Paul Grenyer

I really like Agile Cambridge . This was my only my second and I only made the Friday  keynote and my own session, but still had chance to catch up with some friends, speak to some exciting new people and I got to meet Dan North! I also did lots of SyncNorwich promotion and got plenty of positive response and lots of people wanting to speak and to visit us. Some people have already signed up! Keynote: Embracing Uncertainty - Dan North Although I've seen Dan North in numerous places I've never actually seen him speak. Embracing Uncertainty was a fantastic keynote. It had me nodding in agreement and laughing in equal measure. Suddenly here was someone who seemed to have much the same view of what's happening in the Agile world as me. Dan explained that although the first principal of the AgileManifesto tells us to value  individuals and interactions over processes and tools, so many of us are arguing over which Agile process we're following. Agile is about...

I became aware of Hot Source shortly after I setup Agile East Anglia a year ago (!!). Hot Source is a fantastic name for a group! When SyncNorwich came along 6 months later I saw Hot Source as a potential competitor. Last night was the first opportunity I've had in all that time to attend a Hot Source event and I couldn't have been more wrong. Hot Source is a fantastic name, but it is not a competitor for SyncNorwich. We can exist and indeed complement each other in the same space and last night we took the first steps by discussing how we could promote each other's events. I am hoping there will be a SyncNorwich presentation at Hot Source very soon. I am not a designer. In fact my startup is currently trying out designers for future collaboration. Hot Source is where the creative people in the design space hang out. There were some people from SyncNorwich there, but very few and most were the usual Norwich networking crowd. The speakers were good and it was interest...

This film is and has always been fantastic! I don't believe there was anything like it before it came out. It is frequently imitated, but has never been bettered. I was far too young to see it at the cinema when it first came out and this is the first time I've had the chance to see it on the big screen since. And what a big screen! This was also my first time in an IMAX . What a picture! The detail was incredible, right down to the fly that disappeared into Belloq's mouth while he is goading Indy about the ark. Even if you just like this film a little bit, go and see it on the big screen if you get the chance. It's a genuinely amazing experience. I hope the other films in the series also come to the IMAX.

I was extremely tempted to make this review one word “Don't”. This is an appalling film and adds absolutely nothing to the (horror) genre. We were just lucky it was short. The characters were fine, the story was ok, but extremely basic. There was little suspense, little horror and the tiniest amount of shock you can imagine. The problem was on every occasion you could see it coming from miles away and the whole story and all the better bits of the film were in the trailer. I wish we'd gone to see the Sweeney instead or watched Alien at home.

I normally complain about what a long way it is from Norwich to London for just an evening. On this occasion it was even more so as I was speaking in Ealing (West London)! This is the first time I've spoken at ACCU London for quite a while as I didn't make it down for my usual pre-ACCU-conference slot. I really enjoyed myself! The venue on this occasion was 1e Ltd on Uxbridge Road and my host was Ed Sykes , who did a great job of organising beer and pizza, a great audience and a live broadcast. I still don't know if anyone was watching! Either way the Walking Skeleton seemed to be well received and sparked lots of very interesting conversation. All to soon though it was time to had for the tube and the long slog back to Norwich. Ed Sykes' Thoughts

Last night was my very first Norfolk Network . I really wasn't sure what to expect. Most events that I attend, even the networking ones, tend to be predominantly orientated around digital technology or infrastructure. The Norfolk Network is more straight business focused and is run by the superb Lucy Marks. Tonight was a panel discussion on innovation in Norfolk with a panel consisting of: Matthew Jones, the new COO for the Norwich Research Park and ex head of strategy and corporate planning at Lotus Cars Ltd. Simon Coward, Director for innovation and enterprise Norfolk County Council and Director of Hethel Engineering Centre Anthony Denny, Publishing Director of East Publishing Jane Chittenden, Founder of copywriting business Format Words and guest editor of Suffolk IoD Magazine Rob Halden-Pratt, producer, journalist, communicator and project lead for MakerSpace Norwich and chaired by Lucy. I knew Rob Halden-Platt reasonable well from his involvement in SyncNorwich ,...

