Catapult Public Relations

THOUGHTWORKS LEADS AGILE DEVELOPMENT ADOPTION IN SOUTH AMERICA AS DEMAND FOR IT SERVICES IN BRAZIL GROWS

Mon, 27 Jun 2011 18:27:23 +0000

IT clients in North America see near-shore advantages in language, skills and time-zone proximity, while Brazilian development organizations look to scale Agile practices

27 June 2011 - Porto Alegre, Brazil - ThoughtWorks, Inc. (www.thoughtworks.com), the global leader in enterprise Agile development services, today announced two thought leadership events in Brazil featuring Agile expert Jim Highsmith and the continued demand for its Brazil-based software development services from IT organizations in both North and South America. ThoughtWorks' opened its first office in Brazil in 2009 and has experienced continued growth as the use of "near-shore" IT services based here increases due to a highly skilled talent base, convenient time zone proximity and travel accessibility via overnight flights from the United States.

"As we reach the mid-point of 2011, we are extremely encouraged by the increasing demand for IT services delivered from Brazil and the continued adoption of Agile-based methods within the local software development community," said Gary DeGregorio, South America market principal for ThoughtWorks. "We are excited to welcome industry luminary Jim Highsmith to Brazil and to have him engage with both practitioners and IT executives during the Agile Brazil 2011 conference and the ThoughtWorks Executive Forum we are co-hosting in Sao Paulo with Locaweb."

Highsmith will deliver his presentation: Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating Organizational Agility, on June 28 at an invitation-only executive event co-sponsored with Locaweb at the Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo. This inaugural event kicks off an on-going series of ThoughtWorks Executive Technology Briefings designed for Brazilian CIOs, CTOs and IT Directors. To request an invitation to this event please send an email to info-br@thoughtworks.com. Highsmith also will deliver the presentation during a keynote on Wed., June 29 at Agile Brazil 2011 (http://www.agilebrazil.com/2011/en/).

"In 2007, Locaweb started working with Agile methods as a way to adapt faster and more adequately to growing complexity and changes in the market," said Joaquim Torres, director, product development and product management at Locaweb." As one of the largest Agile shops in Brazil, we are excited to co-sponsor Jim Highsmith's presentation in São Paulo. We want to help other companies learn more about Agile from one of the co-authors of the Agile Manifesto and a leader in developing advanced best practices."

ThoughtWorks, Agile and Brazil

Brazil is one of the few countries that has managed to prosper during the recession, virtually unscathed by the economic downturn that rocked financial markets in 2008. Brazil also is the fifth largest nation with respect to land mass, and has always had a historical presence in the IT industry, with approximately 2 million people currently working in the technology sector. While the cost benefit of near-shoring to Brazil is less than Asia, Brazilian IT costs are still favorable when compared to North America.

With its office located in the TECNOPUC Technology Innovation Park on the campus of Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre, ThoughtWorks now employs 100 technologists with an additional 20-40 consultants expected to join the company by the end of 2011. Globally, the firm points to several factors that make Brazil well suited to deliver quality IT services, including a vibrant and growing economy, a commitment to open source software, strong English language skills, outstanding talent and close proximity within the Western Hemisphere. The region also is embracing Agile software methods, with the Brazilian IT community being the leader in South America for adopting and scaling Agile in the enterprise.

"Companies throughout Brazil are looking for better ways to obtain and contract for high-quality IT services, and to build lasting relationships that will solve their problems and add value to the business," said Dr. Rafael Prikladnicki, professor, researcher and Director of the Technology Management Agency at PUCRS, coach and instructor on Agile Methods and distributed development. "In this scenario, lean and Agile approaches fit quite well and the Brazilian IT industry has learned much from ThoughtWorks as we improve the way we do business, make changes and add value."

The ThoughtWorks Brazil office is an important part of the firm's strategic growth plan, which includes continued support for software excellence by expanding its global footprint into economic regions beyond its existing operations in North and South America, Europe, India, China and Australia. Brazil is important due to the country's wealth of highly skilled information technology workers, its commitment to the advancement of emerging technologies, such as dynamic languages, and its support for the advancement of open source software. The ThoughtWorks Porto Alegre office supports the local market, marrying large enterprise application development capabilities with personalized, small-company service.

