Catapult Public Relations

THOUGHTWORKS STUDIOS AND TASKTOP PARTNER TO IMPROVE AGILE ALM SUCCESS WITH ECLIPSE MYLYN INTEGRATION FOR ADAPTIVE ALMTM

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 22:40:31 +0000

New integration to boost developer productivity through direct access to ThoughtWorks Studios' Mingle®, Cruise® and Twist® products from the Eclipse IDE

CHICAGO (Agile 2009) - August 25, 2009 - ThoughtWorks Studios, a global leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM) tools and training, and Tasktop Technologies, creators of the Eclipse^TM Mylyn ALM integration framework, today announced the ThoughtWorks Adaptive ALM Connector. Set for release with Tasktop Pro in October, the connector will help streamline software development by providing direct access to ThoughtWorks Studios' products from within the Eclipse IDE.

The ThoughtWorks Adaptive ALM Connector integrates Mylyn's innovative task-focused productivity technology to provide development teams with the most relevant source code for a given task. It will help reduce information overload for large-scale development projects and facilitate more efficient and collaborative multitasking. With the connector, ThoughtWorks Studios' customers will improve productivity by eliminating the need to toggle between the browser, email and IDE to gather information necessary to complete application development tasks.

"The software development tools for ALM deployed in most organizations are heterogeneous due to the presence of legacy systems, new agile tools and a variety of methodologies in play," said Mik Kersten, CEO of Tasktop Technologies. "ThoughtWorks Studios' new Adaptive ALM is all about flexibility and supporting constant change. With first-rate Eclipse IDE integration, developers will benefit from the additional flexibility afforded by joining the rapidly growing ecosystem of interoperable connectors built on the Mylyn framework. This network of integrations will enable capabilities such as cross-linking Mingle cards with popular SCM tools. Through Tasktop Pro, developers will also benefit from automated time tracking and integrated access to email clients, web browsers, calendars and documents."

ThoughtWorks Studios, the products division of the industry leading Agile consultancy ThoughtWorks, now offers a complete set of tools and training for successful, sustainable Agile ALM programs. Its Adaptive ALM^TM integrates its three flagship products, Mingle® (project management), Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management) to support all aspects of the software development and delivery lifecycle, from requirements definition and portfolio management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. Its new ThoughtWorks Agile Workshops, announced yesterday here at Agile 2009, complements its solution offering with a new set of training programs to help development organizations adopt proven best practices for all aspects of Agile ALM.

"Our mission is to help organizations succeed with Agile-based development by addressing all aspects of Agile ALM, including integrated project management and engineering solutions, in-depth training and complementary tools like the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework," said Adam Monago, vice president, client services for ThoughtWorks Studios. "Our customers expressed strong interest in integrations with Eclipse and Mylyn, and we're excited to add the ThoughtWorks Adaptive ALM Connector to our offerings later in the Fall."

The ThoughtWorks Adaptive ALM Connector will be bundled with Tasktop Pro for $149, and a free trial will be available from http://tasktop.com in October 2009. Eclipse Galileo (3.5) users also will be able to install it directly from Mylyn's Connector Discovery in Eclipse. For more information and to sign up to be notified of the release, visit http://tasktop.com/connectors/thoughtworks-studios.

About Tasktop Technologies
Tasktop Technologies is the company behind the Eclipse Mylyn ALM integration framework and its revolutionary task-focused interface technology. The task-focused interface is proven to make developers more productive by showing only the relevant information for each task, dramatically reducing search time and facilitating multitasking. Tasktop Pro is the company's enterprise-ready product based on Mylyn, with task-focused support for web browsing, time tracking, documents, email and calendars. Tasktop Technologies also provides consulting, connector development services and training to the growing number of companies adopting the task-focused paradigm and tools. For more information please visit www.tasktop.com.

About ThoughtWorks Studios
ThoughtWorks Studios is a global leader in Agile ALM tools and training. Its products and services are used by organizations as a foundation for sustainable Agile adoption, where project management, automation and engineering best practices are required. The company's Adaptive ALM^TM solution provides a platform for managing all aspects of the software development lifecycle, from requirements definition and project management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. The three products that make up Adaptive ALM, Mingle® (project management) Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management), are available as an integrated solution or as stand-alone products. The company also provides in-depth training courses that cover all aspects of Agile ALM through its Agile Workshops series. Backed as an independent division of ThoughtWorks, the pioneering leader in Agile development and best-practices, ThoughtWorks Studios' customers include 3M, Barclays, BBC, eBay, Honeywell, McGraw-Hill, Rackspace, and Vodafone. It is headquartered in San Francisco and Bangalore, with offices in London and select cities in Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit www.thoughtworks-studios.com.

