TOPICS: Day two - Thursday 16 June 2011
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THU | 8.30AM | Grand Ballroom A&B
» Jean Tabaka - Agile Fellow, Rally Software "I am a member of a community of thinkers." This is the first line of a statement Liz Keogh, Eric Willeke and I crafted on December 9, 2009 in Boulder. It came about as a result of a day of reflection, introspection, challenge, and 'futurespection' about our lives as software professionals. We, here today, are laying the rockbed of our profession's contribution to the 21st century. Join me in a journey of how we can and must act as a community of thinkers in creating our future. I would like to explore how we are a community of truly indispensable creators with individual strengths and immeasurable collective wisdom. I'll share some direct professional experiences of my own about this work of community and thinking. I will share the power of collective visioning and I will contrast the destructive nature of a confrontational or escalation approach to thought leadership. I'll also warn you about the slow death of complacency. As Nelson Mandela said in his Presidential Inaugural address, "You do not serve the world by being small." I am a member of a community of thinkers. So are you. Together, let us elevate our Agile community of thinkers. |
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THU | 9.30AM | Grand Ballroom A
» Martin Fowler - Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks » Kane Mar - President, Scrumology » Craig Smith - Agile Coach, Suncorp (moderator) Has the paradigm of software as a manufacture-engineering discipline died? Are there more relevant and applicable ways of thinking about modern software creation? This panel discussion will explore the views of software as craftsmanship, software as a commodity, and software as part of an ecosystem. |
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THU | 9.30AM | State Room
» Stephen Hardisty - Technical Lead, REA Group » Tomas Varsavsky - Delivery Manager, REA Group Real-world experiences using Domain Driven Design (DDD) to provide a business-focused domain layer when migrating to a new enterprise platform. DDD has become a key approach for Agile teams to express business concepts in the software they produce. realestate.com.au employed DDD techniques to help reduce the complexity and cost of migrating legacy systems to a modern technology platform: targeting the domain allowed developers, testers, BAs and product owners to focus on the business core, with technology following underneath; isolating the legacy information model reduced the cost of migration. Everybody wins! During this session you will: » Gain an understanding of DDD and why it can aid Agile businesses » Get an insight into how DDD has been applied in an Agile environment on a large-scale re-platforming project, and why it has been valuable » Migrating legacy systems is hard: hear how we met some of the challenges » Learn how a domain focus affected a wide slice of the business, from engaging the sales team to conducting technical interviews |
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THU | 9.30AM | Function Rooms 3&4
» Francisco Trindade - Consultant, ThoughtWorks » Fabio Pereira - Lead Consultant, ThoughtWorks After revolutionising the automobile industry, Lean principles have been applied to different knowledge areas including software development. However, many people haven't been introduced to the concepts that made Lean successful. In this interactive session, the participants will work in a small Lego production line, experiencing problems and applying Lean practices to overcome them. Participants will be divided into four teams and learn about systems thinking, push vs. pull systems, and waste. We will also compare the production line scenario with the software development industry. Attend this workshop to: » Understand Lean concepts in a hands-on experience » Demonstrate how Lean is more than just practices » Have a good understanding of concepts like: waste, push and pull systems, just-in-time, systems thinking, work cells, and Kaizen. |
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THU | 10.15AM | Grand Ballroom A
» Rebecca Parsons - Chief Technology Officer, ThoughtWorks There is widespread acceptance that software development using Agile methods works well. However, there are still areas of software development organisations that view their roles or mandates as incompatible with Agile methods. This talk addresses the legitimate role of an Enterprise Architect and provides concrete recommendations on how Architects can work with Agile development teams to accomplish their objectives. Topics will include concerns about data architecture, addressing the "ilities", and why evolutionary architecture works. |
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THU | 10.15AM | State Room
» Nicholas Muldoon - Product Manager, Atlassian Empowering engineers is the first step in any successful innovation program. In this talk Nicholas Muldoon will share the successes and failures of Australian software company Atlassian's innovation program. Using intrinsic motivation enabled Atlassian to develop Agile teams that take responsibility, take action, improve their craft and drive innovation. The Atlassian innovation program has delivered great advances to customers (both internal and external) through activities such as 20% time and FedEx days. CIO's and Project Managers will leave this talk equipped with the knowhow to implement innovation programs in their own organisations, including steps to start your own quarterly FedEx day and considerations for allocating 20% time. |
