Agile UX(User Experience) was the most emergeing and creative edge at Agile2008.

Alan Cooper's keynote was about UX, recongizing Agile as the first development approach that makes UX design work.

And here are some photos which UX stage people including Peter Roessler, salesforce were doing -- Graffiti Wall. I'm familiar to these walls but, this is awesome. Colored sticky notes are prepared in a box with a colored instruction tents.

And post cards. Visual icons or avatars are now very popular for giving more recognizable identity in SNS-like services. They use post cards as icons, and post it onto the sessoin board. One post card per session! At the back of the cards, time schedule and place are beautifully printed in a consistent format.(I forgot to take photos)

 

I led session at Agile2008, "Learning Kaizen from Toyota". Conflicts during organizational transition occuring in factories which adopt TPS has a lot in common with ones which adopt Agile. In this session, I showed them a video of factory reconstruction, and discussed the commonalities we found.

We're going to sing the "Dear XP" song at the banquet party of Agile2008. This song is originally written by Samurai Katamaris and published as the official theme song of XP-festa 2006 in Japan. This time, J.B.Rainsberger wrote a new English lyrics for us ! Ryo Amano made this video and superimposed the new lyrics.

Kent Beck gave us a supporting message via email, thank you!

Music has a way of expressing sentiment and feeling that don't come through any other medium. I wish I was going to be there. I have a baritone ukulele that I think would fit very nicely into the sound. Please say hello to all my Japanese friends there for me.

Safe journeys,

Kent

One episode of Taiichi Ohno -- the father of Lean or Toyota Production System.

When he first saw a "Convini" -- convenient store in a town, he said,
"This is a Just-In-Time shop!"

I was interviewed by Tom Caglay about using Kanban in software
developmet, and it is podcasted!

The title is "Making Tangible The Intangible."
http://www.spamcast.libsyn.com/

This podcast is called "SPaMCAST - software process and measurement
cast" and has featured Mary Poppendieck, Scott Ambler, Ivar Jacobson,
Kent Beck and a lot of my hero's before.

I talked about Lean principles and TPS first and the effect of using it in software development.

TRICHORD ... a Kanban application demo can be seen at;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMjvjNHRKk8

GUI for JUDE/Community can be translated into various languages such as Portuguese, Chinese, Spanish and more!

JUDE/Community is supported in English and Japanese. In addition, property files for the following languages can be downloaded from JUDE website though there are not the latest versions.
- JUDE GUI Localization

[Portuguese]




















[Chinese]




















[Spanish]




















You can also translate the property file into your own language. Once you set up the property file in the JUDE install folder, menus, labels and messages will be displayed with your language. Isn't it great?

Currently, there are over 260,000 JUDE users in the world, and around 70,000 of them are Brazilians! Let's try the Portuguese version of JUDE

If you would like to share your translation with other users, we are happy to upload it to the JUDE website.

Thanks for your interest and cooperation.

Midori
JUDE Development Team

JUDE/Professional and Community 5.3 have been released on June 27, 2008.

Here are new functions in JUDE/Professional 5.3.

- C# Modeling Support
- Export C#
- Edit function of JUDE API
- DB Reverse Tool (Sample)
and more.

In JUDE/Community 5.3, there are several improvements which have been requested by JUDE users.

- Antialiasing options are added.
- Attribute multiplicity can be input in the Attribute property view.
- An alert message is added for size alignment.
- Add methods to JUDE API.
and more.

Let's take a look at these new versions! We are looking forward to hearing your comments and feedback.

- Download

- JUDE/Professional Evaluation License


Thanks,
Midori

It's a good news for C# programmers. We have received a lot of requests regarding C# support and now start supporting it in JUDE/Professional 5.3 Beta.

By using this new version of JUDE, you can create Class diagrams with C# setting and export them to C# skeleton codes. Let's take a look!


[How to Set C#]

C# setting can be added to classes, attributes and operations.
To use C# function, please set ON to the C# option of the project.






















C# setting for class, attribute and operation can be set in the Language tab of each property.

[Class Language Tab]



















Also, C# primitive types can be set to attribute types or operation return values.


[Export C#]

Skeleton codes for C# can be exported from a JUDE project file.

To export C# skeleton codes, go to [Tool] - [C#] - [Export C#] in the main menu.


Evaluation License for JUDE/Professional is available for 20 days.

If you have any questions or requests regarding C# function in JUDE, please let me know freely.

Thanks,
Midori

JUDE/Professional 5.3 Beta has been released!
I would like to introduce new functions of JUDE/Professional 5.3 Beta

[Edit function of JUDE API]

JUDE has been provided the reference function of JUDE API.
And now, you can edit class diagrams, usecase diagrams, ER diagrams and Mind Maps by using edit function of JUDE API since JUDE/Professional 5.3 Beta.

You can find detailed information about JUDE API in the JUDE install folder\api\doc\index.html.

As a sample program of JUDE API, DB Reverse Tool is included in it. Let's try!

[DB Reverse Tool]

DB Reverse Tool is included as a sample application of JUDE API in the JUDE install folder. This application employs the edit function of JUDE API for ER diagrams.

You can import table definitions of your DB system into JUDE ER models, then create ER diagrams in JUDE/Professional 5.3 Beta.

[DB Reverse Tool]









Please see db_reverse-e.html under the JUDE install folder for details.

Thanks!
Midori

Apr.16, Bent Jensen and his collegegues of BestBrains
"BestBrains", in Denmark, visited Change Vision attended by Denmark Ambasador Yamaguchi-san.

BestBrains are Agile and Lean consultants and practitioners, implementing the concepts into the real world software development. They came to Japan to see Japanese Lean companies including Toyota, Honda, Fujitsu, and NEC who have their own implementatoin of TPS. That day they visited Change Vision to see our practices of Agile software development and also to see "TRICHORD". (TRICHORD is a project "Mieruka"(visual management) tool that makes Agile teams more productive, collaborative, and fun).

Before that day, a Japanese agile community "XPJUG" had a night gathering "Agile Night With Danish Agilists" with BestBrains to share Agile and Lean thinking and the current situations in Japan and Denmark.

I attended their visit to Toyota, Fujitus, and the "Agile Night", and found that they were keen to learn not from books, but from the Gemba(real workplace). We got very excited after the Toyota plant tour, and enjoyed Kaiseki-dinner in Ginza. I went home early that night, but heard that some went to another bar, and others woke up early the next morning and visited Tsukiji. How wild Danish people are !

I myself enjoyed talking with them during the trip very much. I'm beginning to think that meeting foreign people and exchanging our good Japanese culture and thinking with theirs became one of my missions, and it also increases my quality of life, possibilities toward the future.

Thank you Bent, Lars and all for visiting Japan and Change Vision.