program selection system

What do you see as the biggest issue for Functional Testing Tools on Agile projects? Creating a tool that allows users to view technical automation in an understandable form without restricting the power of the automation, and being able to support both initial exploration of requirements with tests, and later running of the tests as a record of consistency of function through continuous integration.

When we try to improve our organizations, we inevitably meet resistance. This session is about how to turn resistance from a frustration into a resource. Whatever else it may be, resistance is information — about the people we are asking to change, about the environment in which the change will happen, about the changes we recommend, and about ourselves. You will learn how to interpret people’s responses as valuable information, and how to translate that information into effective action to move your organization toward agility.

For the last several years, a number of companies have begun to position themselves as users of Agile. The real question, of course, is why? Is there preliminary data that substantiates the considerable investment involved in making this transition? Are the risks warranted? Also, will Agile methods work for some of the very large scale projects that are characteristic of commercial software projects? In this presentation, Sue McKinney will discuss how Agile methods and practices are emerging as essential to commercial software development.

This session isn’t a conventional presentation at all: it’s an interactive workshop in which everyone participates.

We all know folks who seem to be naturally creative, outrageously productive, somehow able to do things we can’t do. We call them “talented,” “artistic,” “super intelligent,” or some other word that means they’ve got an inherent ability that we don’t have. Thing is, most of what we call talent is actually skill, and can be learned. Not only can it be learned (by you), but it can be practiced, and you can get better at it with practice.

BMC is a global provider of enterprise management solutions that empower companies to automate and align IT with the needs of the business. It also has one of the largest deployments of distributed Agile development with 95 people on 7 teams spread across 4 locations.

In a landmark study, BMC opened its doors to allow QSM Associates, a consultancy for software development measurement, estimation, and planning (www.qsma.com), to evaluate its Agile deployment and measure/quantify the benefits of agility. The QSM Associates’ study concluded that:

Without a doubt, agile processes rely on effective collaborative teams. But we can’t just throw a group of individuals together and expect an agile team to just happen. It takes knowledge of team strategies, skillful team building and ongoing coaching to build and maintain high-performing agile teams.

Program Guide Description:

At Salesforce.com a waterfall-based process bogged down our first attempt at generating a traditional pattern library. In keeping with our development team’s agile transformation we revisited the process and invented Postcard Patterns – a highly visual, easy to maintain, and easy to produce communication tool.

Attendees will learn how to:
Identify Their Audience:
Who needs the patterns?
De-construct Their Application:
What are the unique building blocks?

Short Abstract [88 words]

Sticky notes (aka Post-it Notes [tm]) are the lingua franca of remembering pesky tasks…yet their real potential lies in effectively and rapidly organizing collaborative group work. Don’t underestimate these simple tools: it’s amazing what powerful results you can get from a $2.00 office supply investment.

Agile methods, and Scrum in particular, are enjoying a surge in popularity. Forrester Research’s “The Truth About Agile Processes” states that 17% of North American and European companies are now using Agile. Yet Forrester tells us that “many of these shops (companies adopting Agile) aren’t completely clear about what Agile adoption really entails” (2). Introducing Agile, a better process, causes an immediate improvement in productivity of 30 to 100%. This improvement is seen as a major win for the projects. Unfortunately, this is often where the adoption stops.