Agile + DevOps West 2020 - General Management
Customize your Agile + DevOps West 2020 experience with sessions covering general project management.
Monday, June 8
Lean/Agile Metrics for the Rest of Us
For many agile practitioners, software metrics beyond a burndown chart are little understood or, perhaps, very scary because poor metrics can be worse than no metrics. In this enlightening session, Larry Maccherone explores how you and your organization can use metrics to bring management and lean/agile teams closer rather than becoming a wedge that drives them into conflict. Larry covers the entire lifecycle of the metrics process—from metric selection to reporting data—in compelling ways. You’ll gain an understanding of a wide range of concepts including common (101-level) metrics,...
Learning How to Lead High-Performing Agile Teams
Currently much of agile adoption—coaching, advice, techniques, training, and even the empathy—revolves around the agile teams. Leaders are typically ignored, marginalized at best, and in the worst cases even vilified. But Bob Galen and Mary Thorn contend that there is a central and important role for managers and leaders within agile environments. Join Bob and Mary as they explore the patterns of mature agile managers and leaders. Examine why those who understand servant leadership know how to effectively support, grow, coach, and empower their agile teams in ways that increase the team's...
An Agile Coaching Practicum in 360-degrees
Let’s face it, agile coaching isn’t for the timid or faint of heart. In most companies, it’s an incredibly challenging and nuanced role. And an important part of it is having the ability to coach in 360 degrees: downward—across your teams, outward – across managers and peers, and upward—towards those pesky leaders. Oh, and did we say that virtually EVERYONE is an agile coach? In this workshop, join Mary Thorn and Bob Galen as they share tools and experiences coaching in all directions. They will review three different coaching models from the X-Wing, to Powerful Questions, to 9-Stances, to...
Tuesday, June 9
What's Your Leadership IQ?
PreviewHave you ever needed a way to measure your testing leadership IQ? Or been in a performance review where the majority of time was spent discussing your need to improve as a leader? If you have ever wondered what your core leadership competencies are and how to build on and improve them, Jennifer Bonine and Jeremias Rößler as they share a toolkit to help you do just that. This toolkit includes a personal assessment of your leadership competencies and the evolution of testing and testing leadership. They will explore a set of eight dimensions of successful leaders, provides suggestions...
Creating a High-Performance Agile Team
Many teams have a relatively easy time adopting the tactical aspects of agile methodologies. Usually a few classes, some tools’ introduction, and a bit of practice lead teams toward fairly efficient execution. However, these teams are quite often simply going through the motions—neither maximizing their agile performance nor delivering as much value as they could. Borrowing from their experience and lean software development methods, Bob Galen and Mary Thorn explore high-performance team patterns, which are the thinking models of mature agile teams, including large-scale emergent...
Agile Project Failures: Root Causes and Corrective Actions
Agile initiatives always begin with high expectations—accelerate delivery, meet customer needs, and improve software quality. The truth is that many agile projects do not deliver on some or all of these expectations. If you want help to ensure the success of your agile project or to get an agile project back on track, this tutorial is for you. Jeffery Payne discusses the most common causes of agile project failure and how you can avoid these issues or mitigate their damaging effects. Poor project management, ineffective requirements development, failed communications, software development...
Introduction to DevOps with Chocolate and LEGOs
Organizations today can no longer afford to deliver new features to their respective markets once a year or even once a quarter. In the attempt to catch up with the competition, they jump onto DevOps journey starting with the "How" and losing the sight of "Why" and "What". Join this gamified simulation tutorial to gain a solid understanding of foundational principles of the DevOps culture. Experience the benefits of DevOps transformation even before initiating one in your enterprise! This tutorial is ideally designed for organizations that are evaluating their approach to DevOps...
Thursday, June 11
Agile BS and the Leadership Impediment
In 2018 the Defense Innovation Board (DIB), an advisory panel comprised of technology companies, academics, and DoD personnel, issued “How to Detect Agile BS,” a publication intended to alert Agencies that are purchasing “agile” services to the signs of “fake agile.” The problem is that this board, made up of some of the biggest names in the business, got it wrong! In this presentation Jeff Dalton, will offer a solution to solve fake agile, along with a fact-based rebuttal to one of the biggest misconceptions about agile today. Jeff demonstrates how the Defense Innovation Board missed the...
Agile Fireside Chat
You've got agile and lean questions, and Mary and Tom Poppendieck want to answer them for you. They won't really be sitting by the fire, but they will be on hand to talk about all things Lean and agile. Mary has been a programmer, IT manager, and product champion, and is well known for the Lean Software Development books that she wrote with her husband, Tom. Tom has been in computing for 25 years, working with healthcare, logistics, mortgage banking, and travel services, and he holds a Ph.D. in Physics. Bring your questions and be ready for a lively, interactive discussion.
Speed Dating in the Test Tool Pool
You’re starting at a new company. You’re beginning a greenfield project. Your agile transformation is calling for a tech revolution. You’re part of a Testing Center of Excellence. Or your needs just aren’t being met anymore. Whatever the reason, you’re in the market for new testing tools, you have all the freedom in the world... and you have no idea what you’re doing. Shopping for new tools is not unlike dating. You need to ask yourself the same questions: “What am I looking for?” “Do they fit in with the picture I have for my future?” “Will it get along with my friends colleagues?” On top...