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Media Contacts:

For ThoughtWorks Studios
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
(303) 581-7760, ext. 13

For Tasktop Technologies
Wesley Coelho
wesley.coelho@tasktop.com
(778) 588-6896

THOUGHTWORKS STUDIOS ANNOUNCES AGILE WORKSHOPS TO SUPPORT AGILE APPLICATION LIFECYCLE MANAGEMENT

On the heels of its Adaptive ALMTM launch, ThoughtWorks Studios incorporates best-practices workshops to complement tool offerings

CHICAGO (Agile 2009), Aug. 24, 2009 - ThoughtWorks Studios, a global leader in Agile application lifecycle management (ALM) tools and training, today announced ThoughtWorks Agile Workshops, a new set of training programs to help development organizations adopt proven best practices for all aspects of Agile ALM.

Developed by the recognized leader in large-scale Agile deployments, the Agile Workshops complement ThoughtWorks Studios' recently launched Adaptive ALM solution, providing customers with a complete set of tools and training to improve program visibility and performance while adapting to the changing dynamics of enterprise Agile programs.

"For organizations to achieve true Agile success they need both tools and training to manage the process of change and the variety of methodologies that are common in enterprise software development," said Adam Monago, vice president, client services for ThoughtWorks Studios. "Our Agile Workshops represent an entirely new curriculum of in-depth training programs that will help all stakeholders within an organization work more efficiently and collaboratively throughout the Agile transformation process."

The ThoughtWorks Agile Workshops focus on all aspects of the Agile ALM and are taught by highly experienced development experts. The courses are delivered on-premise and are grouped into four primary areas of Agile ALM, including:

Agile Foundations
These training sessions focus on the core building blocks and business requirements of building a successful Agile practice. Sessions include: ThoughtWorks Agile Fundamentals; Agile Analysis in Practice; Essential Agile Engineering Practices; Agile Quality Analyst; and, an Agile Leadership Offering for those in business management roles.

Team Collaboration and Project Management
This track of courses is designed to help program managers become more effective leaders within the software development organization. Courses include: Becoming an Agile Project Manager; Distributed Agile Workshop; and, Agile Lifecycle Management with Mingle.

Testing and Quality Assurance
Based on more than 16 years of experience developing industry leading best practices around testing and quality, this set of offerings includes: Functional Testing Organizational Assessment; Automated Functional Testing Primer; Getting Started with Twist; Twist Evolution; and, Test Drivers: Using Selenium or Frankenstein with Twist.

Continuous Build and Release Management
With a commitment to supporting the latest in engineering best practices, workshops include: Release Management Capability Assessment; CI Environment Set-up; Cruise Quickstart; and, Build, Release and Deployment Advisory.

ThoughtWorks Studios, the products division of the industry leading Agile consultancy ThoughtWorks, now offers the tooling and training enterprise customers need to successfully adopt Agile-based development practices. Its Adaptive ALM integrates its three flagship products, Mingle® (project management), Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management). The result is a fully automated solution that supports all aspects of software development and delivery lifecycle, from requirements definition and portfolio management to test automation, quality assurance and release management.

Complete information on the ThoughtWorks Agile Workshops can be found at www.thoughtworks-studios.com/services

About ThoughtWorks Studios
ThoughtWorks Studios is a global leader in Agile ALM tools and training. Its products and services are used by organizations as a foundation for sustainable Agile adoption, where project management, automation and engineering best practices are required. The company's Adaptive ALMTM solution provides a platform for managing all aspects of the software development lifecycle, from requirements definition and project management to test automation, quality assurance and release management. The three products that make up Adaptive ALM, Mingle® (project management) Twist® (test automation) and Cruise® (release management), are available as an integrated solution or as stand-alone products. The company also provides in-depth training courses that cover all aspects of Agile ALM through it Agile Workshops series. Backed as an independent division of ThoughtWorks, the pioneering leader in Agile development and best-practices, ThoughtWorks Studios' customers include 3M, , Barclays, BBC, eBay, Honeywell, McGraw-Hill, Rackspace and Vodafone. It is headquartered in San Francisco and Bangalore, with offices in London and select cities in Europe, Asia and Australia. For more information, please visit www.thoughtworks-studios.com.

