Managing Non-Colocated Teams in an Agile Framework

On January 28, 2014, Kareen Walsh, presented Managing Non-Collocated teams in an Agile Framework at the Agile / Lean Practitioners Group.

During the presentation, Kareen shared examples of a Team Member Pledge as a way to help non-collocated team members work together more effectively..

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As a seasoned Agilist playing several different roles in technology organizations, Kareen Walsh has always had a common theme of remote team members or employees that demanded a different approach on how to maintain agile practices in a virtual space. Kareen shared her lessons learned and facilitated a great dialogue with about 50 members from our meetup group



Kareen is an Agile Coach with 14 plus years’ experience managing complex, multi-level technical and internal operational projects for leading companies in a variety of industries. Proven track record in Program Management, Project Management, Enterprise Platform Management, Resource Management, Business Process Management, Product Life Cycle Release Management and Strategic Planning.

Move, Breathe and Laugh Your Way Through Meeting Day - Agile / Lean Practitioner MeetUp on Nov 13

Please join Wendy Friendlander as she leads the upcoming Agile / Lean Pracitioner's Meet up on the following topic: Move, Breathe and Laugh Your Way Through Meeting Day

Meeting day serves as the team’s opportunity to align with business, celebrate success and expose risk. It’s also a day to reflect on progress, express ideas and move forward. As important as it is, the long, intense day can leave a team drained and despondent. Before labeling meeting day as a necessary evil, come learn how to invigorate it. We will go through fast and simple techniques that will not only have you laughing, but can serve to increase focus, enhance creativity and ease tension at your next meeting day.

WHEN: Wednesday, November, 13 6:30 PM
WHERE: Kaplan, 395 Hudson Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY
RSVP NOW

About Wendy:

Wendy Friedlander is an expert in software development with over a decade of experience immersed in development and championing agile practices. She put her blogging and speaking on hold to become a mother and shortly after, spent a year in treatment for a rare and highly aggressive cancer. When she was done, she turned her interests inward and spent well over 500 hours studying human behavior and communication. Fusing together her understanding of human dynamics and technology, she created Just Add Wendy. By considering business and cultural perspectives, her clients are able to quickly improve their process, their code and ultimately, their product. Candid and upfront with a mix of humor, optimism and vigor, Wendy yields greater collaboration, creativity and accountability on every team.

MasterCard Marries Enterprise Arch & Agile: A Case Study & Guidelines

On October 9, 2013 John Baker presented the following case study showing how MasterCard marries Enterprise Architecture and Agile.



Event Description
MasterCard has adopted several Enterprise Architectures that include business architectures, solution architectures, integration architectures, information architectures, and application architectures. Independently, MasterCard has been developing and deploying a next generation system development lifecycle based on Agile/Lean principles. This presentation discusses how enterprise architectures link with the Agile/Lean SDLC and also provide case studies of projects that have adopted this linkage that discuss problems encountered and benefits obtained.

Bio

• John Baker is a Business Architect at MasterCard. Mr. Baker has spent most of his career in software development, software engineering, emerging technologies and running a professional services organization. He previously held management positions in a number of organizations, including IBM.
  
  
  WHEN: Wednesday, October 9, 2013 6:30 PM

  WHERE: Kaplan Test Prep Kapateria, 395 Hudson Street, 3rd Floor, New York, NY

  RSVP NOW

Enterprise CADENCE

Enterprise-wide Agile transformations start with enthusiasm and dedication, and yet most transformations fail* within one year from the start of the Agile rollout.  Change management initiatives, especially those on a large scale, are notoriously difficult to pull off.  On Monday, 6/17, Mariya Breyter and I will be presenting Enterprise CADENCE, our views on the elements that help sustain agile transformations at AgileNYC.

We introduce a framework for sustaining and enhancing success of your Agile rollout, which we define in an acronym, CADENCE, which stands for C – coaching, A – assistance, D – development, E –  engagement, N – networking, C – collaborative culture, E – evaluate and adapt.

In our presentation, we will provide practical advice on how we made Agile CADENCE work for us in enhancing our Agile transformation, and suggest specific ways of making your Agile rollout successful on enterprise level.

RSVP to attend this event.

