I met Luke as I searched for work. I had just been offshored at a previous company, and was looking to continue working toward or in an Agile environment. I replied to a message on the XP board, and shortly, traveled down to the Market to meet Luke. We did the usual interview stuff, but I felt a connection to a kindred spirit that is usually a good sign. Despite a lengthy call back process that included an interview with everyone on the team from the CTO down to the newest hire, ultimately, I didn’t make it. At the time, I didn’t really understand why, but I shrugged my shoulders and moved on.

Many months later, coming off a consulting contract I saw a post from Luke looking for developers for a web project. I gave him a shout, and things worked out. I spent this past winter rebuilding Babynamerwith Evan, my pair, and despite some last minute whatever, the project was completed and went live. Sadly that meant saying goodbye to all these folks who I’d come to appreciate including Gerry, who was in the room at least every two weeks to review the products her teams were creating. That’s right, a busy CEO directly approving features, design, and involved in the implementation of her vision for the software.

I was expecting a break and relatively quiet spring and summer and had a couple of smaller projects lined up, when I get a shout from Luke about working on another site. But this time I stuck and I joined the team a month later.

Of course, this being me, the company has been sold, and the future of the team is unclear as I write this, but even if the worst happens and the team evaporates, it’s been a very rewarding year and change, and provided tremendous insight into the art of the possible in organizations, and some lasting friends.