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Distributed operations, open source tools, mashups, and SaaS are breaking down the traditional boundaries between vendor-supplied and custom-developed software. It’s now possible – if not necessary – to integrate development and run-time activities onto a seamless distributed platform. During this vendor talk, Charlie Rudd, President and CEO of SolutionsIQ, will demonstrate key elements of SolutionsIQ’s Agile development platform: • Mashups of SaaS and open source tools for development and continuous integration

While delivering the Agile Mastery and Agile Estimation and Planning courses as part of Valtech’s Agile training programs, Tim developed the “Scrum Accelerator”, a simulation activity game. This is a very fun and a ‘generatively’ competitive training tool that re-enforces the scrum process and agile best practices. By using a timer to simulate the days in a sprint, a dice is rolled moving stories and tasks forward (and sometimes backwards!) through the scrum task board. Students maintain iteration burn downs at the end of each period of play, and release burn down bar charts each round.

Modelling agile methods in the classroom also allows students to see the depth and power of agile methods as a general approach to working, and simultaneously confirms that the instructor actually walks the talk. In this workshop, attendees will explore using agile methods to deliver agile training. The first half will go through the methods used by Mishkin Berteig, an experienced agile trainer. These methods will be presented as a set of patterns. In the second half of the workshop participants will collaboratively discover and refine more patterns.

At a Glance
This session provides ideas and approaches on how to promote a culture of continuous improvement and perpetual learning among teams of software developers in a corporate setting. It provides specific examples of approaches that have been successful at large companies such as Travelers Insurance and Google, focusing not only on how to spread knowledge, but also on how to evaluate progress and measure success. It also presents some lessons learned, and looks to the audience to share their thoughts and experience on where to go from here.