Speakers SDC Transforming Analysis

Johanna Rothman
Rothman Consulting Group (USA)
http://www.jrothman.com/

Johanna is an internationally recognised expert in managing IT product and software development. She helps managers and leaders solve problems and seize opportunities.

Johanna consults, speaks and writes on managing high-technology product development.  She enables managers, teams and organisations to become more effective by applying her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project, product and people management.

Johanna has written a number of popular books. Her most recent book is "Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects". Previous books include the 2008 Jolt Productivity award winning "Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management" and "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management" (with Esther Derby). Johanna has also authored numerous articles and manages two blogs - Managing Product Development and Hiring Technical People - details of which can found at her web site www.jrothman.com.

We are honoured that Johanna can join us in 2011.

 Johanna will present the conference opening and closing keynotes in Wellington and Sydney

Creating and Adaptable Life
Making change work for you and your organisation. In whatever way your organisation is growing and evolving, your role and activities will change. Irrespective of what drives the changes, you in your role must adapt to the new challenges. It may be a move to Agile or working with partners and other teams who are adopting new ways of working. For some these changes and challenges may be subtle. For others, such as BAs and PMs moving to Agile, the change can feel like a 2 by 4 that connects with your head! How do you adapt to ensure continued success?
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

Who's on Your Team? 
How to define the "right stuff" and get the right people on your team. It's not that the names or titles of the people are confusing - it's much more often the issue of what kinds of talents, skills and experience you want on a team. Maybe it's time to rethink how you create teams. As well as considering technical skill fit you also want to consider personality diversity and cultural fit. Johanna will help you see how to define what you need, and how to determine if a potential candidate has the right stuff to be on your team.
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

Kent J. McDonald
Knowledge Bridge Partners (USA)
http://www.knowledgebridgepartners.com

Kent specialises in successfully applying pragmatic approaches to strategic planning and coaching business analysts and project managers. His more than 15 years of experience include working in business analysis and planning, project management, and product development in a variety of industries including financial services, health insurance, performance marketing, human services, non profit and automotive.

He is a Program Manager at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance who insure or pay health benefit claims for more than 2 million members in Iowa and South Dakota. Kent co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN). He chaired the Central Iowa Business Analyst Development Day 2009 and was a producer for the Customer and Business Value track at the Agile 2008 conference in Toronto and a reviewer for  the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago.

Kent is co-author of Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility, a book that brings together immediately usable frameworks and step-by-step processes that help organisations deliver business value and build competitive advantage.

Kent will present a keynote and workshop in Wellington and Sydney

Strategically Speaking: Why Are We Doing This?
Why are we doing this? Have you ever asked “why is the company working on this project?”.  If so, what did you do about it?  Business Analysts actually have at their disposal a full set of tools to help an organisation convert strategy to reality. This keynote will discuss how Business Analysts can utilise their tool set, categorised as Enterprise Analysis by the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge® (BABOK®) and look at what to do if you find yourself on a project that does not appear to align with organisational strategy, and how to add even more value by helping avoid this situation in the first place.
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

Is It Worth It: Using a Business Value Model to Guide Decisions 
Is it worth it? One trait of an effective business analyst is the ability to ask the right questions.  One “right” question that applies to just about all projects can sometimes be difficult to ask, let alone answer: “Is it worth it?”  This question is difficult to answer, because the answer will change as you proceed through the project and gain more knowledge about the purpose, considerations, costs and benefits involved in a project. Learn how you can develop a business case in the form of a value model that can be used throughout the project to make decisions.
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

Steve Adolph
Agile Coach, Rally Software (USA)
http://www.rallydev.com/

Steve is an Agile Coach with Rally Software where he pursues his passion for helping organisations get the job done. Steve has been creating and managing software development projects long enough to remember Fortran and OS/MVT JCL. His professional career ranges over many exciting and critical projects including designing call processing software for digital exchanges, design and development of leading edge network management systems, railway signalling and telecom billing.

Prior to his recent move to Rally Software, Steve founded the pragmatic software engineering solutions provider, WSA Consulting, Vancouver. His areas of interest include use cases, requirements, software project management, product management, organisational behaviour, software architecture, patterns and software methodologies.

