Workshop Leader: Jean Tabaka - Agile Fellow, Rally Software

Jean Tabaka is an Agile Fellow with Rally Software in Boulder, Colorado. She loves coaching others about Agile software development. Her passion has led her to concentrate on practices in collaboration and leadership. She is also now reaching into systems thinking, Lean, and Kanban. In 2006, Jean also authored a book, Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Software Product Leaders, Addison-Wesley.

Jean Tabaka is a Certified ScrumMaster and Practitioner, a Certified Scrum Trainer, and a Certified Professional Facilitator. She graduated Magna Cum Laude and as a University Scholar from the University of Missouri. Jean holds a Masters in French Literature from Michigan State University and a Masters in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University. When she's not on the road speaking and coaching about Agile and Lean, you can find her in beautiful Boulder, Colorado.

Tuesday 14 June 2011 | 9.00AM - 12.30PM [with morning tea and lunch]

It doesn't matter what you're producing - physical goods, software, or other products. When efficiency and workers' time utilisation become more important than the value of the work product, the production system is optimised for the wrong thing. Lean thinking shifts the emphasis to creating value through the concept of 'flow'. The goal of flow is to eliminate delays and bottlenecks producing the product to speed up its delivery and earn value for the organisation sooner. Kanban explicitly recognises the advantages of establishing flow - an idea inherent in most Agile processes though not emphasised.

Through presentation, games, simulation, and discussion; attendees of this workshop learn about the 'Why', 'How', and 'What' of Kanban. You'll learn how different practices affect flow, the impact of sub-optimisation, and the sometimes deadly costs of delay common in many teams - even those that profess to be Agile. Develop an appreciation of and intuition for the effects of workflows, queues, visualisation, and limiting work in progress to improve your team's processes.