Remember the movie “My Cousin Vinny”?
(WARNING: Spoiler alert)
Vincent Gambini is an aspiring lawyer fresh out of law school and on his first case. He achieves a tremendous victory and saves his cousin from a certain conviction for a murder he did not commit.
I love this little scene where Vinny’s fiancée, Mona Lisa Vito, helps him learn an important life lesson.
The setup: Vinny has just discovered that Mona Lisa had enlisted his old mentor, Judge Malloy, to bolster and legitimize his reputation with the Judge presiding over the case… and Vinny’s not happy.
Mona Lisa Vito: So what’s your problem?
Vinny Gambini: My problem is, I wanted to win my first case without any help from anybody.
Mona Lisa Vito: Well, I guess that plan’s moot.
Vinny Gambini: Yeah.
Mona Lisa Vito: You know, this could be a sign of things to come. You win all your cases, but with somebody else’s help, right? You win case after case, and then afterwards you have to go up to somebody and you have to say, “thank you.”
Mona Lisa Vito: Oh my God, what a f***ing nightmare!
Like I said, I LOVE that scene!
Well… Vinny had received a lot more help from others (especially from Mona Lisa!) throughout the trial, but I bet you get the point: It’s good to have someone to turn to and say “thank you, thank you for all your help!”
So, back to the original question:
Why have a Mob Programming Conference?
The reason is simple, and based on the introduction to the Manifesto of Agile Software Development:
“We are uncovering better ways of developing software by doing it and helping others do it.”
Amazing things happen when we are open to accepting help from others, and willing to help each other.
Our purpose is to gather with people who are interested in Mob Programming, share our experiences and explorations, try things together, help each other, grow our community, and afterwards, for each one of us, to go up to somebody to say, “thank you.” That seems worthwhile.