Media Contact:

Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com
O: (303) 581-7760, ext. 13
C: (303) 827-5164

DANUBE TECHNOLOGIES TO DEBUT SCRUMWORKS PRO 4 AT AGILE 2009

Fri, 21 Aug 2009 01:23:00 +0000

Agile 2009 attendees can view demo of recently launched enterprise Scrum tool

BELLEVUE, Wash., August 20, 2009-Danube Technologies, Inc. (www.danube.com), the leader in project management tools and training for the Scrum methodology, will unveil its new ScrumWorks Pro 4 project management tool at next week's Agile 2009 conference in Chicago. Launched on August 3, ScrumWorks Pro 4 has received widespread industry recognition and customer support due to the product's unique ability to allow large development organizations to scale Scrum deployments across the enterprise. Agile 2009 attendees can view a live demo of the product at Danube's booth #10.

"Agile 2009 is the premier event for the entire agile community and ScrumWorks Pro 4 represents an additional proof point on the continued maturity of Scrum practices in the enterprise," said Laszlo Szalvay, co-founder and CEO at Danube. "We are excited to officially introduce ScrumWorks 4 directly to the agile community in Chicago, and look forward to gaining continued feedback from hands-on practitioners that will help us continuously improve our products."

As Scrum continues to gain popularity among developers and managers alike, the framework which was originally conceived for use with small, co-located teams is being scaled to accommodate Scrum-of-Scrum installations of thousands of users. However, as many large organizations have attempted to translate the benefits of small team Scrum to enterprise-level installations, the available Scrum and agile tools lacked functionality powerful enough to accurately model such complex development.

ScrumWorks Pro 4 addresses the needs of larger development organizations by providing an intuitive way to track cross-product development at the program level. Utilizing "Themes," keyword tags for convenient sorting and filtering, users can assign an "Epics" theme to all the constituent products in a program. This allows them to roll up data into a high-level program view, providing a realistic assessment of progress and enabling informed release forecasting. For more information, please visit: http://www.danube.com/news/Danube_Releases_ScrumWorks_Pro_4

Pricing and Availability

ScrumWorks Pro 4 is available and can be purchased directly from Danube. Pricing is offered through an on-site, per-seat subscription license that starts at $289-per-user, per-year, or less than $25 per-user, per-month, as well as an on-site, per-seat fully paid license for $500. For more information on ScrumWorks Pro, visit www.danube.com/scrumworks/pro.

About Danube

Founded in 2000, Danube Technologies, Inc. provides software tools and training exclusively focused on the Scrum method of agile software development. The company's ScrumWorks® Pro and ScrumWorks Basic products are licensed to more than 125,000 software professionals worldwide, making it the most widely used software in the industry for managing Scrum projects. Danube complements its software tools offering with a comprehensive schedule of ScrumCORE^TM training courses, which are taught globally by Danube's five Certified Scrum Trainers. The company's on-site software delivery model makes it the leading choice for enterprises of all types, including large corporate and government organizations, which require the utmost in security, compliance, ease-of-use and customization. Danube's customers include Adobe, Amazon.com, AMD, F5, General Electric, HP, Intel, Intuit, Kofax, LexisNexis, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, QVC, Siemens and Sun Microsystems. Danube is self-funded and has achieved steady organic growth as Scrum has emerged as the preferred agile method for developers and managers. The company is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. and has a sales office in Portland, Ore. Please visit www.danube.com or call (503) 248-0800 for more information on Danube.

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Danube Press Contact:

Christie Denniston

Catapult PR-IR

Office: 303-581-7760, ext. 13

Cell: 303-827-5164

cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

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

Wed, 19 Aug 2009 18:44:09 +0000

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

NEW IPHONE APP FROM AGILE ALLIANCE AND THOUGHTWORKS LETS AGILE 2009 ATTENDEES REVIEW SESSIONS, PLAN AND INTERACT AT INDUSTRY LEADING CONFERENCE

New iPhone App combines conference information, planning tools and social media to create custom itineraries and share feedback with Agile colleagues

PORTLAND, OR. and CHICAGO, Aug., 19 2009 - The Agile Alliance (www.agilealliance.org) and ThoughtWorks (www.thoughtworks.com) today announced the availability of the Agile2009 Conference Connection, a free iPhone App that allows conference attendees to view session information, create custom itineraries and share information and experiences via social media networking tools. The application, developed by ThoughtWorks, can be downloaded at http://bit.ly/JQQBE or by searching for "Agile2009 Conference Connection" in the iPhone App Store.

