Susanne Reppin (left) and Dr. Johannes Mainusch on the wjax stage.

Just how agile is XING? How agilely do we feel? At this year’s w-jax 09, Johannes Mainusch and myself talked openly about the XING culture, what kind of people we are, what we’re aiming for and what’s important to us. XING releases weekly updates on the platform, innovating therefore all the time during ongoing operation of the platform. We don’t want to have to put a halt to anything, and not when it comes to agile software development either.

XING already develops projects effectively using Scrum (see also Scrum @ XING – a case study). Alongside this, we’ve been working for nine months to put Kanban in place for one our maintenance teams – as both a methodology and philosophy. The initial idea for this came from Ralf Wirdemann, who’s an agile coach. Selecting Kanban fits in with our belief in agile and lean software development and to drive this forward in the future.

People took a great interest in our speech (here’s the slideshare and our PDF with notes, both in German). We explained why Scrum is so well-suited to our project work, as it protects the team from disruptions during the sprints – but that precisely this protection is contra-productive when applied to a team operating in close interplay with live operation of the platform. Kanban is considerably better suited to integrating disruptions – which bugs are after all – in an ad hoc way, and is therefore ideal for a maintenance team.

One of the major success factors here is of course the team itself. All team members were already experienced in agile development and wanted to learn more in a professional context. After about six weeks we were all surprised at how much more effectively and fast we could now go about our daily work.

Please note: The full talk held at the w-jax 2009 in Munich will be published in the next few weeks by w-jax.

More than 65,000 XING members network in the Xpert Ambassador Group called The Selling Group, sharing insights and experiences about all the issues and different aspects of this sector. This usually happens online, but now some real-life offline networking has taken place too: The group’s first XING Live Event took place on October 28 in the Porsche Centre at the Olympia Park in Munich, organized by Xpert Ambassador Stephan Heinrich. And there will certainly be more events to follow in the future.

Many members attending had travelled from far and wide for a chance to network in person with other sales experts. After a short introductory speech, the rest of the evening was left open for guests to mingle amongst themselves and network away to their heart’s content. You can click here to view photos by photographer Renate Blaes, and here to view a film of the event produced by the ad agency Fast-Emotions. We would like to express our gratitude to the organizers, participants and all those who made the event possible.

If you work in Sales and would like to connect and share insights with other experts, both online and offline, we recommend joining The Selling Group!

XING will attend the conference, and have its own stand. On the first evening of the event, there will be a XING Business Talk, where CEO Dr. Stefan Groß-Selbeck will speak about “Business Communities and their influence on the marketing mix“.

Extra advantages for XING members

Even before the Forum starts, participants can share ideas and network  – naturally on XING. You can find information on learning more about marketing, sales, and innovation topics in the “Marketing & Innovation Forum Europe”  group. Also, XING Premium Members can get tickets at a special rate in our Best Offers section – including the opportunity to participate in the “XING Business-Talk“.

For further information, you can read the recent press release by our cooperation partner evoworkx live.

Giving it their all on the field.

That was the “Kick-Off Trophy”

The results were clear: Company sports groups, recreational teams and 48 XING groups spent two days competing for the coveted trophy. The event included highlights like having a helicopter fly in to deliver the balls, a benefit concert with Lotto King Karl and the awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon.

A team from XING AG also participated. Ten employees from various different departments competed for the title and trophy. Although they unfortunately didn’t take first place, the XINGers had many opportunities to demonstrate their impressive soccer skill on the field, and the XING cheerleaders did their part, enthusiastically cheering the team on from the sidelines.

The tournament was not only about winning the trophy, but also about supporting a good cause.  Proceeds from the tournament went to the Uwe Seeler Foundation which supports people in need. Last week XING representative Jasmin Müller presented a check for over €8,500 to legendary soccer player Uwe Seeler and his foundation.

You will find all of the pictures from the event below in our picture gallery.

The team was made up of XING employees from various different departments.

Cheering the team on from the sidelines: the XING cheerleaders.

Jasmin Müller (2nd from right) presenting the check to the Uwe Seeler Foundation.

After the rousing success of XING Regional Groups and Events, we’ve decided to expand our Ambassador Program, now adding to the mix XING Xpert Ambassadors, whom you can spot from the purple icon next to their profile. As you might guess from the name, Xpert Ambassadors are experts in a certain industry who frequently organize industry-specific networking events.

Our first Xpert Groups include Bankingclub Online, the largest European online banking community for bank employees, financial service providers and insurance agents, IT Connect Xpert Group, which connect over 24,000 IT professionals in German-speaking countries, and the Franchise Xpert Group. We would like to extend a warm welcome and congratulations to Thorsten Hahn, Norbert Keil, and Jochen Ewald, the first XING Xpert Ambassadors!

In coming months, new industry-specific groups will be added to the rosters. In doing so, we hope to fulfill requests from our members to offer Official XING groups dedicated to specific topic areas. Our members can now exchange information with competent experts in their professional area of expertise, and further expand their offline networking activities.

