AgileDotNet 2012

Closing the Business/IT Gap

kyle.moreland — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:14:48 +0000

Presented by: Todd Girvin

Keynote: 8:30am – 9:30am

Presentation Materials: Download

IT people and the businesses they serve have long suffered from a chasm of misunderstanding, mistrust, and a fundamental lack of ability to relate. Agile management methods give us tools to align IT projects with what our users say they want. But that brings dangers of building “nice to haves” instead of what’s really needed. So how do we have a meeting of the minds on what’s really important? And how do we share a vision for what’s technically possible? How do we make IT a business partner instead of a service bureau that’s scary to work with? In this talk we explore underlying issues that cause the IT/business divide, ways we can communicate better and work more closely, and paint a vision of a Business/IT partnership that can change ourselves, our companies, and the world for the better.

From the Trenches: Lessons Learned from and Agile Adoption

kyle.moreland — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:46:18 +0000

Panelists: Jay Spears, Kris Wickett, Gerald Poole, Joe Disharoon

Moderator: Barry Rogers

Lunch: 12:15pm-1:15pm

Join us for lunch! Barry Rogers, President of Improving Texas, will moderate a Q&A session with 4 IT leaders in the DFW area. Questions about the agile adoption experience for each company will be addressed from Barry and you, the audience!

Jay Packlick

kyle.moreland — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:19:58 +0000

Growing up, Jay had a passion for reading Science Fiction, solving puzzles, and competitively swimming. Those passions taught him to see possibilities where others see barriers, tirelessly seek creative solutions, and never forget to blow air out of your nose on a flip turn.

Jay’s applied these principles to craft software solutions in increasingly better ways throughout a development career that has spanned more than two decades in organizations such as American Airlines, Sabre Airline Solutions, and Travelocity.

In 2001, Jay led the use of eXtreme Programming (XP) on a number of successful projects and has been hooked on Agile ever since. He has over eight years of experience as a mentor, coach, and change agent enabling teams and organizations to apply Agile principles to create the conditions necessary for agility.

Long Mai

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:50:56 +0000

With video games, sports, and school, I built my love for challenge and competition. Am I the best at what I do? No. But I learn to accept failure, to learn and improve from my mistakes, and to keep on fighting. Speaking of fighting, I am a Fightin’ Texas Aggie class of 2008! I initially chose to go to A&M not because of its tradition, my friends, or a girl, but for my education and my career in engineering.

Learn more about Long

Mike Stout

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:45:54 +0000

Mike graduated from Oklahoma State University with a degree in Management Science / Computer Systems. His first job out of college was selling and installing small business computer systems. He then moved on to Braniff Airlines, EDS and American Airlines as a systems engineer for local and wide area networking. It was in 1992 at American Airlines when he began his software development career. Through the years he developed software applications in C, C++ and Java languages.

In 2001 he got his first taste of developing software using Agile methods. He was part of a development team that adopted (grass roots) eXtreme Programming (XP) practices and principles. It was then that he became a true believer that there are better (more humane) ways of developing software.

Learn more about Mike

Tonya Guadiz

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:42:11 +0000

I was born and raised in a small town in southern Minnesota. It’s the kind of place where everyone knows your name. In an effort to get out and see the world, I headed off to Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin (good luck finding that on a map). Ripon is a very small college; it had less than 700 under-graduate students when I was there. By my senior year, I had classes with only two students in them – me and one other person. Just try skipping the reading assignment in that situation. Despite its small size, or maybe because of it, Ripon was a great place to learn. Students weren’t taught a bunch of facts, but were taught how to research, dig in, and figure things out for themselves. We were encouraged to explore the world and get out of the comfort zone. With the encouragement of my parents and professors I finally left the small town behind to study at the Sorbonne in Paris.

Learn more about Tonya

Rick Smith

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:37:44 +0000

Highlights from Rick’s career include Texas Instruments (TI), ParcPlace Systems, ObjectSpace, and Valtech Technologies. Prior to joining Improving, Rick was the Director of Transformation Services for Valtech Technologies responsible for the agile practice. Rick has worked as a developer, technical lead/architect, project manager, business analyst, QA manager, agile coach, mentor & trainer, ScrumMaster, and program manager.

Learn more about Rick

Brian Adkins

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:35:15 +0000

I love software that provides an exceptionally elegant experience for its users. More and more, I find elegance in simplicity—not just in software, but in all areas of life.

And along the way, I learned that a career in software wasn’t about green screens and isolation at all. To the contrary, it’s really about people.

Learn more about Brian

Travis Isaacs

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:23:27 +0000

Travis Isaacs is a designer who specializes in bridging the gap between visual & interaction design, information architecture, and web development. Depending on the day, you’ll either find him dreaming up big ideas with the design team or writing code with his development team.

Learn more about Travis

Jef Newsom

kyle.moreland — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 22:22:11 +0000

Mr. Newsom co-founded Improving Enterprises in August, 2004. Mr. Newsom is a seasoned technical professional with successful startup experience and an industry recognized technical expert. Mr. Newsom is a highly sought-after Microsoft Certified Architect (MCA), Microsoft Certified Trainer (MCT), and Microsoft Certified Professional Developer (MCPD). Before co-founding Improving, Jef was a Principal Technologist at Geniant, FPix, and ObjectSpace.

Learn more about Jef