Better Software Conference & Expo 2008 brochure

TuesdaY pRe-cOnfeRence TuTORiaLs TuesdaY, june 10, 8:0–12:00 (MORning haLf-daY) Refactoring Your Wetware: Thinking about Thinking HALF DAY TM Andy Hunt, The Pragmatic Programmers 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 geniuses from the “wanna-bes.” Andy helps you discover how to learn more deliberately by managing your knowledge portfolio. Explore practical learning techniques including mind maps, reading techniques, situational feedback, and how best to cope with the torrent of new information that assaults each of us. 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 award-winning 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. gambling Your future: effective portfolio Management HALF DAY Tn Todd Little, Landmark Graphics Corporation; Kent McDonald, Knowledge Bridge Partners Yogi Berra is quoted as saying, “It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future.” Effective management of a software portfolio is a challenge that many companies ignore, avoid, or fail to follow through with because it is too difficult. In this hands-on session, Todd Little and Kent McDonald run a simulation of an online gambling company’s software portfolio. Todd and Kent provide an overview of some basic product and portfolio management guidelines and then introduce the simulation game in which participants make decisions about what investments the company should make in its software. Through the instruction and the simulation, learn about product, project, and portfolio management issues including business strategy, investment return, constraint management, technical and market uncertainty, and project complexity. Find out what it takes to optimize overall return on your software investments. Todd Little is a senior development manager for Landmark Graphics Corporation. For more than twentyfive years he has been involved in almost all aspects of software development with a focus on commercial software applications. Todd is on the Board of Directors for the Agile Alliance, a co-author of the Declaration of Interdependence for Agile Project Leadership, and a founding member and past president of the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). Todd is a well-known speaker and writer on software engineering topics including business value, uncertainty, complexity, and leadership. A business systems coach with more than a decade of experience, Kent Mcdonald has successfully guided projects and designed business solutions in the financial services, health insurance, performance marketing, human services, non-profit, and automotive industries. His background includes delivering data-intensive and Web-enabled application development projects that provide outstanding business value. He has coached client staff to help teams reach project goals more productively and effectively. Kent is a sought after speaker, writer, and coach on project leadership, business analysis, and delivering business value through projects. He is the current president of the APLN. Leading successful projects in changing environments HALF DAY TO Pollyanna Pixton, Accelinnova There’s no doubt about it—agile has gone mainstream. Short delivery iterations give organizations the means to incorporate change safely, reach go/no-go decisions early, and discover realistic team velocities. Managers can better determine if market windows can be reached—thus placing successful products in customers’ hands. What if the ground beneath the project team is changing rapidly even as it is trying to make progress? Pollyanna Pixton shares a collaboration model and iterative delivery process that will help you succeed, even in unstable conditions. She shares her ideas on creating an open environment, identifying the talent the team needs, managing risks, and creating team ownership to ensure great results. Among the skills you need are a collaborative, transparent leadership style; an approach to positively influence outcomes; collaborative communication—and then the knowledge of when to stand back and let things happen. Leave this session with some keys to successfully lead agile project teams—even in the midst of chaos. An international collaborative leadership expert, pollyanna pixton developed the models for collaboration and collaborative leadership through her thirty-five years of working inside and consulting with corporations and organizations. She helps companies create workplaces where talent and innovation are unleashed—making them more productive, efficient, and profitable. Pollyanna is a founding partner of Accelinnova, president of Evolutionary Systems, director of the Institute for Collaborative Leadership, and co-author of forthcoming book, Stand Back and Deliver, A Leader’s Guide to the Agile Enterprise due out in November 2008. She co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) and chaired the Agile 2006 Leadership Summits in London and Minneapolis. Contact her at ppixton@accelinnova.com. The director of Product Development and Agile Architect for ChannelAdvisor, Bob galen has held director, manager, and contributor level positions in both software development and quality assurance organizations. He is a Certified Scrum Master Practicing (CSP), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile Alliance and Scrum Alliance. Bob authored Software Endgames—Eliminating Defects, Controlling Change, and the Countdown to On-Time Delivery. Bob may be reached at bob@rgalen.com or at www.rgalen.com. DAY Tp HALF software endgames: Learning to finish What You’ve started Robert Galen, Robert Galen Consulting Group Nothing feels worse than when your team works their hearts out on a project only to have it fail to meet the customer’s needs and quality targets at the end of the project. So much focus is typically put on the beginning of a project that we fail to realize how important ending well can be. Bob Galen shares tools and techniques he’s used to successfully deliver on the promises of his projects. There’s no magic involved. Instead, Bob explores how to plan an iterative model for testing in your endgame; create dynamic release criteria and connect them to your requirements and to the reality of the project; manage change control in agile and non-agile environments; handle defects; winnow down change via several code freeze models; and finally, define core metrics for guiding your project towards release. Software endgames are also focused toward your team. Bob wraps-up the session with a set of powerful patterns that help you engage your teams within the endgame scenario. TuesdaY, june 10, 1:00–4:0 (afTeRnOOn haLf-daY) all Out scrum: experiencing a product Release HALF DAY TQ Hubert Smits, Rally Software Development Hubert Smits has created a large-scale project for this session in which students will use agile methods to create a plan. By working together in small teams, you learn the planning process for large agile projects, experience real-life examples, and apply your new knowledge immediately. As a starting point for the exercise, Hubert provides a description of a product that you are to develop. Work in your group to develop a program strategy for the new product. Create the product vision, the product roadmap, the backlog of product features, and the release plan. This exercise simulates the experience of working in a low-tech, high-collaboration style and allows you to experience the impact of agile practices on you and your team. hubert smits is an agile coach, working for Rally Software Development in Boulder, Colorado. In this role he travels the world to support organizations in the implementation of agile methods. He works with teams to train them during the implementation cycle, facilitates planning meetings, and coaches executive teams in the management of the new approach to software development. A Certified ScrumMaster and Scrum Trainer, Hubert has authored papers on Scrum implementations (“The CIO Playbook of Implementing Scrum” with Ken Schwaber) and planning in agile projects (“Five Levels of Agile Planning”). Measuring and using Your Team’s Velocity HALF DAY TR Rob Myers, Net Objectives “Velocity” is an oft-misunderstood agile term. Developers worry they’re being evaluated based on this number. Managers want to know how it can be increased. The team’s definition of velocity—explicit or implicit—affects the way the team estimates stories, plans iterations, and tracks progress. The definition of velocity must be consistent and agreed upon; otherwise, planning efforts quickly unravel. Using a monetary metaphor, Rob Myers illustrates how to use velocity in iteration planning. In this simulation you’ll experience a non-technical agile iteration planning session that concretely demon http://www.rgalen.com http://ASP.NET http://www.sqe.com/bscereg

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Better Software Conference & Expo 2008 brochure

Better Software Conference & Expo Brochure Contents Conference At-A-Glance Special Events Conference Speakers 49 In-Depth Pre-Conference Tutorials 4 Keynote Presentations 42 Concurrent Classes Event Location and Las Vegas Highlights What Our Delegates are Saying Sponsors and Exhibitors Registration Information

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