Ward & Kent Reunion

Ed Roman reminds me ... It's been almost a year since you spoke at hack.summit.

The audience reception to your talk was tremendous, and thanks to you, we raised $50,000 for coding non-profits, and created the largest programming conference, as well as the largest virtual event on any topic ever held.

YOUTUBE ShOMGASbcJ0 Streamed live on Dec 2, 2014. hacksummit.org

Kent Beck and I did a mutual interview a year ago that turned out well both in fund-rasing for non-profits and in sharing ideas that mattered to us.

Although Kent and I coded together for a year, we hadn't kept in close touch so this was a bit of a reunion. We worked from a very simple outline.

1. an event lived together, 2. our lives since the event, 3. our look forward, still hacking.

I felt we did a good job passing the floor back and forth. We also covered material people would expect from us gracefully, having not over prepared.

Aside: We did some last minute downgrading of job titles which added some authentic realism.

I watched the video for the first time this week. I could hear things Kent said better when I wasn't reading the outline, watching the clock, and planning the next segue.

No, wait, I did write this up a year ago as Be Valuable, the title of the talk we had jointly authored decades before. Compare how I remember the arc of that conversation now to the idealism of my reflection over a lifetime.