Better Software - September 2008 - (Page ADP10)

PRE-CONFERENCE TuTORIALS MONDAy, NOvEMBER 10, 1:00-4:30 MM ADAPTing to Agile: A Mike Cohn, Mountain Goat Software HALF-DAY TUTORIALS NEW A Certified Scrum trainer, Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. He is the author of Agile Estimating and Planning and User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, as well as books on Java and C++ programming. With more than twenty years of experience, Mike has previously been a technology executive in companies of various sizes—from startup to Fortune 40. A frequent magazine contributor and conference speaker, Mike is a founding member of the Scrum Alliance and the Agile Alliance. He can be reached at mike@ mountaingoatsoftware.com. guide to Transitioning Transitioning to an agile development process is unlike most transitions development organizations make. Many transitions begin when a strong, visionary leader plants a stake in the ground and says, “let’s take our organization there.” Other transitions start with a lone team thinking, “Who cares what management thinks, let’s do this.” The problem in transitioning to agile is that neither of these approaches alone is likely to lead to the long-term, sustainable change you want. Mike Cohn describes how you can iterate toward more agility by combining a senior-level “guiding coalition” with multiple “action teams.” Along the way, you will learn the acronym ADAPT to describe the five steps necessary for any successful agile transition: Awareness, Desire, Ability, Promote, and Transfer. Explore the true role of leaders and managers to guide self-organizing teams toward agility. Take back proven patterns for getting started—Start Small, Stealth Mode, going All In, Public Displays of Agility, Impending Doom, and more. leave knowing what you must— and must not—do to succeed with agile in your organization and team. MN Agile Product David Hussman, DevJam Planning: Building a Strong Backlog NEW Although a strong product backlog is one key to sustained agility, this practice is less defined than other agile processes. Backlogs contain different work items—user stories, architectural spikes, investments in updating and maintaining development, and more. While it is clear that developers primarily code, it is often less clear who builds and grooms the backlog, and how to best find a groove with this practice. David Hussman explores how to create, prioritize, maintain, and groom your product backlog. He covers the core topics of user stories and personas as well as backlog items that do not neatly fit in the user story mold. Find out what other agile communities have done to establish a customer cadence that balances product planning with the work necessary to feed iterative development. learn how to sustain a strong, continuing product backlog that feeds the innovation and evolution of your systems. For many years, David Hussman has led software projects in a variety of domains— digital audio, digital biometrics, medical, government, legal, security, industrial, financial, retail, and education to name a few. David now spends his time coaching and leading agile project communities worldwide. The author of Cutting an Agile groove and contributor to several books, including Managing Agile Projects and Agile in the large, David leads DevJam. As mentors and practitioners, DevJam focuses on using agile to help people and companies improve their software production skills. DevJam (www.devjam.com) provides seasoned leaders that strive to pragmatically match technology, people, and processes to create better and cooler products. An agile coach with Rally Software Development, Jean Tabaka has more than twenty-five years of experience in IT. After studying DSDM in the late 1990s, Jean became an agile devotee, working with organizations worldwide to deliver more value faster through the adoption of agile principles and practices. Specializing in scaling agile practices, guiding leadership shifts, applying lean, and building continuous planning practices, Jean uses a collaborative approach in helping organizations adopt agile. A Certified ScrumMaster Trainer and a Certified Professional Facilitator, Jean is the author of Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Project leaders. You can reach her at jean.tabaka@rallydev.com. In the industry since the early 1980s, Andy Hunt is one of the seventeen founders of the Agile Alliance, which launched the Agile Manifesto and the agile movement. Andy is a programmer, consultant, author, publisher, and co-founder of the Pragmatic Bookshelf. He co-authored the best-selling book, The Pragmatic Programmer and five others, including the recent awardwinning Practices of an Agile Developer. At conferences and private corporations throughout the US and Europe, Andy is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from software development to management and cognition. When not working, Andy is an active musician composing, recording, and playing trumpet, flugelhorn, and piano. An agile practitioner and trainer, Mitch Lacey has managed plan-driven and agile projects for more than twelve years. Mitch honed his agile skills at Microsoft Corporation, where he released core enterprise services for Windows Live. While at