One of the things I really like about being a software developer is the sense of community between fellow developers. In Trondheim I've been involved with both the Norwegian .NET User Group and the Microsoft Student Community at NTNU. There are a bunch of other communities and user groups in the Trondheim area, such as Trondheim Linux User Group (TLUG), Dataforeningen, PVV and many more.

Tore Vestues, a colleague of mine at Capgemini Trondheim, introduced me to Trondheim XP and Agile Meetup some time back, and last night I attended my first meeting. Tom Gilb, the creator of the EVO-process, was in Trondheim to give a presentation at the university (NTNU), and had some time to share in the evening before catching his flight. The guys behind Trondheim XP and agile Meetup managed to pull together a quick meeting  and 13 people showed up on a very short notice. Tom Gilb joined IBM in 1958, and became a freelance consultant in 1960. That's 47 years of consulting! It was great fun to hear Tom share some of his ideas on agile development, his own EVO-process and how it fits nicely as an envelope around Scrum/XP or some other programming-focused agile process.

Being involved in communities and user groups is great fun and something I strongly encourage everyone to do. Find a user group/community that looks interesting and go to the next meeting!