Steve Is the author of numerous articles on software development and is co-author of the book "Patterns for Effective Use Cases". He is an expert when it comes to teaching others about business modelling, requirements analysis, software architecture and design. He is active in the Agile community, is the co-founder of Agile Vancouver and was a track producer for the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago. 

Steve will present a keynote and workshop in Wellington and Sydney and the pre conference one-day workshop in Sydney 

Agile Grows Up
An introduction to scaling Agile software development methods. "Oh Agile is great for six or seven people, but it won't work for a real project" is a criticism often heard by those proposing Agile methods. After all, many of the more widely known Agile methods make some very specific assumptions about the development environment: small co-located teams, on site customer, and emergent architecture. Does this mean larger projects cannot be Agile projects because these assumptions are not usually valid for larger projects? Absolutely not! Steve can show you a better approach to adapting and scaling as the project itself evolves.
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

Keeping Your Neck: Product Owner Success Strategies
Become a better product owner.The product owner is one of the most influential roles on the product team and takes on much of the responsibility for successful value delivery to the customer. Without skilled direction and support from great Product Owners, great development teams may create great software only to discover they have created the wrong product. Using a set of exercises, simulations and reflection, participants learn strategies for becoming successful Product Owners.
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney

The Agile Business Analyst
Only runs in Sydney. Pre conference one-day workshop.
Strategies and practices for integrating Business Analysts into an Agile process. This workshop provides participants with practical guidance for how the Business Analyst integrates and collaborates with all members of the team and how to improve the Business Analysis process by leveraging Agile development techniques.
Full abstract Sydney 

Kurt Solarte  
Certified Managing Consultant, IBM Rational Software (AU)
http://www.ibm.com/

Kurt Solarte is a Certified Managing Consultant working in IBM Rational Software in Sydney; focusing on Agile Development and Collaborative Application Lifecycle Management.

Kurt recently spent seven years with IBM Global Business Services in the US as a Certified Managing Consultant and Sr. Business Analyst; where he specialised in keeping business analysis alive and relevant in the agile delivery of eCommerce, web portal, and business analytics projects. 

Kurt is also a contributing member of both the International Institute of Business Analysis and the Central Region Consultancy Community (in the US). 

Kurt will present the keynote in Sydney 

Does Agile Analysis Require a Business Analyst?
This talk explores how important and relevant business analysis is within agile methods. How that relevance translates into the need for Business Analysts together with transformations Business Analysts are undergoing to stay relevant in the new space.
Full abstract Sydney 

Alan Kan
Technical Manager, IBM Rational Software (NZ)
http://www.ibm.com/

Alan is IBM Rational Software's technical leader in New Zealand. He promotes software delivery best practices and helps organisations to enhance their software delivery processes.  He has 10 years of experience in various roles in the software development process including developer, analyst, architect, test manager and project manager. Alan is an Australasia regional mentor for Rational Team Concert, IBM's leading agile project delivery tool.

Alan holds a Master's in information systems from the University of Auckland, is a certified Project Management Professional, and is Rational Unified Process and Rational System Architect certified.

Alan will present the keynote in Wellington  

Collaborative Lifecycle Management - How IBM Does Agile
With over 1000 people using agile, plus 2000 trained, IBM has one of the largest Agile adoption programs in the world. I'll provide an overview on planning, tracking, build and testing and illustrate benefits from automated traceability and transparency to work effectively together on a large scale agile project. 
Full abstract Wellington

Nigel Dalton
Deputy Director, Digital, Lonely Planet (AU)
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/

For Nigel, the Agile road to Damascus was Flight QF73 to San Francisco in early 2000. Fleeing the Y2K-obsessed development organisation at AXA Australia for the promise of Po Bronson's Nudist on the Late Shift, he read XP Explained on the plane, and never looked back. Agile software development was a key part of the success of that start-up (ePredix, later bought by Previsor). Use of the methodology spread to product development and client implementations, with varying levels of success.

