I just put up a banner linking to testdriven.com due to momentary insanity. I wonder how long I can stand the animated stuff up there :)

We had the traditional office Christmas party on Saturday. Lots of fun, of course, including the mandatory guitar-slinging session by the Managing Director (in AC/DC style shorts, by the way...), good music, nice people, and the usual bitching about the ridiculously small number of free drink coupons. Oh, and lots of ass kissing, of course.

Every year, it becomes more and more clear that you really don't know who the hell are these people around you. The company has grown from some 450 to 650 within a year or so, and many familiar faces have left during that time. Add to that, people don't really swap between projects but stick to the one they're allocated to so you don't get to mingle a lot.

Then again, it's all the more satisfying to actually meet someone you've been chatting with via email and put a face on the name.

Phew. I'm slowly starting to recover from the partying, just in time for an early meeting downtown tomorrow. The cab dropped me off at 5:00am, sharp, after a well-earned after-hours kebab meal with Paul, Jason and Annika. Those crazy canucks :)

I'm thinking this was good practice for the new year since I heard rumors on Saturday that the guys in Riga like to party all the way until 6 am (and stayed there in the club after my eye-witness left for the hotel room). At least this time we started dr... I mean, partying already at 4pm and the training will last until 6pm. It's a good thing my flight back the next day is around 6 pm...

I'm currently reading Agile Software Development in the Large by Jutta Eckstein and spotted something that raised a rather interesting question inside my head:

[people] will always feel more comfortable in their existing situation than in an unfamiliar one (and they will typically believe that things can only get worse).

How does this fit with the old adage about grass always being greener the other side of the fence? Why are some so convinced that adopting an agile process could only make things worse, even though they admit that the current process sucks as it is, and while they're similarly convinced that, say, a job across the street with the competitor would be so much better?

When was the last time you asked yourself, "am I kidding myself here?"