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THU | 11.30AM | Grand Ballroom A
» Adam Boas - Principal Engineer, Aconex » Nigel Dalton - Deputy Director, Digital, Lonely Planet » Keith Dodds - Director, Client Relations, ThoughtWorks Asia Pacific (moderator) » Patrick Eltridge - Chief Information Officer, Telstra Agile for a fixed price is like oil and water - it doesn't and shouldn't mix! How does one manage a contractual framework, scope, pricing, and payment milestones in a fixed-price Agile engagement? Come along and hear this panel argue how contracts should work in an Agile world! |
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THU | 11.30AM | Grand Ballroom B
» James Pierce - Director of Engineering, Lonely Planet The core of Agile is all about communication. Its routines and rituals encourage teams to communicate and plan as well as tackling their issues and problems as they share lessons from their achievements and failures. Our physical environment, communication culture and our attitude to multitasking and distractions are less obvious levers which can have a profound impact on our teams and how effective they can be. |
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THU | 11.30AM | State Room
» Craig Smith - Agile Coach, Suncorp Ensuring that the approach to testing and quality is understood and appropriately valued in an Agile world can be a struggle for many organisations, especially when resources are limited and our customers are expecting business value in a timely manner. In this session Craig Smith will define what quality means, share a number of tools for measuring it as well as discussing approaches to improving the skills, empowerment and role of testing in the organisation and share why testing is the coolest role on the team and why it is everyone's responsibility. |
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THU | 11.30AM | Function Rooms 3&4
» David Joyce - Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks » Jane Hong Nguyen - Consultant, ThoughtWorks Dr W. Edwards Deming's famous Red Bead Experiment helps illustrate the impact that an organisational "system" and traditional management approaches can have on individuals in a software team. Originally used by Dr Deming as part of his four-day seminar, the experiment represents a corporation formed of "Willing Workers", Quality Control Personnel, a Data Recorder, and a Customer, each of which is staffed by volunteers from the audience. David Joyce will be playing the role of the Project Manger whose job it is to get results, and Jane Hong Nguyen will be playing the role of the Product Owner from the business whose job it is to ensure David delivers! After the experiment there will be a discussion of the issues addressed by the experiment, including: understanding variation in work, the role of the system on the performance of the workers, the ineffectiveness of managing with slogans and posters, how targets and financial rewards drive the wrong behaviour, how annual appraisals de-motivate staff, and how to improve quality. The workshop will also show techniques to identify and remove the Red Beads (System Conditions) found in your organisation; revealing the management thinking that led to them and how to change that thinking so that your performance can rocket. If you work as part of, or manage, software development teams you will not want to miss this. The Organisational System is constraining you and is your largest impediment! |
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THU | 12.15PM | Grand Ballroom A
» Simon Bennett - Principal Coach & Trainer, Scrum withStyle This presentation aims to show that Lean and Agile are not alternate canons, but are rather two sides of the same coin, and differ mainly in their approach to adoption, rather than their end states. Furthermore, the zealotry that exists in both the Scrum and Kanban camps does more harm than good. If you're more interested in results than buzzwords, then this is the session for you! Learn about: » How Lean thinking is Agile, and Agile is Lean thinking » How your mental map matters more than your method » Scrum and Kanban: Not nearly as different as you might have thought » What your Agile Consultant doesn't want to tell you (or may not know themselves) » How zealotry creates fragility, not agility » Understand your organisation to choose your path |
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THU | 12.15PM | Grand Ballroom B
» Lorraine Pauls Longhurst - Managing Director, LPL Consulting » Michael Rembach - Applications Development Manager, Transport NSW Learn how Transport NSW introduced Agile gradually on one of their key data warehouse projects by using a staged approach to move from waterfall to Agile and eventually scrum. One of the advantages with scrum is that project-related issues come to the surface early because the team must deliver potentially releasable software within a month. Attempting to resolve major issues can seem insurmountable to those new to scrum. The staged approach discussed in this presentation enables organisations to deal with issues one at a time. Attendees will discover how to overcome the following typical issues with introducing Agile: » No-one can make the final decision on priorities » The business want to know exactly what the cost of the project is up-front » The team is not communicating or treating each other with respect » The business doesn't fully understand what is being built |
