Software Education Finalises Line-Up for SDC 2010 - Business Analysis Gets Agile!

Software Education has finalised the line-up for its 14^th annual Software Development Conference (SDC), to be held in Wellington on 22-23 March and in Sydney on 25-26 March 2010.

Run over two days in each location, this conference is billed as a key event for anyone interested in business analysis and Agile methods. With topics as diverse as “The Vanishing Analyst” and “What colours are your backlog?” Conference Manager, Iain Jenkins says:

“Whether you're looking for inspiration and motivation or for practical tools and techniques you can put to use right away, look no further!”

As in previous years, Software Education has made the most of its impressive international network to secure an outstanding line up of international and local speakers:

Tim Lister, (USA) Principal of the Atlantic Systems Guild, author and analysis trainer.

Tim is co-author, with Tom DeMarco, of the acclaimed "Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams”. His latest book, co-authored with his Guild partners, "Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies" won the Jolt Award for Best General Computing Book 2008-2009.

Tim’s keynote, “Managing Front End Risk – It’s Always a Risky Business at the Start” takes an in-depth look at the risks inherent in the early stages of a project and offers proven mitigation strategies. As Tim says, “Being a good manager or analyst is hard; that’s why these jobs are so much fun!”

Diana Larsen, (USA) Chair of the Agile Alliance Board, author and Co-Founder FutureWorks Consulting.

Chair of the Agile Alliance Board of Directors and co-author of:"Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great!" Diana partners with leaders and teams of software development projects to improve project performance, support and sustain change and build collaborative workplaces.

Diana’s keynote, “Clarity Rules! Six Collaboration Skills Critical to Effective, Successful Teams” describes not only the skills involved in creating successful teams, but also provides clear techniques to get them active within teams.

This theme carries over into her interactive workshop, “Creating a Climate for Project Team Success”, during which Diana will explore ways to optimise four key factors in the workplace: motivation, environment, support and trust.


James Shore, (USA) Founder, Titanium IT, author and Gordon Pask Award winner for Contributions to Agile Practice from the Agile Alliance.

A thought leader in the Agile software development community, James was the inaugural recipient of the prestigious Gordon Pask Award for Contributions to Agile Practice from the Agile Alliance and is co-author of the book, "The Art of Agile Development".

In his keynote, “The Vanishing Analyst” James takes a look at the changing role of the business analyst and shows how it continues to be as crucial as ever.

James’s workshop, “Beyond Story Cards: Agile Requirements Collaboration” looks at where requirements live in Agile, how various roles fit in, where stories come from and what happens after they are created.


Philippe Kruchten, (Canada) Professor of Software Engineering, University of British Columbia and Founder, Kruchten Engineering Services

Lead developer of the software engineering process: Rational Unified Process (RUP), Philippe’s books on RUP ("An Introduction" and "A Practitioner's Guide") have sold over 200,000 copies and been translated into nine languages.

Philippe’s keynote, “What Colours are Your Backlog?” takes a look at how the product backlog has become a key artifact in any software development project. He examines the content of a backlog and how you balance the needs of all interested parties.

In his workshop, “Iteration and Release Planning”, Philippe comments that iteration planning and release planning seem very simple: you pour features in a backlog, shake, prioritise, implement and deliver. In reality, it is a tad more complicated. This workshop examines various techniques that help project leaders plan and track iterations and releases in a chaotic environment.


Nigel Dalton, (Australia) General Manager, IT, Lonely Planet

A recent speaker at Agile Australia 2009, Nigel is the latest addition to the conference programme. Details of Nigel’s keynote will be announced shortly.

Software Education believes that SDC offers delegates a unique experience, specifically designed with the Business Analyst in mind. As Martyn Jones, Managing Director at Software Education says:

“This unbeatable group of independent, international keynotes provides an outstanding opportunity for local business analysts – we’re looking forward to delivering the best SDC yet!”

A sell out event in Wellington in 2009, organisers of SDC 2010 are urging Business Analysts to register soon, to avoid disappointment.

Background

Software Education

Software Education are the internationally recognised local experts in software development training, with over 50 different course titles in Business Analysis, System Design, Programming, Software Testing, IT Management and Agile Development.

Each year, as part of their commitment to providing access for their customers to an unrivalled network of international experts, they run two world-class conferences: STANZ, targeting the software testing community and SDC, aimed at business analysts.

The programme for SDC 2010 can be found at http://www.softed.com/sdc

Agile software development

Agile software development refers to a group of methodologies based on iterative development, where requirements and solutions evolve through collaboration between self-organising cross-functional teams.

Agile development aims to satisfy customers and stakeholders through the early and continuous delivery of high quality software. It combines proven approaches from:

Contemporary software (Test Driven Development (TDD), refactoring, eXtreme Programming);
Lean manufacturing techniques (eliminate waste, decide as late as possible); and
Modern approaches to effective organisational cultures (self-organising teams, empowerment and trust)