Thursday 13th September saw another hugely successful SyncNorwich with attendance from around 65 people. This time around we were at the Kings Centre on Kings Street and our hosts were Business Revolution . Again, Smart421 supplied the beer, J ames Neale Photography took the photographs and we were joined for the first time by Lambda Films who filmed the main presentation. The film can be found here . The main presentation was given by Benjamin Mitchell , a well known Agile consultant who is based near London. He gave us an extremely engaging and entertaining talk on Kanban entitled “ Kanban: What is it good for? An introduction illustrated with war stories ”. Benjamin clearly knows his stuff and just oozes charisma. The reviews linked below go into more detail. I’m very much hoping that Benjamin will come back and speak to us again. We’re still finalising a venue for the next main SyncNorwich event. It will be on Thursday 18th October and feature Daniel Wagner-Hal...

Last night Cerebral Bore , Revocation , Job For A Cowboy and Dying Fetus all played in the studio (the little upstairs room) at the Waterfront in Norwich . I couldn’t understand why until I saw the size of the crowd. It was tiny and mostly young enough to be my children! This was just one of many ways I felt old this evening. I’ve wanted to see Cerebral Bore [8] for a long time! I missed them at Bloodstock last year because I couldn’t go! It’s unusual to find a death metal band with a female vocalist (I said unusual! I know there are a few!) and Simone “Som” Pluijmers is just superb. The only shame is that the band didn’t have a good PA sound, but they were tight and I would have liked them to play longer. The vocals live are just as powerful as on the album. The highlight of the evening was when I met Som! Revocation [7] were completely new to me. I spent quite a while trying to work out if they were a thrash band or a death metal band. Either way they were very good. There was...

I started this piece in February 2012 and finished it the following June. I’ve been really keen to publish it, but I wasn’t the only one so I had to wait! This piece was originally published in the ACCU’s CVu(24.4) magazine. I realise there are some controversial ideas here, but they are based on my own experience. I showed this piece to a few people along the way (you know who you are) and the feedback I had  helped me mould my ideas from black and white to shades of grey. I welcome constructive discussion. Most of all I hope you learn something and are inspired to learn more. Please let me know! It is not uncommon for people to ask me how I keep my technical knowledge up-to-date, especially after I’ve just given a presentation on a subject that is new to them. This is odd because I don’t consider myself as someone who does keep up-to-date and many of my presentations are based on things I and other people have been doing for many years, so it’s hardly up-to-date. I’ve said th...

Terry Pratchett this isn’t! This is another film where most of the good bits are in the trailer. Unlike Keith Lemon, I quite enjoyed this film. It has some genuinely funny bits and although there is a lot of language it wasn’t gratuitous. I hated Ben Stillers character from beginning to end, but then I was probably meant too. Richard Ayoade is just brilliant throughout. There were lots of cliches and a really straightforward plot. This is a fun film, that I wouldn’t see again.

I’ve heard lots of bad things about this film and none of them are true. It was great, all the way through! It’s true that it doesn’t follow the majority of the plot from the original film, but then it doesn’t need the original film to prop it up either. This is a remake, not a sequel. There are plenty of references to the original. Kate Beckinsale is fantastic and beautiful throughout. I know what memories I would go to Recall for! It’s just a shame she’s dead at the end, but then there isn’t  a setup for a sequel either. The plot moves along nicely and the action and chase scenes are really good. There are quite a few places when a hail of bullets or a fall from a great height should have killed Quaid and Melina. I was disappointed that all Cohaagan wanted to do was take over the colony, surely something more exciting could have been thought of. Bill Nighy was of course brilliant, if brief.  This film lives up to its trailer, go and see it! Now, if someone could just cast ...

Tonight was the first SyncNorwich dinner. We held it at Pizza Express on St. Benedict’s in Norwich. There were fourteen of us in total with some familiar faces and quite a few new ones. It was a fun relaxed evening and time just seemed to fly by. The social aspect of SyncNorwich is really taking off. The evening ended in the 10 Bells . Next month we’re thinking of going to Jamie Oliver's Italian .

September is shaping up to be my busiest month this year. I’m attending a lot of events. If you’re coming along too, please do and come say hello: 6th SyncNorwich Dinner 13th SyncNorwich 3: Kanban: What is it good for? 15th The Cult & The Mission (Birmingham) 17th Dying Fetus, Job For A Cowboy, Cerebral Bore 19th Norfolk Network 20th ACCU London: The Walking Skeleton 27th & 28th Agile Cambridge (The Walking Skeleton) 30th WASP

Today is a very important day for start-ups, people interested in technology and people interested in lean and Agile in Norwich, because today is the day that  SyncNorwich reached 250 members! Our 250th member was one James Ashton . If you want to be part of something huge in Norwich, get yourself along to www.syncnorwich.com and sign up now.