"ThoughtWorks has played a significant role in evolving the way we develop and deliver software using Agile methods within a very complex and dynamic environment," said Ricardo Sazima, head of development for digital products at Editora Abril, South America's leading publisher with more than 80 dedicated portals. "Continuously improving the customer experience across all of our content websites is critical to our growth and success, and ThoughtWorks has helped us achieve these goals through its professionalism, hard work and experience."

About Locaweb

Locaweb is the leader in web hosting and services for Brazil and Latin America, according to IDC LA IT Services 2009 Report. The company has more than 220,000 clients and 600,000 domains hosted, including partnerships with more than 17,000 web professionals. Three main business areas include: software-as-a-service (SaaS), platform-as-a-service (PaaS) and infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS). For more information please visit (www.locaweb.com.br).

About ThoughtWorks

ThoughtWorks, Inc. is a global IT consultancy providing Agile-based systems development, consulting and transformation services to Global 1000 companies. It has pioneered many of the most advanced and successful Agile methods of software development and best practices used in the industry today. At its core, ThoughtWorks helps its clients maximize investment and performance across a portfolio of complex, business-critical applications, while reducing time and risk. Its products division, ThoughtWorks Studios, offers tools to manage the entire Agile development lifecycle through its Adaptive ALM^TM suite, comprised of Mingle®, Go^TM and Twist®. ThoughtWorks employs 1,700 professionals to serve clients from offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. For more information please visit: (www.thoughtworks.com).

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Media Contact:

Christie Denniston

Catapult PR-IR

Office: 303-581-7760, ext. 13

Mobile: 303-827-5164

cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

THOUGHTWORKS’ JIM HIGHSMITH TO DISCUSS HOW TO OPTIMIZE THE VALUE OF ENTERPRISE AGILE DURING UPCOMING WEBINAR

Fri, 25 Mar 2011 18:12:00 +0000

THOUGHTWORKS' JIM HIGHSMITH TO DISCUSS HOW TO OPTIMIZE THE VALUE OF ENTERPRISE AGILE DURING UPCOMING WEBINAR

Highsmith will explore the necessity for Agile projects to have new performance measures for success

WHO: Jim Highsmith
ThoughtWorks
(http://www.thoughtworks.com/)

Jim Highsmith is recognized globally as a creator of the Adaptive Agile methodology and a co-author of the Agile Manifesto. He is one of the most sought after strategists for organizations going through an Agile transformation. Highsmith is the author of Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products, Addison Wesley 2009; Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems, Dorset House 2000 and winner of the prestigious Jolt Award, and Agile Software Development Ecosystems, Addison Wesley 2002. He is the recipient of the 2005 international Stevens Award for outstanding contributions to systems development.

WHAT: Beyond Scope, Schedule and Cost: Optimizing Value

During this presentation Highsmith will explore how Agile teams are asked to be Agile, flexible and adaptive, but then are told to conform to planned scope, schedule and cost goals. He will discuss the importance of scaling projects to bring greater value to organizations. To mirror the Agile Manifesto, he will argue that it is not that scope, schedule and cost are unimportant, but that value and quality are more important. This talk explores the necessity for and the rationale behind moving to this new standard for Agile performance.

In this session, participants will learn:

Why Agile projects need new performance measures
Why quality is so critical to adaptability and future value
A value management framework
How to calculate at a feature level

WHEN: Wed., March 30, 2011 at 1 p.m. (Eastern)

REGISTER: (http://www.gantthead.com/survey/survey.cfm?ID=552)

CONTACT: For more information to or to speak with Jim Highsmith please contact Christie Denniston at 303- 581-7760 or cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

THOUGHTWORKS’ JIM HIGHSMITH TO PRESENT STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY AT AGILE AUSTIN EVENT

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 23:54:33 +0000

THOUGHTWORKS' JIM HIGHSMITH TO PRESENT STRATEGIES FOR ORGANIZATIONAL AGILITY AT AGILE AUSTIN EVENT

WHO: ThoughtWorks' (www.thoughtworks.com) Chief Agile Strategist Jim Highsmith is recognized globally as a founder of the Agile methodology and a co-author of the Agile Manifesto. He is one of the most sought after strategists for organizations going through an Agile transformation.

ThoughtWorks is sponsoring this Agile Austin event where Highsmith will present insights and strategies for achieving organizational agility. For information visit: (http://www.thoughtworks.com/events/adaptive-leadership-accelerating-organizational-quality).

