Agile Austin: Succeeding With Agile - A Guide to Transitioning

Description: Transitioning to an agile development process is unlike most transitions an organization may make. Many transitions begin when a strong, visionary leader plants a stake in the ground and says, “Let’s take our organization there.” Other transitions start with a lone team thinking, “Who cares what management thinks, let’s do this.” The problem in transitioning to agile is that neither of these approaches alone is likely to lead to the long-term sustainable change required.
In this session we will look at the primary reasons why agile transitions fail and how to overcome them. We will explore what is necessary for self-organizing teams to emerge and thrive within the transitioning organization. We will also the role self-organization must play during the transition itself. This session will include a description of the eight primary ways of getting started—including going All In, Start Small, and Impending Doom—and the advantages of each. You will leave knowing what approach will work best for you as well as what you must and must not do to succeed with agile.

Speaker Bio: Mike Cohn is the founder of Mountain Goat Software, a process and project management consultancy and training firm. He is the author of Agile Estimating and Planning, User Stories Applied for Agile Software Development, and several books on Java, C , and database programming. Mike has more than 20 years of experience in a variety of environments, including financial services, federally regulated (ISO 9001) projects, websites, shrinkwrap software, internal development, military contracting, and video game development. Mike has served as a technology executive in companies of various sizes, from startup to Fortune 40.

Mike ran his first Scrum project in 1995 and has been a vocal proponent of Scrum ever since. He has helped with the adoption of agile processes at companies such as Bioware, Capital One, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States, Google, High Moon Studios, JDA Software, Lexis Nexis, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Nielsen Media Research, Pearson, Philips Electronics, Sabre, Siemens, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Turner Broadcasting, Ultimate Software, and Yahoo. A frequent magazine contributor and conference speaker, Mike is a founding member and former chairperson of the Agile Alliance.

Additional Information
Cost: Free for members, $10 for others. Non-members may register here: http://MikeCohnPresentation.eventbrite.com

Map & Directions: The Highland Business Center Campus of Austin Community College is just west of the I35 / US290 / 2222 interchange at the intersection of Clayton Lane and Middle Fiskville Road.
From I35, exit to 2222 West, take 2nd right onto Middle Fiskville Road, then 1st left onto Clayton Lane, and then 1st left again into the campus parking lot.
From 2222 heading East, enter the I35 interchange, make a U Turn and follow the preceding directions. (map)

More Info: www.agileaustin.org or info@AgileAustin.org

Agenda: Networking 6:00 - 6:30 PM
Presentation 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Proof of Attendance forms will be provided for PMI (PDU), ASQ (RU) and PDMA (PDH) re-certifications