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THU | 12.15PM | State Room
» Patrick Eltridge - Chief Information Officer, Telstra The success of Agile adoption amongst smaller companies is becoming widespread, with numerous case studies available on the successes and business value that has been achieved. Adopting Agile at scale within larger and more complex organisations, however, remains far more elusive and is seen as a real barrier by many companies contemplating an Agile change program. In this presentation, Patrick Eltridge will outline the drivers behind Telstra's Agile journey, the key lessons learnt so far, and what the next stage will be for this truly transformational journey for one of Australia's iconic companies. |
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THU | 2.00pm | Grand Ballroom A
» Philip Abernathy - Agile Professional Development Lead, Suncorp Using Agile to improve relationships within families » Jonathan Coleman - Iteration Manager, Suncorp Agile finances at home » Steve Jenkins - Iteration Manager, Suncorp People issues and performance reviews - Team Leader or Iteration Manager? » Lynn Shrewsbury - Iteration Manager, Solnet Solutions Herding cats - experiences of Agile with a non-IT team Lightning Talks are concise, informal mini-presentations that generate ideas and conversation points for the audience. Lightning Talks can be on any topic and are a maximum of FIVE minutes long. The emphasis of these mini-presentations is on knowledge sharing, generating new ideas, and having fun! |
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THU | 2.00PM | Grand Ballroom B
» Sascha Ragtschaa - Senior Development Manager, Computershare This case study shows how Computershare's global application development teams were transformed into a lean and flexible workforce, consolidating and migrating legacy products while adding new business benefits. Utilising Scrum and Pair Programming at various cycles of the transformation program, Sascha Ragtschaa will highlight some of the challenges and best practices to deal with regulatory and security requirements, gaining support across all levels for these 'new principles' from within the organisation, and dealing with different cultures and newly acquired organisations. Complexity is added by an ever-changing corporate environment fuelled by acquisitions in differing market segments and a core business that builds upon certainty, ingenuity and advantage. |
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THU | 2.00PM | State Room
» Jacky Jacob - Supervising Consultant, Object Consulting » Sally Bieleny - User Experience Lead, Object Consulting What does it mean for your team to be Agile? Can you even begin to call your team Agile if you ignore the User's Experience (UX)? We would say definitely NOT. Well maybe if you are building something that doesn't have any users, including perceived ones! In theory, the world of UX and the world of Agile should fit together seamlessly. In many ways they think the same and have similar base principles. Today, the word Agile and term UX are being thrown around everywhere. Both seem to be considered THE way to get the RIGHT thing done. So why do Agile teams often ignore UX? And why do UXers have difficulty being Agile? We've found that there are ways for UX to fit into an Agile environment while maintaining the best of both. This session is intended for Agile teams that don't know where UX reasonably fits or for UXers who are struggling with where they fit in an Agile environment. We'd even like you to come along if you've got it all perfected, perhaps you can add to the conversation. In this session Jacky and Sally will: » Introduce what UX means and how UX aligns with those principles and practises that they consider important in an Agile project » Talk about how some of these principles end up in conflict and the ways they have found to resolve it » Raise some questions that they haven't resolved but perhaps others have » Talk about some of their Agile projects that have had a UX requirement » Show you some of the pitfalls they have experienced and ways that they have found to get around them Attendees will: » Gain an understanding of UX and why it is important to consider » Gain an understanding of incorporating UX tasks within the context of an Agile project » Take away possible solutions to issues incorporating UX into an Agile project |
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THU | 2.00PM | Function Rooms 3&4
