Advisors

KIM BALLESTRIN | Agile Engagement Lead, Telstra

Kim Ballestrin has been an Agile engagement lead in Telstra IT for the last three years, from the beginning of the Telstra IT Agile change journey. Her focus has been on the initial part of the delivery process and finding ways to improve collaboration from the very start of an idea, through to the formation of Agile teams. Kim is the organiser of the Melbourne Cynefin Meetup group and is interested in finding new ideas that can help improve the ways that we work. Prior to the Agile role, her first 15 years at Telstra were spent in roles from telemarketing to marketing analysis, IT business analyst, program manager and delivery centre manager. Kim has a BSc. in Biology and worked for five years in the media industry before joining Telstra.

ADAM BOAS | Principal Engineer, Tiny Robot Army

Adam Boas has a long history in software delivery as a developer, tech lead, architect and manager.

Adam has delivered bespoke development projects and new products in a wide range of areas including telecommunications, logistics, government, mining, and resources. He is a team builder, a coach and a delivery enabler but above all a developer with a low level understanding of the problems development teams face when approaching the sharp end of a delivery.

NIGEL DALTON | Chief Information Officer, REA Group

Nigel Dalton has over 25 years of IT-related experience across multi-nationals and start-ups. In 2007 he joined travel publisher Lonely Planet as General Manager of Information Technology, becoming Deputy Director of Digital (web and mobile businesses) in 2010. Most recently, he co-founded a consultancy, Luna Tractor, to help organisations apply systems thinking, lean and agile software development techniques to all aspects of business. Previously, Nigel held roles with AXA Australia, online human resource startup ePredix in the USA (now owned by SHL), as well as Silicon Systems and Mitsubishi Electric in New Zealand.

KEITH DODDS | Director, Client Relations, ThoughtWorks

Keith Dodds is responsible for ThoughtWorks’ client relations, sales and marketing in the Asia Pacific region. Keith has over 25 years experience in consulting, story-telling and general rabble-rousing. He has worked across the US, the UK and for over 17 years in Australia. Keith prefers informed conversations with clients and prospective customers about the likely outcomes of their behaviour and decisions, both rational and unintended, emerging industry trends and new management imperatives.

LACHLAN HEASMAN | Agile Coach

Lachlan Heasman is an independent coach and trainer. He has wide experience and knowledge from working on several major and many small Agile change programs in Australia. He also has all the requisite certifications to boot. He has deep experience in all facets of Agile practice but in the interest of quality leaves the development work to people who do it well. Lachlan has a Masters in Coaching Psychology from the University of Sydney which gives him a unique (and often annoying) perspective on coaching, leadership and change in the Agile community (which he often shares without being asked). His industry experience includes retail and online banking, insurance, telecoms, media, retail, legal and government.

CRAIG SMITH | Agile Coach, Unbound DNA

Craig Smith has been active in the IT industry for over 15 years. He has been an Agile practitioner for over 10 years and is a Certified Scrum Master and a member of both the Scrum Alliance and Agile Alliance and as an Agile Coach he has worked on a number of high profile technical and business projects. He regularly conducts Agile training and has presented at a number of Australian and international conferences. He is also an Agile Editor for InfoQ and co-hosts an Agile podcast called The Agile Revolution.

RENEE TROUGHTON

Renee Troughton is an Agile Coach with over 15 years of experience in software development, coaching and organisational change. Specialising in large scale adoption, Renee has spent nine years working with teams and organisations applying a variety of implementation models including undercover evangelists to broad reaching, cross government department governance changes. A Certified Scrum Master, Renee applies techniques from Scrum, XP, Kanban and Lean into non-software development domains.