WHAT: Adaptive Leadership: Accelerating Organizational Agility

During this presentation Highsmith will outline the keys to effective adaptive leadership within an Agile organization. Software professionals know that Agile development is revolutionizing the IT industry, but what does it take to be a great adaptive and Agile leader? Highsmith believes adaptive leadership is two dimensional: "being Agile" and "doing Agile." It requires understanding strategic agility from a business perspective. Succeeding with Agile requires leaders to understand strategic agility from a business perspective, as well as specific principles and practices to help build development organizations that can weather business turbulence. Being Agile requires leaders to realize how practices like continuous delivery and a mindset of sustainable agility combine to create highly responsive IT organizations.

WHEN: Wed., Jan 12, 2011 - 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

WHERE: University of Texas at Austin Commons Center
10100 Burnet Road
Austin, TX 78758

Media and analyst inquiries should be directed to Christie Denniston at 303- 581-7760 or cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

JIM HIGHSMITH JOINS THOUGHTWORKS

Wed, 15 Sep 2010 01:16:25 +0000

JIM HIGHSMITH JOINS THOUGHTWORKS

Industry luminary will help enterprises move beyond contained Agile initiatives to Continuous Delivery and true business agility

CHICAGO and MELBOURNE, Sept. 14, 2010 - ThoughtWorks (www.thoughtworks.com), the global custom software solutions experts and leaders in enterprise Agile software delivery, today announced that Jim Highsmith has joined the company as an executive consultant and strategic advisor. Highsmith, one of the foremost experts in implementing Agile within large complex IT organizations, will apply his decades of experience to help ThoughtWorks' clients develop governance, funding, resource planning and measurement methods that allow them to realize the strategic benefits of Agile and Continuous Delivery. Highsmith will formally be introduced today as a ThoughtWorks team member at the Agile Australia 2010 Conference (www.agileaustralia.com.au), where he will join ThoughtWorks' chief scientist Martin Fowler as a keynote presenter at the event.

"Many enterprises are ready to move beyond the basics of contained Agile projects, but need help envisioning the potential strategic impact of Agile on their organization, and then implementing a roadmap to meet their goals," said Roy Singham, chairman of ThoughtWorks. "With his deep experience in finance, governance and Agile leadership, Jim will be an invaluable guide to our clients in bridging executive management, development and IT operations to achieve true business agility."

Highsmith brings more than 30 years of experience within the software development and IT industry to ThoughtWorks. He is a former CPA, co-author of the Agile Manifesto, a regular keynote speaker at industry events and a prolific author of some of the most influential books on Agile methodologies, including Agile Project Management: Creating Innovative Products (Addison Wesley 2009), Agile Software Development Ecosystems (Addison-Wesley, 2002), and Adaptive Software Development: A Collaborative Approach to Managing Complex Systems (Dorset House, 2000) which won the prestigious Jolt Award. Prior to joining ThoughtWorks, Highsmith directed Cutter Consortium's Agile Project Management Advisory Service and has been a sought-after consultant for IT and product development organizations and software companies in the U.S., Europe, Canada, South Africa, Australia, Japan, India and New Zealand.

"Joining ThoughtWorks will provide me the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most passionate Agile practitioners - both within ThoughtWorks and through their client base - that are making great strides in enterprise Agile adoption," said Highsmith. "Continuous Delivery is the logical evolution of the Agile movement, and I look forward to working with executive client teams to help them achieve even higher levels of agility and maximize the strategic impact of Agile on their organization."

About ThoughtWorks
ThoughtWorks, Inc. is a global IT consultancy providing Agile-based systems development, consulting and transformation services to Global 1000 companies. It has pioneered many of the most advanced and successful Agile methods of software development and best practices used in the industry today. At its core, ThoughtWorks helps its clients maximize investment and performance across a portfolio of complex, business-critical applications, while reducing time and risk. Its products division, ThoughtWorks Studios, offers tools to manage the entire Agile development lifecycle through its Adaptive ALM® solution, comprised of Mingle®, Go^TM and Twist®. ThoughtWorks employs 1,500 professionals to serve clients from offices in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, India, the United Kingdom and the United States. For more information please visit: (www.thoughtworks.com).

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