Geneer Wall Gantt Timewarp

Back in the old days at Geneer, before they went out of business and screwed a bunch of us out of two weeks pay, we used to do a lot of cool experimentation with eXtreme Programming. One of the really useful tools developed there was an amazingly high-tech way to keep the entire team synchronized, on track, and aware of each others’ progress. Additionally, it provided instantaneous feedback to all team members, as well as a simple way to re-allocate resources on-the-fly in order to help get areas that were falling behind back on track. It was also responsible for providing positive feedback to successful team members.

What was this amazing tool we built? A wall gantt. So what is a wall gantt? Quite simply, it’s a giant Gantt chart, constructed using paper and string, plastered on an entire wall.

This photo of the Argent Trading team and wall gantt was taken for some promotional material before Geneer went under, and there I am smack-dab in the middle. Standing behind me is Michael Klynstra, the project manager. Behind him on the right is Michael Papasavastos (Papa). Then, along the wall from back to front are some guy, Ray Chung, Grant Stillwood, Dave Wozniak (Woz), some really tall guy, Pilar Gallego, Sara Zembrodt, and some blurry guy that might be Steve Schinderle.

This photo was yoinked from a promotional brochure for AgileTek, a company founded by several high-level people shortly after Geneer folded. In some circles, it was even referred to as Geneer II. In any case, it’s kinda funny that this picture lives on so long after the team has gone their separate ways. Last I heard, Klynstra was working for Thoughtworks, and Papa has a job with Microsoft. Woz is now a daddy, Sara and her husband Rob (with whom I went to school) now live in Indianapolis, and who knows about the others? That was such a long time ago.

Lots of thanks to Joe Mak for sending this my way. You rawk, Joe!