Oktoberfest

I had the pleasure to attend this years Oktoberfest in Munich together with a few fellow MySQL'rs.

Per Wikimedia, "the event traditionally takes place during the 16 days up to and including the first Sunday in October"...so maybe it should be called Septemberfest anyway...

It is an impressive sight and the numbers are huge. Over 6 million 1L mugs are consumed, I did my best with 5 or so but still lost the volume race to my MySQL friend (who is counting at that point anyway).

We had our specific time table (punt intended) reserved for a 2 1/2 hour window in the Hippodrome, which is a very cool tent, but not really a tent anyway, it's a rather permanently looking structure. We did manage to shoehorn in over 20 people at three tiny tables so things do get close, shoulders rubbing and glasses ...

The Münchner Zwietracht played all evening long and the noise level is huge from the combined chatter, singing and contiguous umpa bumpa...

One overall summary: though enormous amounts of alcohol was consumed, not just beer, with some 1/2 million chickens and other food items; yet I didnt see a single incident where it got out of hands or people acting badly. It truly is just a big huge overextended yourself voluminous party with nothing but happy smiling faces and folks packed together like sardines. Now that was impressive. We should learn something from that somehow.

In summary, it was a blast, I have recovered now and Im ready for next year already....Prost!

ulf

Heidelberg developer conference

So Im now back from our developer conference in Heidelberg via a short stop in Munich for some 1L beers at Oktoberfest.

We had representatives from cross departments and overall it was a great success. We got a ton of good work done in short time. Theres something unique when you get 100+ people in one physical location working day and sometime night over a few days. Its a burst of very effective energy though not sustainable over a longer period and with local beer being way to good to avoid, sometimes in excess...It can't be done over a longer period of time though, regardless of cost, it's to intense and one need to work independently on the identified action items before regrouping again. A week or just short of that is optimal.

Having a department cross section attend is also great. Getting input from other services groups than support also widens the decision making process and becomes more in tune with the overall company goals.

I think this was the best developer conference we have had and the planning, logistics and execution was excellent. Our team did a great job and as such, likely to be nominated for more later...

Heidelberg is a very nice city. Picture picture, positioned along 367 km long Neckar river and chiseled in between mountains (or "hills" rather) and has the small city character. A tourist spot for sure with many Kodak moments. The views from the castle are spectacular and I highly recommend this city.

Ulf