Microsoft, he transitioned from program manager to agile coach, working hand-in-hand with groups throughout their transition to agile practices. As a Certified Scrum Trainer and a registered Project Management Professional, Mitch shares his experience in project and client management through Certified ScrumMaster courses, agile coaching engagements, conference presentations, blogs, and white papers. Mitch is currently writing a book, Adopting Agile: 101 Tips for Surviving Your First Year, scheduled for publication in 2009. J. B. Rainsberger helps software organizations satisfy their customers and the businesses they support. Expert at delivering successful software, he writes, teaches, and speaks about why delivering better software is important—but not enough. He helps clients improve their bottom line by coaching teams as well as leading change programs. J. B. helps software organizations get off the treadmill of overcommitment and underdelivery, addressing all aspects of software delivery, including understanding the business, gelling the team, and writing great code. Learn more about how J. B. will inspire your software organization at jbrains.ca, in his IEEE Software magazine column “Not Just Coding”, at conferences worldwide, or by writing him at get.started@jbrains.ca. MO A Day in the Life of a user Jean Tabaka, Rally Software Development Story NEW Jean Tabaka leads you through a series of simulations around the life of a user story. After setting the context within the Scrum methodology—explaining the roles and responsibilities in the care and feeding of user stories—the work and the fun begin! You will work in small teams applying what you have just learned about user stories. First, each team writes a set of user stories based on a Product Owner’s view of how several features benefit the project. After prioritizing the new stories, the team sizes each one using “Planning Poker” and then reprioritizes the stories. Next, the team determines the tasks and estimates the effort to convert their user stories into acceptance criteria. As a new agile group, each team will debrief its work to the class. Come, join in, and be part of the active learning in this exercise-driven, on-your-feet session. MP Refactoring your Wetware: Andy Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmers Thinking about Thinking Software development happens in your head—not in an editor, IDE, or design tool. We’re well educated on how to work with software and hardware, but what about wetware—our brains? Join Andy Hunt for a look at how the brain really works (hint: it’s a dual processor, shared bus design) and how to use the best tool for the job by learning to think differently about thinking. Andy looks at the importance of context and the role of expert intuition in software development. learn to take advantage of pole-bridging and integration thinking. Compare different laterally-specialized functions, including synthesis vs. analysis and sequential processing vs. pattern-matching. Discover the one simple habit that separates the genius from the “wannabe.” Andy helps you discover how to learn more deliberately by managing your knowledge portfolio. Explore practical learning techniques, including mind maps, reading techniques, and situational feedback that help you to cope with the torrent of new information that assaults each of us. Mixing Roles in Scrum: The good, The Bad, and The ugly NEW MQ Mitch Lacey, Mitch Lacey & Associates, Inc. When is mixing roles on a Scrum team an acceptable solution on a project? On the surface, it seems innocent enough. Capable people should be able to switch roles among team members, ScrumMaster, and product owner. Why is it that this approach often ends in disaster for the team, the project, and the customer? What are the impacts of mixing roles on projects? What are some early warning signs that tell you that your role mixture is destined for failure? Mitch lacey takes you through examples of three projects in which the teams mixed roles—one turned out good (well, OK), one was bad, and one was ugly. Through small group discussions, you will explore Scrum roles in great detail to identify the actions each team took that led to three dramatically different outcomes. leave this session with a deep and clear understanding of Scrum roles and how they counterbalance each other. Ensure your team remains balanced—and productive. MR Designing Examples: Story J. B. Rainsberger, Independent Consultant Tests for Story Success NEW Poorly written stories are a common source of friction for agile teams, and the outcomes are dire. Such stories lead to inaccurate estimates, resulting in broken commitments and, in the worst cases, to http://www.devjam.com http://WWW.SQE.COM/ADPREG

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software - September 2008

Agile Conference Brochure Contents Conference-at-a-Glance The EXPO Special Events Conference Speaker Index 36 In-Depth Pre-conference Tutorials 4 Keynote Presentations 42 Concurrent Classes Agile Leadership Summit by APLN Conference Venue and Things to Do in Orlando, FL Conference Sponsors & Exhibitors Registration Information Event Location Ways to Save

Better Software - September 2008

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