In 2007, Nigel joined Lonely Planet. In the wreckage of a 24 month ERP/ CMS/ Web project delivery (so waterfall the program reviews were known as the Nuremberg Trials), the seeds of an Agile IT organisation, coupled with an ITIL focused operations team were planted. Now under BBC Worldwide ownership, Agile is a well ingrained habit, with new ventures into book product development using Scrum being explored.

A truly engaging presenter with plenty of stories that clearly demonstrate the transforming nature of Agile for the business and analysts, Nigel will deliver a not-to-be-missed dinner keynote in Wellington.

Jenny Saunders
Farm Systems Software Manager, Livestock Improvement Corporation (NZ)
http://www.lic.co.nz

Within LIC, Jenny is charged with managing the group that is responsible for delivering, maintaining and supporting their customer facing software technology products - the Farm Systems Software Development Group.

She has over 23 years experience in the IT industry across varying disciplines for a verity of organisations and sectors including: the Metropolitan Police, the automation industry, electronics retail industry and the banking sector. She holds a BSc Honours in Computing & Physics, Kings College, University of London, UK.

Jenny describes herself as a “normal” person who is extremely passionate about software development & ensuring that she has the “right” people in the “right” roles with the “right” competencies and support.

Her goal is: “To create a reliable, efficient and high quality development capability in order to facilitate fast delivery of high integrity software technology products for our customers.”

The mantra for Jenny's team is: “Faster, Better, Cheaper & have fun at the same time."

Jenny will present a keynote talk in Wellington and Sydney 

Implementing Transformational Change in a Commercial Environment 
A real-life experience talk of the journey travelled from a traditional waterfall development methodology to adopting a combination of “Agile” approaches. “We needed to be delivering 'Faster, Better, Cheaper', and to add in the softer side of 'Happy people, sustainable workload and a fun environment' to our work place". Was this possible in a commercial world? Jenny will provide a “real life experience” of the journey that LIC has travelled in changing from a traditional waterfall development methodology to adopting a combination of “Agile” approaches; there will be no hidden secrets!
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney  

Michael Stange
Agile Coach and Coaching Manager, Suncorp (AU)
http://www.suncorp.com.au/

Michael started coaching and developing teams in the defence force in 1994.  Since joining the IT industry, he has taken on various roles in both traditional and Agile projects. As a Certified Scrum Practitioner; and an advocate of Agile principles and practices for the last eight years, Michael has focused on process improvement in all areas of project delivery. He joined Suncorp in mid 2009 as an Agile Coach, providing guidance to project teams; training and mentoring staff as well as building successful, cross-functional project teams. His recent appointment as Coaching Manager at Suncorp sees him leading a highly passionate group of coaches to support the company and its people through the ongoing Agile transformation journey.

Michael will jointly present, with Daragh Farrell, the session in Sydney

Agile Field Reports and Experiences of a BA through an Agile Lens
The world of a Business Analyst and their role in an Agile environment seems to be a moving feast.  What we would like to share is some of our experiences and insights as coaches working with BAs and Agile teams. We will also have some Business Analysts sharing their own unique Agile experiences and insights through case studies/reports. Our aim is to share, generate discussions and explore the challenges of business analysts looking through an Agile lens.
Full abstract Sydney

Daragh Farrell
Agile Coach, Suncorp (AU)
http://www.suncorp.com.au

Daragh Farrell has been coaching and delivering projects using Agile approaches since the late '90s.  He has a background in software engineering and spent over a decade hands-on cutting code as well.  More recently he has been a consultant and business development manager for a world wide IT consultancy focussing on helping organisations to become efficient through using Agile and Lean practices and principles. He now coaches a range of business and IT Agile teams to high performance at Suncorp.

Daragh will jointly present, with Michael Stange, the session in Sydney

Agile Field Reports and Experiences of a BA through an Agile Lens
The world of a Business Analyst and their role in an Agile environment seems to be a moving feast.  What we would like to share is some of our experiences and insights as coaches working with BAs and Agile teams. We will also have some Business Analysts sharing their own unique Agile experiences and insights through case studies/reports. Our aim is to share, generate discussions and explore the challenges of business analysts looking through an Agile lens.
Full abstract Sydney

Karina Irving
Business Solutions Manager, Downer EDI Mining (AU)
http://www.downergroup.com/Divisions/Mining/

In her role, Karina works closely with software development teams to ensure delivery of products that meet customer requirements and business needs. She is continually meeting the challenge to get programmers, business analysts and project managers to always be talking with the business.