"With more than 300 outstanding sessions available at Agile 2009, this new iPhone application will allow attendees to easily search, review and plan an itinerary that meets their specific needs," said Scott Conley, Chief Strategy Officer for ThoughtWorks, a leader in advancing large-scale Agile projects and a Platinum Sponsor of Agile 2009. "We also incorporated social media capabilities to allow participants to connect with each other and share experiences with peers that were not able to attend this year's event."

ThoughtWorks developed the Agile2009 Conference Connection application to provide complete event information and a personal scheduling tool for iPhone and/or iTouch devices (OS 3.0 or later). The application allows users to:
• View session background information and times for the entire conference
• Create a custom itinerary with a personalized schedule
• Navigate the conference floor plan through a detailed map of the conference facilities
• Provide feedback on topics and presenters from individual sessions
• Ability to access Twitter feeds from conference (#Agile2009)

In its eighth year, the Agile Conference is the premiere event for the growing Agile community, providing software professionals with the latest knowledge and shared experiences to help foster successful Agile development programs. For more information on the Agile 2009 conference being held in Chicago Aug. 24-28, please visit, (http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/).

About ThoughtWorks
ThoughtWorks, Inc. (www.thoughtworks.com) is a global IT consultancy providing systems development, consulting, and transformation services to Global 1000 companies. The company's pioneering approach, which includes industry-acclaimed Agile and Lean best practices, helps CIOs maximize investment performance across a portfolio of complex, business critical applications, while reducing time and risk. ThoughtWorks' 1000 professionals serve clients from offices in Australia, Canada, China, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. ThoughtWorks Studios is the company's specialist product division, which develops the next generation of tools for custom software development, including Studios Mingle®, Cruise® and Twist®.

About the Agile Alliance
The Agile Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development, as outlined in the (http://www.agilemanifesto.org/). With nearly 6,000 members located around the globe, the Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value they deliver to developers, organizations and end users. The Agile Alliance organizes the annual Agile Conference, the industry's leading event that attracts practitioners, academia, business and vendor-partner community members from around the globe. The Agile 2009 conference http://agile2009.agilealliance.org is set for August 24-28 in Chicago. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.agilealliance.org/

Media Contact:
Catapult PR-IR
Christie Denniston
Office: 303-581-7760 ext. 13
Cell: 303-827-5164
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

AGILE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES KEYNOTE SPEAKERS FOR AGILE 2009 CONFERENCE

Mon, 08 Jun 2009 18:24:48 +0000

Alistair Cockburn and Jared Spool to address Agile community

PORTLAND, OR., June 8, 2009 - The Agile Alliance, (www.agilealliance.org) a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development, today announced Alistair Cockburn and Jared Spool as keynote speakers for its Agile 2009 Conference, set for August 24 - 28 in Chicago (http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/). In its eighth year, the Agile Conference is the premiere event for the growing Agile community, providing software professionals with the latest knowledge and shared experiences to help foster successful Agile development programs.

"The Agile 2009 planning committee is delighted to welcome these distinguished technology and business leaders as our keynote speakers this year," said Johanna Rothman, Agile 2009 conference chair. "Each has provided inspiration and vision to our industry throughout their successful careers in technology and business."

Dr. Alistair Cockburn's keynote, "I Come To Bury Agile, Not to Praise It," will focus on the evolution of Agile software development and is scheduled for Tuesday, August 25 at 9:00 a.m. Central. He will discuss how initially Agile software development was defined from small, co-located projects in the 1990s and its evolution to its current state today. His talk will argue that since Agile has spread to large, distributed, commercial projects around the world, affecting the IEEE, the PMI, the SEI and the Department of Defense, the discipline now sits in a larger landscape and needs to be viewed accordingly. In this keynote, Agile Manifesto co-author Dr. Cockburn paints the picture of the larger Agile landscape, so that it is clearer how classical Agile development fits in, and what constitutes effective development outside that narrow area.

Jared Spool will explain on Thursday, August 27 at an evening reception beginning at 7:30 p.m. Central, why experience design is no longer a luxury for organizations in his keynote presentation, "The Dawning of the Age of Experience." He will argue that Experience Design is a centerpiece of boardroom discussions and is quickly becoming a key performance indicator for many businesses. Spool will discuss what it takes to build a design team that meets today's diverse business demands. He will draw on parallels between the methods executives think about experience design and how the Agile community approaches the design process, offering language that will both resonate in the boardroom and the team's war room.

