August 19, 2009

DANUBE TECHNOLOGIES’ SCRUM EXPERT RAWSTHORNE TO SHARE SCRUM INSIGHT AT AGILE 2009 IN CHICAGO

Rawsthorne to provide practical approaches to understanding agile metrics and team dynamics through two scheduled presentations

Who: Dan Rawsthorne
Certified Scrum Trainer and Senior Consultant
Danube Technologies, Inc. (www.danube.com)

Rawsthorne has been developing software for more than 25 years and is an accomplished manager, mentor, coach, trainer, consultant, and architect. The projects he has worked on range from e-commerce, to databases, military avionics and Air Traffic Control. He is a Certified Scrum Trainer for Danube Technologies, the leader in software and training for the Scrum method of agile software development. Rawsthorne holds a PhD in mathematics from the University of Illinois.

What: Panel Discussion: Product Owner or Product Manager or Both?
Rawsthorne will participate on this panel, discussing the complexities of the Product Owner role in Scrum.

Description: Experienced product managers working with agile product teams for the first time are stuck between old methods and new ones. Developers are requesting new artifacts, advocating new meetings, and defining new roles. Old processes and artifacts that seemed to be working are not valued by agile teams. While developers are learning how to deliver working code faster, without agile product management the team might be building the wrong things. Agile product managers and product owners face issues focusing on the business, technical, marketing, and sales roles required for effective agile teams.

Fixed Price, Fixed Scope Contracting with Scrum
Rawsthorne will present a brief 30-minute talk on fixed price and fixed scope contracting.

Description: One of the most pervasive myths about agility is that it cannot be applied to fixed price and fixed scope projects. However, nothing could be further from the truth; agility is essential to navigating the craziness of a project, while working towards a budget. In this talk, Rawsthorne will discuss organizational issues, how to estimate a bid, what the project (release) plan could look like, and provide examples of what to track and measure.

Agile Metrics
Rawsthorne will present a talk on agile metrics.

Description: The software development industry has a poor track record with metrics. Many metrics are tangential to development’s goal of delivering business value, and are thus ill-regarded by agile developers. However, good metrics are important to management, in order to understand the status and progress of their teams, and to make projections into the future.

In this class, we discuss velocity, burndown graphs, running tested features, EVM metrics (CPI and SPI), and earned business value, including methods for calculation, why they’re important, and how they enforce (or fight against) agile values.

When: Panel Discussion: Product Owner or Product Manager or Both?
Mon., August 24
4:00 p.m. – 4:45 p.m. Central; and at
4:45 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. Central

Fixed Price, Fixed Scope Contracting with Scrum
Tuesday, August 25
1:30 – 2:00 p.m. Central

Agile Metrics
Wed., August 26
11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. Central; and at
11:45 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Central

Where: Panel Discussion and Agile Metrics
Crystal C Room
Hyatt Regency Chicago
151 East Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601

Fixed Price, Fixed Scope Contracting with Scrum
Riverside Exhibit Hall, Purple Level
Hyatt Regency Chicago
151 East Wacker Drive
Chicago, IL 60601

To register visit: (www.agileregistration.org)

Contact: For more information on this presentation or to set up an interview with Dr. Rawsthorne, please contact Christie Denniston at Catapult PR-IR (303) 581-7760, ext. 13 or cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com