Karina commenced her technology career in 1994 when she began working at the University of Waikato (NZ) as a Computer Science tutor.  As member of the faculty, she specialised in topics such as Pascal and C+ development as well as web design, and systems analysis theory and practice.

Upon immigrating to Australia in 1999, Karina took her skills and experiences and applied them to various Business Analyst roles; with great success.  Working with companies such as Unisys, Queensland Police Service, Flight Centre, Brisbane City Council, Boeing Defence Australia and Danone Waters in Japan, Karina honed both her business and technological skills. Most recently Karina was a Senior Business Analyst with Credit Union Australia.

Karina complements her extensive experience by way of a Bachelor's degree in Management. Both her business and technology perspectives were further strengthened, by studies in Project Management, Workplace Assessment and Training, Risk Management and Requirements Modelling using UML.

Karina will present the keynote session in Wellington and in Sydney 

""The Business: Do I Really Need to Talk to Them?" - The “Sheldon Cooper” Story 
Many of you will be familiar with the character Sheldon Cooper in the US sitcom The Big Bang Theory. The ultimate geek, he has an IQ of 187, two PhDs, an extensive general knowledge and expert knowledge of his chosen domain.  Despite his intelligence, Sheldon is usually inept in most social and business situations.
I'm sure many of you can easily recognise a Sheldon Cooper or two in your own organisation and have struggled to get their smooth collaboration with your business partners. And when you ask them to be more available for the business, more involved, you hear replies like, "I don't need to be here for the business. If the specifications are documented incorrectly then that's not my problem". What do you do? Here's some help for you. Based on actual experience with my own "Sheldon Cooper" I'll show you how we can encouraged and developed meaningful interaction and dialogue with the business. 
Full abstract Wellington | Full abstract Sydney 

Katrina McNicholl
Test Analyst, AMI Insurance (NZ)  
http://www.ami.co.nz/

Katrina is one of AMI's key drivers behind ensuring a high quality Kanban process. She has a strong business knowledge background that brings excellent insight into business needs and values to the development teams. Katrina holds the Certified Tester Foundation Level qualification from the International Software Testing Board (ISTQB) and is currently working towards her Certified Advanced Level qualification. Passionate about testing, Katrina is committed to continually improving quality and process across the whole development lifecycle to help deliver the right business needs as smoothly as possible at the right time.

Katrina will jointly present, with Ron Gloag, the session in Wellington

Kanban: Delivering Faster Throughput - How it Works
In this hands-on demonstration learn how Kanban works to deliver faster throughput by putting more focus on quality earlier in the lifecycle.  Improve your development by understanding how Kanban folds in. This approach gives us (AMI) high visibility; high quality and lets us see bottlenecks in process while empowering the team to improve its own processes.
Full abstract Wellington 

Ron Gloag
Software Development Manager, AMI Insurance (NZ)
http://www.ami.co.nz/

Ron has been instrumental in guiding AMI's software development approach from waterfall, through scrum and now into a Lean Agile approach making use of Kanban. He has been in the IT industry for the past 24 years. Over the last 10 years, Ron has been the Software Development Manager at AMI Insurance Ltd. AMI has about 90 staff working in Software Development. Previous to this he was involved in several large projects in Wellington including, Driver's licensing, Road User Charges, Motor Vehicle Registry, National Superannuation, Unemployment and Domestic Purposes. Ron is passionate about quality and good process. 

Ron will jointly present, with Katrina McNicholl, the session in Wellington 

Kanban: Delivering Faster Throughput - How it Works
In this hands-on demonstration learn how Kanban works to deliver faster throughput by putting more focus on quality earlier in the lifecycle. Improve your development by understanding how Kanban folds in. This approach gives us (AMI) high visibility; high quality and lets us see bottlenecks in process while empowering the team to improve its own processes.
Full abstract Wellington