Speaker Biographies
Dr. Alistair Cockburn is an internationally renowned IT strategist, best known for describing software development as a Cooperative Game, helping craft the Agile development Manifesto, define use cases and develop the initial response technique relaxation/massage form.

Jared Spool
Jared M. Spool is the founder of User Interface Engineering, the largest usability research organization of its kind in the world. He's been working in the field of usability and design since 1978, before the term "usability" was ever associated with computers. Spool spends his time working with research teams at leading companies and helping clients understand how to solve design problems. He is a top-rated speaker at more than 20 conferences every year, is on the faculty of the Tufts University Gordon Institute and is author of the book, Web Usability: A Designer's Guide.

This year's conference will feature more than 300 sessions presented by 329 leading Agile experts and practitioners, based on more than 1,500 speaking submissions gathered during the past six months. To review the latest schedule of Agile 2009 sessions, encompassing all levels of experience, please visit (http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/) and to register for the conference, visit http://www.agileregistration.org.

About the Agile Alliance
The Agile Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development, as outlined in the (http://www.agilemanifesto.org/). With nearly 6,000 members located around the globe, the Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value they deliver to developers, organizations and end users. The Agile Alliance organizes the annual Agile Conference, the industry's leading event that attracts practitioners, academia, business and vendor-partner community members from around the globe. The Agile 2009 conference (http://agile2009.agilealliance.org) is set for August 24-28 in Chicago. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.agilealliance.org/

Agile Alliance Media Contact:
Catapult PR-IR
Christie Denniston
Office: 303-581-7760 ext. 13
Cell: 303-827-5164
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

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DANUBE TO PARTICIPATE AS SPONSOR AT AGILE 2009 CONFERENCE

Tue, 19 May 2009 19:15:27 +0000

Danube supports conference, agile community with third year of sponsorship

Bellevue, Wash., May 18, 2009 — Danube Technologies, Inc., (http://www.danube.com), the leader in software and training for the Scrum method of agile software development, today announces its continued commitment to helping organizations improve processes with Scrum through a sponsorship at the Agile 2009 Conference. This year's conference will be held August 24 - 28, in Chicago. To learn more about Danube events and activities at the conference, please visit http://www.danube.com/agile09.

Agile 2009 is the premier global gathering for independent software vendors, consultants, and in-house corporate development teams to hear from world-renowned agile thought leaders on such diverse topics as agile metrics, scaling for large installations, and more. Building on the success of last year's conference in Toronto, which was attended by more than 1,500 software professionals, this year's conference in Chicago once again brings some of the biggest names in the agile community together for a week of dialogue and learning.

Danube Certified Scrum Trainer Dr. Dan Rawsthorne, PhD will participate in two presentations at the event:

· "Product Owner or Product Manager or Both?" panel discussion, Monday, 4:00 to 5:30 p.m., in the Crystal C room

· "Agile Metrics," Wednesday, August 26^th, 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., in the Crystal C room.

"Danube remains committed to spreading software success with Scrum and our third year as a sponsor of the Agile conference is testament to that," said Laszlo Szalvay, president of Danube. "We've seen Scrum increase in popularity by leaps and bounds over the past year and we're excited to see that reflected in this year's conference."

Through ScrumWorks, its family of Scrum project management tools, and its ScrumCORE team of five Certified Scrum Trainers, Danube has helped hundreds of organizations transform their cultures with Scrum. Its flagship product, ScrumWorks® Pro, replicates the benefits of small team Scrum for distributed and collocated teams alike, while also containing the power to help enterprise-sized organizations manage the releases of complex projects with multiple constituent parts. In March, ScrumWorks Pro was honored with a JOLT Award in the Project Management category at the Dr. Dobb's 19^th annual JOLT Product Excellence Awards. To complement the tool, the ScrumCORE team offers dozens of public Certified Scrum training courses around the globe each year, in addition to many private, on-site coaching engagements.

"Danube has been a valuable contributor to the Agile series in the past," said Phil Brock, executive director of the Agile Alliance. "We look forward to their participation at this year's conference."

