Minnestar
Reflections on Twin Cities tech‑community events—Minnebar, Minnedemo and more. I explain the origin of “Minnebar,” recap sessions I attended and celebrate the people powering our thriving tech scene.
- David’s CaringBridge Journal
- Honoring David Hussman at DevJam
- Obituary in Star Tribune
- Too Soon… by Anne Steiner
- Remembering David Hussman by Dan Bennett
- Dude, Mentor, Friend by Tara Swanson
- “I Dig The Great Minds Idea” by Ray Arell
- Remembering David Hussman at Mano a Mano
- Appreciating a Friend by Casey Rosenthal
- My Heroes by Robert Galen
- The Dude abides in Southwest Journal
- Coffee with Grief by Leah Cunningham
- Computers Are Easy; People Are Hard with Bridget Kromhout
- Propelling More Women into the Ranks of Engineering Leadership with Ashley Monseth, Rebecca McCann-Young, Ethan Sommer, Cailin Wertish, and Millicent Walsh
- Blogging for Fun…..and Profit? with Chris Moffitt
- Web 3.0: Blockchain May Provide Us the Most Human Version of the Web with Matt Bauwens
- Pragmatic intro to functional programming with David Price
- Docker 101 with Rebecca McCann-Young
- Building Sandcastles with Leah Cunningham
Minnedemo 30
Excited for Minnedemo 30 tonight! And always proud to have SPS Commerce as a Terabyte sponsor!
Goodbye to my friend, David Hussman
The last time I saw my friend David Hussman we met at Red Wagon Pizza and enjoyed an extended evening of pepperoni pizza and several glasses of a delicious red wine. We initially sat inside to avoid some scattered rain, but then transitioned outside to enjoy a gorgeous evening, great wine and even better conversation. Like most times that David and I got together the conversation never had a gap and flowed all over the place.
I commented to David that he seemed remarkably well. It had been well over a year since David called to let me know about his cancer diagnosis. When he called he was talking weeks and months. Here we were drinking glasses of wine and laughing well over a year later. He was sharing stories of his recent trip to Italy with his family. It sounded amazing and I could almost be fooled into thinking that David wasn’t sick. But he definitely was.
I first met David when I was CTO for MarketWatch. One of the engineers on our team knew him and figured he could help us out with some of the things we were doing. I instantly liked David’s insight, his directness and ability to see through the messy stuff and get right to the problem.
David and I were able to combine forces several times over the next 25 years. We had what I would describe as a mutual mentor relationship. One of us would often ping the other with the vague request to get some “hang time” and talk through some topic that was on our mind.
David was always understated. His work to bring agile methods to companies was exceptional, and as a thought leader and speaker his stage was global. He presented at conferences around the world and brought a tremendous amount of energy and fun to the sessions. I enjoyed every talk I ever saw David give. There are dozens of them on YouTube if you never got the chance to see him present. I was really excited when he agreed to give the Keynote at Minnebar 9.
Often times I thought it would be fun to build something with David, maybe do a project or something. Both of us were always busy with family and work things that pushed that off. I tried to get him to join my book club at one point but he deferred, citing his busy travel schedule.
The last year I was able to connect with David on a more regular basis. A terminal cancer diagnosis provides some urgency. He approached his cancer with an amazing resilience. I can’t even imagine how hard such a thing is, but from what I could tell his approach to life made the time he got at the end so much better.
David was often referred to as The Dude, in an admirable reference to The Big Lebowski. He even coined his own law, Dude’s Law, that Value = Why / How. In life David always seemed to have a good handle on Why, and he kept his How pretty damn simple. The rest worked out as best as it can.
You will be sorely missed Dude! v5.6.50
Here are some additional items I’ve indexed remembering David.
Great Minnestar board meeting today! Lucky to be part of a great organization helping to connect the Twin Cities technology community. 🙌
Minnebar 13
Today I went to my 13th Minnebar — I haven’t missed one yet! For the first time ever we had a blizzard to contend with. Usually Minnebar is competing with the first great days of spring. This year, we were worried if people could get to the event because of the snow. This was also the first Minnebar for our new Maria Ploessl, our new Executive Director, to take the lead on. The event went off great, with more coordination than the last couple of years.
The sessions I went to today at Minnebar.
Here are some pictures from some of the sessions I went to.
See also Minnebar collection.
Minnebar lunch panorama.
Join me in supporting Minnestar and the Twin Cities technology community by becoming a Community Supporter. As a board member, we are matching the first $10,000 in donations over the next 100 days! Donate today!
Bridget Kromhout kicking off Minnebar 13 Session 0. 👏
Three new board members joining the Minnestar board! Great to have more talented people driving this organization forward! 👏