be a crazy pet  lady.”

What was the last movie you went to see?  What is your favorite movie?
“I love movies!  The last movie I saw was Australia, which was only decently good considering what other movies Baz Luhrmann has directed.  My favorite movie  is like a 4-way tie, but if I HAD to choose one it would be Being John Malkovich.”

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
“Jenna Fischer.”

What is your favorite drink/food?
“Irn-Bru!  It tastes great by itself, but it’s even better with vodka.”

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
“Flight, because it is totally useful and fun at the same time.”

How would you describe yourself in three words?
“Robert Downey Jr.”

What is your favorite word?
“Shadenfreude, not because I’m mean (although I do enjoy it a bit), but because it’s a well-known example of how German has an awesome way of expressing  things in one (albeit long) word that take an entire paragraph to explain in any other language.”

What sound or noise do you love?
“I like glitchy computery noises, and also cat purring and chirping noises.”

What sound or noise do you hate?
“Cat screeching noises are never good, especially when they happen at like 4am.”

What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
“I would love to be either a private or commercial airline pilot.”

What profession would you not like to do?
“Hairdresser.”

Have you enjoyed getting to know Dixie? 

Thanks for doing the interview Dixie!  It’s been a lot of fun for me introducing the people behind the scenes at Cloudspace and I’m just getting started.  Next week I introduce you to Scott Sampson.  Not only is he my brother, if you didn’t notice the last name, but one of the first engineers at Cloudspace.

If I had to give an executive summary, I’d say Agile is a way to sustainably manage projects for the long-term, while still keeping flexibility for the short-term.

Now, that’s a great piece of marketing, suit-and-tie-speak. And it’s useless for actually figuring out how Agile works. You want to know things like: Agile makes it easy to apply today’s lessons learned, starting next week — not at the beginning of next-year’s project. This means the person with the product vision (probably you) can re-evaluate and completely change the direction of a project in under a week.

That’s not to suggest we’re wild cowboys, riding a code horse from feature to feature, shooting off wildly. We do this deliberately and methodically. This is where the “long-term” comes in. Any programmer with enough Attention Deficit Disorder can drop what they’ve been working on to start another new thing. However, this only works until around the 8-week mark. With code, once you go past about 8 weeks, you hit a wall and end up managing old code, rather than going forward. It’s tragic. We’ve all seen it before. There are three reasons:

• poor code
• poor communication
• poor planning/bad schedules

Up front, we work with smart people who produce good code. But code is tightly integrated; adding a feature to one part of the code can break another part. The only way to know something really works is to test it. Hand-testing code is monotonous, inconsistent, and unreliable; not a good use of a smart coder’s time. Instead, we build automatic tests to give us a heads up when something’s changed — and we deal with it on the spot, not in next month’s Q&A session with the review board. We don’t just know our code is good, we can prove it.

We make sure that there’s good communication among team members by having daily meetings. Every day, the coding team has a very quick meeting to discuss what they’ve been working on, what they’re doing next, and anything that’s giving them problems. We know you’re seeing value for every day we’re on the project. Also, it’s hard for problems to last long — when you’re continually looking for them. We also have regular client updates during the week. But don’t think we spend all our time in meetings; our daily is only 10 minutes long.

Finally, we plan for the project to change by making feature schedules with a client representative once every week, not once every month. Imagine driving a car with a steering wheel that only worked once every 15 seconds, and you’ll know why we plan every week.

Of course, we don’t let ourselves get tied down with planning. I’ve seen rooms of people make a hash of planning the simplest of features. Want to see 30-man-hours spent on deciding if the login button goes *right there* or *two more pixels to the left*? Not if you’re paying for those man-hours. We’re all about simple planning — but that’s my next post.

Meet Adrian Bravo. Adrian has been working with Cloudspace for over two years and is our resident math whiz. He not only brings intelligence to the team but also off-the-wall humor that is guaranteed to make you do that polite yet “confused” smile ;o). He is currently transitioning from our professional services team to our agile development crew. And now more about Adrian:

Where were you born? Where did you grow up & what was it like there?
“I was born in New York City, specifically Brooklyn. Although I grew up in Pembroke Pines, Florida for most of what I can actually remember. Pembroke Pines was uncomfortably warm, every day.”

What types of activities did you enjoy as a kid? What is your favorite outdoor activity?
“I spent a lot of time putting together model dinosaurs, tinkering with my parents’ computer, and playing baseball or street hockey. My favorite outdoor activity at this point is actually just walking.”

Did you go to College, if so, where? How far did you go?
“I am currently attending at UCF for Mathematics. And I am technically a senior. I do plan on graduating.”

What was your first job?
“I worked at a “Mrs. Fields Pretzelmaker” at the Pembroke Lakes Mall, only a couple of miles from where I grew up. The free pretzeldogs were an adequate trade-off for unhappiness and dishpan hands.”

What got you into computers?
“I really got into programming when we were administered TI-82 calculators for Algebra class in middle school.”

What was one of the first online projects you worked on?
“I made a website about the Smashing Pumpkins when I was fourteen. It had lyrics, guitar tabs, and bass tabs for most of their music. The bulk of what I learned back then came from examining the page source for other websites and mimicking what I found.”

What have you liked most about working at Cloudspace?
“We get a lot of client-work (duh, how else would we exist), and some of it translates to genuinely cool projects that make me happy or even proud to work here. I suppose one of the higher ones on the list would be the Blog Ticker we use on sites like Sayfie Review; the process of making that run more efficiently and accurately was great.”

What do you do for fun?
“When I’m not challenging people to knife-fights downtown, I like to practice my bass or play video games. Occasionally, I’ll reread The Hobbit.”

Do you have any pets?
“I have an imaginary Schnauzer named Nietzsche.”

What is the last book you read?
“I am currently reading The Silmarillion, which my awesome girlfriend gave me for my birthday.”

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, whom would you like to see play the lead role as you?
“Craig Robinson.”

Have you traveled out of the country? If so, where to?
“During high school, I went to France, Spain, and Morocco. I would probably enjoy it more now, at a legal drinking age.”

If you could be a superhero, what would you want your superpowers to be?
“Invisibility.”

What is your favorite word?
“Isosceles. It really rolls off the tongue.”

Want to meet Adrian?  You can reach out to him on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/profile.php?id=5100149

We hope you have enjoyed getting to know Adrian.  It was a pleasure for me to do the interview – thanks Adrian!  He is just the first of our “Meet the Team” interviews so check in with our blog weekly to get to know the rest of the Cloudspace team.