About Danube

Founded in 2000, Danube Technologies, Inc. provides software and training exclusively focused on the Scrum method of agile software development. The company's ScrumWorks® Pro and ScrumWorks Basic products are licensed to more than 105,000 software professionals worldwide, making it the most widely used software in the industry for managing Scrum projects. Danube complements its software offering with a comprehensive schedule of ScrumCORE™ training courses, which are taught globally by Danube's five Certified Scrum Trainers. The company's on-site software delivery model makes it the leading choice for enterprises of all types, including large corporate and government organizations, which require the utmost in security, compliance, ease-of-use and customization. Danube's customers include Adobe, Amazon.com, AMD, F5, General Electric, HP, Intel, Intuit, Kofax, LexisNexis, Microsoft, Motorola, Oracle, QVC, Siemens and Sun Microsystems. Danube is self-funded and has achieved steady organic growth as Scrum has emerged as the preferred agile method for developers and executives. The company is headquartered in Bellevue, Wash. and has a sales office in Portland, Ore. Please visit www.danube.com or call (503) 248-0800 for more information on Danube.

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Danube Press Contact:
Christie Denniston
Catapult PR-IR
Office: 303-581-7760, ext. 13
Cell: 303-827-5164
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

AGILE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES CALL FOR SPEAKERS

Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:59:33 +0000

Largest conference on Agile software development issues call for industry sessions in response to growing demand for Agile knowledge

PORTLAND, OR., Jan. 6, 2009 - The Agile Alliance, (www.agilealliance.org) a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting those who explore and apply Agile principles and practices, today announced it is accepting speaking submissions for the Agile 2009 Conference, the industry's leading Agile development event, scheduled for Aug. 24 - 28 in Chicago (http://www.agile2009.org). In its seventh year, the Agile Conference provides independent software vendors, software consultants and in-house corporate development teams with the knowledge and shared experiences that lead to successful Agile programs.

Conference organizers welcome submissions targeted at audiences of all experience levels (beginners, intermediate, advanced). Interested individuals are encouraged to submit ideas and proposals for sessions via an online submission system at http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/welcome. Following core agile principles, this year's program selection will incorporate an iterative feedback process for those submitting session proposals. All proposals will be made available for review by the Agile community, enabling presenters to receive feedback and modify their abstracts based on suggested improvements until the final deadline of Feb. 13, 2009.

"As in years past, the annual Agile conference is committed to providing practitioners with the latest knowledge related to leading techniques, technologies and advancements in Agile software development," said Johanna Rothman, Agile 2009 conference chair. "The Agile Alliance invites anyone who has unique user-experiences, Agile success stories or best practices to submit a presentation to this year's conference."

Agile 2009 connects attendees with the foremost leaders in the Agile domain, enriching the collective body of knowledge and influencing the line of thought in the field. It encourages debate and fosters innovative ideas based on real-world implementations for executives, managers, software development practitioners and researchers from labs and academia. This year conference theme revolves around "Making Agile a Reality," by providing practical and useful information that attendees can take advantage of and adopt in their day-to-day software development work.

Agile 2009 will build upon the success it had with last year's music festival approach , with multiple 'stages' to attract audiences with different interests. The stages within the program are proven to provide participants with the feel of a smaller, focused mini-conference while offering attendees a wider choice of topics to choose from. Agile 2009 will host a number of exciting and beneficial sessions, around topics that include:

Agile Adoption
Agile Frontier
Agile and Organizational Change
Agile Product Management
Coaching
Customer and Business Value
Leadership and Teams
Research
Testing
Distributed Agile
Tools for Agility
Tracks for those who are new to Agile

"The annual Agile conference has established itself as the industry's leading Agile development event," said Phil Brock, managing director of the Agile Alliance. "We are anticipating another informative and educational program at this year's conference and look forward to receiving proposals that address leading topics of interest to Agilists.

For more information on Agile 2009, visit http://agile2009.agilealliance.org/welcome

About the Agile Alliance
The Agile Alliance is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the concepts of Agile software development, as outlined in the (http://www.agilemanifesto.org/). With nearly 6,000 members located around the globe, the Agile Alliance is driven by the principles of Agile methodologies and the value they deliver to developers, organizations and end users. The Agile Alliance organizes the annual Agile Conference, the industry's leading event that attracts practitioners, academia, business and vendor-partner community members from around the globe. The Agile 2009 conference (www.agile2009.org) is set for August 24-28 in Chicago. For more information about the organization, visit http://www.agilealliance.org

Agile Alliance Media Contact:
Catapult PR-IR
Christie Denniston
Office: 303-581-7760 ext. 13
Cell: 303-827-5164
cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com