Deniz Seebacher, XING Ambassador No. 200

New XING Ambassadors are continually joining the ranks and new regional groups are continually being created around the world. In June we welcomed the 200^th Ambassador, Deniz Seebacher, in Guatemala.  She tells us how she ended up becoming an Ambassador:

“I have been a XING member since 2005, but I really started using the business network intensively when I moved to Guatemala for personal reasons in 2009. I was looking for new contacts in a country where I hardly knew anyone. My search for German-speaking members in Guatemala City didn’t return many hits, but I wrote to a few of them. That’s how, in addition to meeting two people who have become very good friends of mine, I got to know Christoph and his company Officient, which led to my first local project. Since Christoph and I value XING as a networking platform and wanted to use it more intensively, we started looking for contacts on the local market. At the time, XING was looking for Ambassadors in Central America. So we decided to become Ambassadors and start up the XING Guatemala group.

XING is not yet very well known in Guatemala, but networking is a part of the local culture. That’s why we made it our goal to get the local networking structures in Guatemala online, which would also make it possible to network internationally. The motto of the first networking event here was “Let’s put Guatemala on the map of international networking” – a quote from the first group posting by Sergio Aragon, XING AG.

Of the approximately 50 participants who were there, only a few had come directly as a result of the XING invitation. A lot of them were there because they had heard about it from someone they knew. But by the end of the evening, I was out of business cards and everyone there knew what XING was. Word of mouth has brought a lot of new members to the group.

The first official XING event in Guatemala.

Of course, being a XING Ambassador takes a bit of time, but every minute is worth it. Within just two months I had established many new connections here in Guatemala, as well as a few international contacts with other Ambassadors.
Christoph and I are delighted to be able to represent XING in Guatemala as Ambassadors and we congratulate the rest of the 200 Ambassadors around the world.

I also always enjoy hearing about new Ambassadors and their stories. So here’s to the next 200 profile pictures with orange triangles!

Jason shared his “OpenSocial” point of view by explaining his vision and experiences at the event held in the Sofa Hotel-Nişantaşı on June 2. He also explained his “Ship it!” concept, based on his firm belief that “the user knows and shows the best”, which was an inspiration for XING’s new Product Development vision. Around 75 guests attended the “OpenSocial” launch party in total. They included Jason, the press, bloggers and application developers. The event went down very well with guests and the media. You can read Jason’s CNBC interview here (wmv-file).

OpenSocial promises to bring many interesting applications to members and is also creating very important opportunities for application developers. They now have the chance to promote their products and services with an app aimed at the benefit of XING members. It presents a superb way of increasing their potential for new jobs and project work as well as for customer acquisition.

As XING Turkey, we’d like to express our thanks to Jason for his successful and inspirational presentation, which will help create new business and contact opportunities for XING members. We would also like to thank Marjinal for their invaluable assistance organizing the event.

The XING Paris group's live networking event.

Despite the May public holiday the following day, about 100 mainly French networkers didn’t pass up the opportunity to socialize in a relaxed, jovial atmosphere and make some valuable new contacts. The stylish flair of the Méridien venue certainly made the perfect setting for some offline business networking “par excellence”. The XING members attending also enjoyed the added treat of free entry to jazz concert afterwards.

After this resounding success we keenly await to hear about the next events to be held by the XING Paris group.

The book's original cover.

“It’s not so much about Google itself,” he began, “but about a new Weltanschauung[1] of the post-industrial, post-mass consumer age” – setting the tone for his entire talk. “Give the people control, give them a platform, and they’ll figure out the rest”.

Jeff took us on an insightful journey that discussed a systemized furniture store known for its low prices, a systemized coffee store known for its not quite so low prices, a “googly” restaurant, social networking on planes and trains, and much much more. His rhetorical repertoire included gems about a handful of companies who’ve understood, and many more where there’s plenty of room for improvement.

So-called “Dell Hell” is now legendary: Bad experiences with the manufacturer’s customer support not only meant he bought a PowerBook instead, but also led to a general snowball of consternation in the English-speaking blogosphere. These days Dell makes sure it sets an example with IdeaStorm.

“Customer service is marketing. Every dollar you spend on customer satisfaction is money spent on advertising,” he concludes. Companies also have to ask themselves time and again how they want to get and stay profitable. AOL – his former employer – should have “realized they were actually Facebook”, way back when they were busy been producing pretty browsers.

Jeff Jarvis talking to XING employees about the "post-Industrial" age.

Another one of Jarvis’ mantras is that “Life is beta”. Prototypes come as standard at Google, with hardly any feature being launched without the red beta logo. Users are given the chance early on to try out the features and give their feedback, making them a central component of the product development process. This correlates directly with XING’s “Ship it!” philosophy, where we’re launching new features in the beta phase and then developing the product further with your feedback on board.

It became increasingly obvious to us that we’ve been adopting many of Jeff’s ideas as a company for a while now, and that this is the path we certainly intend to follow: listening to users, being transparent, being honest, collaborating, developing in the beta stage. In short: Doing everything we can to provide the best possible tool for networking.

A big thank you to Jeff for taking the time to talk to us!

The package includes a free one-day pass for CeBIT 2009, as well as exclusive extras like access to keynotes and Executive Labs, catering, reserved seats and a whole range of other perks.