» Paul King - Director, ASERT Recent trends in software development have seen the introduction of new languages and frameworks; the adoption of new methodologies such as Agile development; and an on-going evolution of underlying technologies to include non-relational databases, mobile platforms and cloud computing. Yet many organisations are still using legacy development and testing approaches and tools. This talk looks at best practices, tools and techniques for harnessing the changes we are seeing without undue risks. We'll look at ways to harness development and testing approaches that have been difficult to apply using traditional tools and languages including: » Frameworks that greatly simplify development without throwing away enterprise hardened technology stacks » Capturing business logic as high-level rules in DSLs » Combinations and pair-wise testing » The use of testing DSLs » Test data generation techniques Along the way we will discuss: » Some of the recent trends and frameworks in software development » How such tools can be incorporated into an Agile workflow for timely feedback » Using a range of low-risk (primarily) open source languages and tools which allow systems and tests to be written that are valuable to not only the development team but also testers, analysts and the wider Agile team members » Discuss some of the emerging testing libraries and tools for web, cloud and parallel development and testing |
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THU | 2.45PM | Grand Ballroom A
» Phil Abernathy - Agile Professional Development Lead, Suncorp » Marina Chiovetti - Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks » Martin Kearns - National Capability Lead, SMS MT » Tania Broome - Agile Practice Manager, BankWest » Andy Trigg - Senior Software Engineer, Aconex What is the role of a coach? Our experienced panellists discuss the value of a coach, the benefits, coaching failures, alternatives, and what could work best for your team. Understand the pros and cons, learn how to build capability internally, and gain new techniques to accelerate Agile adoption in your organisation. |
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THU | 2.45PM | Grand Ballroom B
» Renee Troughton - Delivery Coach, Suncorp An Agile Rogue is responsible for moving an organisation towards working in an Agile way. As an Agile Rogue, what model can you potentially use to drive your change? Are you Undercover, Unstealthed, Unfocused, Unleashed or Unstoppable? Discover the tools that a Rogue needs when implementing Agile for cultural change. This topic provides coverage of the five models of Rogue Agile implementation describing for each model: 1. Adoption coverage 2. Behaviours exhibited 3. Extent of Manifesto, values and principles adoption 4. Adoption activities, cost and time 5. Roadblocks 6. Cultural change 7. Benefits realisation In a light-hearted and slightly theatrical approach to learning, attendees will discover: » The various models for Agile implementation » For each model, an understanding of the business case related benefits, cost, scope, time and risks » Knowledge of what model you are trying to implement and where you may want to move to within the Rogue Agile Capability Maturity Model » To truly improve your maturity in Agile you must invest in cultural change. This cultural change, like all cultural change requires strong commitment, resources, time and most importantly currency |
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THU | 2.45PM | State Room
Open Space is a chance for you to drive part of the Agile Australia conference! If we've missed an important topic you'd like to discuss, or haven't addressed one of your burning questions, Open Space will provide the opportunity for you to discuss or have discussed any question or topic you like! Participating in Open Space We will be collecting issues, questions, topics, thoughts, ideas and challenges at the Agile Australia booth. Please contribute! We ask you to help us group the contributions into common themes during the conference. The Open Space will be lots of small groups talking on a specific topic. Each group will be allocated a facilitator, whose only task is to keep the discussion flowing. It's an open and collaborative space, which allows all perspectives to be heard and respected. You may stay put in the one group or you may choose to be a "butterfly" and flutter around the groups listening to what is going on, or be a "bee" and visit various groups and contribute to each. The Open Space session at Agile Australia 2011 will be a great opportunity for you share your ideas and experiences, and learn from the experiences of others! |
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THU | 4.00PM | Grand Ballroom 1&2
» Martin Fowler - Chief Scientist, ThoughtWorks In the last decade or so we've seen a number of new ideas added to the mix to help us effectively design our software. Patterns help us capture the solutions and rationale for using them. Refactoring allows us to alter the design of a system after the code is written. Agile methods, in particular Extreme Programming, give us a highly iterative and evolutionary approach which is particularly well suited to changing requirements and environments. Martin Fowler has been a leading voice in these techniques and will give a suite of short talks (different ones to last year) featuring various aspects about his recent thinking about how these and other developments affect our software development. |
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THU | 5.30PM
Do you have some feedback about this years conference? Or perhaps you would like to see a real-life retrospective in action? Join the conference organisers and advisors in this optional session where we will reflect on this years conference to celebrate our successes and reflect on what we could do differently next year. |
View Topics - Day 1, Wednesday 15 June 2011 »
