People have told me many times — especially since I’ve been to New York — that I look like Wolverine, or more recently, the actor known as Hugh Jackman. I’m not totally sure that’s true. Even so, whenever I’m told I could be Hugh’s stunt double, it’s almost always followed up by, “It’s the sideburns.” And it is the sideburns: I have long, Wolverine-like sideburns. To my benefit, they get attention.

Similarly, TOPP, the company I work for, has had some growth of its own also worthy of attention. On top of hiring plenty of awesome people and putting our feelers out for a new office, our website’s got a new do. I must say, we’ve got a pretty attractive website. If I saw it in the street, I’d do a double take. It looks professional.

So, in short, this post is to simply say, “Good work guys and gals. You’ve got a growth on the side of your head that looks nice. You should be proud.”

And we are.

I am happy to announce that my organization, The Open Planning Project, has released version 1.0 of the Livable Streets Network.

The Livable Streets Network is a conglomeration of five websites: NY StreetsBlog, LA StreetsBlog, StreetFilms, StreetsWiki, and LivableStreet’s Groups. All together, they help urban planners and community members alike work together to make our city’s streets a better place to live.

Applause to all for a great run!

Good news! It seems, for the next two weeks at least, I’m back managing a testing group here at TOPP. I won’t be managing every day — only two days a week, due to other work — but the testing group will be going all five.

Our context is a bit different than before:

• We’ve got two (maybe three) weeks until deployment.
• We’re running risk-based charters, focusing more on changes and less on regression.
• We’ve got a few more resources ready than before.
• We’ve already got buy-in on the process.
• We’ve got responsive management who sympathize with the testing effort.

I recently coordinated the group today, and from my initial impression, we’re going to make waves in testing these next two weeks. I’m genuinely excited.

As a side note, it seems the presentation I gave about testing had great effect. It gave me a chance to introduce more testing ideas — along with the performance testing ideas that were the impetus of the presentation — as well as make me more confident when expressing these ideas to others. For example, I’ve had management tell me that “testing is an investigative process,” and then plan work with the general understanding that the testing group’s job is to inform.

I’m not really sure what happened, but the ideas are spreading like wildfire.

No guarantee I’ll give weekly updates like before, but I will keep you updated on the status of the testing group. So far, it seems like testing is a priority from management on down — even if we were only given two weeks — so among other good feelings, I’m starting to feel like we’re headed in the right direction.

We’re getting some Google attention at the geo-side of our organization. Today, TOPP’s work on GeoWebCache made Google’s open-source blog, mentioning GeoWebCache’s lead developer Arne Kepp.

Good work guys!

Update: Alright, full disclosure. I just realized the post was written by Chris Holmes, TOPP’s “geospatial CEO.” It’s still pretty cool, but a little less so.

The Open Planning Project just released a small community website for those in the greater NYC area: http://www.blockpartynyc.org

From here:

Block Party NYC is a new program by the New York City Streets Renaissance Campaign helping neighborhoods around NYC come together and enjoy their street, free from the usual hazards and distractions of automobiles. This summer, we’re providing mini-grants to over 30 block parties throughout the 5 boroughs, [as well as] the services of a professional urban planner to combat community problems like traffic, speeding, noise and air pollution.

Interested in meeting your neighbors? Getting outside? Having some good ol’ fashioned family fun? Well here’s your chance.