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* Some References:

• "75% of those organizations using Scrum will not succeed in getting the benefits that they hope for from it." from Ken Schwaber on Scrum, http://mattcallanan.blogspot.com/2010/02/ken-schwaber-on-scrum.html, February 21, 2010
• Is All This Success Actually Failure,  http://xprogramming.com/blog/scrum-benefits/
• Quoting Agile Realities: "Sixty-four percent (64%) of survey participants found the transition to Agile confusing, hard, or slow. Twenty-eight percent (28%) report success with Agile." referenced in in New Analyst Report Rips Agile: Says It's 'Designed To Sell Services,' a 'Developer Rebellion Against Unwanted Tasks', http://adtmag.com/Articles/2012/07/13/Report-Says-Agile-a-Scam.aspx?Page=1, July 13, 2012

Tech Practices Amplify Uses to Enhance their Agility in the EdTech/Mobile Space

On June 11, 2013, Alberto Silveria, Leslie Borrell, David Cameron, and Rick Carragher, presented Tech Practices Amplify Uses to Enhance their Agility in the EdTech/Mobile Space at the Agile / Lean Practitioners Meetup.

View their presentation

See Photos from Meetup

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Alberto Silveria, Tech Lead for the class experience team at Amplify, will share the agile and technical practices Amplify uses building apps in the Tech Ed / Mobile space. The presentation will provide an overview of the seven development tenets followed at Amplify, how UX is incorporated into Agile Development, and specific practices their teams use across 4 geographic locations.

Alberto will be joined by Leslie Borrell, VP of Engineering (Amplify) and Rick Carragher, Technical Principal (ThoughtWorks).


Learn more about Amplify's tablet.

About Amplify: 
Amplify is reimagining the way teachers teach and students learn. We enable teachers to manage whole classrooms and, at the same time, empower them to offer more personalized instruction, so that students become more active, engaged learners.

An independent subsidiary of News Corporation, Amplify is built on the foundation of Wireless Generation, the pioneer that brought mobile assessments and instructional analytics to schools across America. To date, Amplify has supported more than 200,000 educators and 3 million students in all 50 states as they begin their digital transition. And we’re just getting started.

Scrum Master: A Role or A Profession

On May 14, 2013, Mariya Breyter, presented Scrum Master: A Role or A Profession at the Agile / Lean Practitioners Group.

Recording:
Note: The audio of the event recording was not high enough quality to post, so the link here is a re-record of the event.

Presentation:


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Event Description:
Scrum Master is a unique role. Everyone knows what a developer or tester are responsible for while scrum master is frequently an open question. The general answer is that the Scrum Master is a natural leader who is driving the team to success. However, the true answer is: It is Job Like No Other. 


In this presentation, we will talk about scrum master role expectations, competencies, and career path, as it has been defined at Kaplan Test Prep. We will share with you specific criteria for Scrum Master professional growth and ask for your opinion whether scrum master is a role or a profession, and what it means to be an outstanding scrum master. You will be able to meet Kaplan Scrum Masters and ask questions about their professional path, prior experience, and their plans for further professional growth. We are looking forward to hear about your experience and your understanding of a scrum master role on an Agile team. 


Some of the topics include: 

• is Scrum Master a dedicated role on the team, or a team member should play a scrum master role? 
• do you become a scrum master after CSM training? 
• what does it mean to be a scrum master?
• what is scrum master's career progression?

About the Presenter
Mariya Breyter, PMP, PMI-ACP, CSM, CSP is an IT management and project management professional with over ten-year experience ranging from government jobs to versatile corporate experience in media and education, including managing large teams on multimillion-dollar projects. She is a passionate agilist and an active member of New York City agile community. Mariya is also a contributor to a number of online resources on agile and project management topics, including her own blog. In 2011, Mariya was selected as one of the winners of The IT Metrics and Productivity Institute’s PMO Case Study competition. In February 2012, Mariya facilitated a discussion on executive coaching in Agile at Agile Open NYC. She has combined BA /MA degree in Linguistics and Computer Science and Ph.D. in Computer Linguistics from Moscow State University, followed by post-doctoral fellowship at Stanford University. She has been coaching Agile teams at Kaplan Test Prep in their transition to Agile including facilitating Scrum or Scrums and Impediment Removal Team meetings.

Two Teams Go Lean: An Audience-wide Retrospective

On April 9, 2013, Terrence McGovern and Lori Masuda facilitated a live retrospective of two business functional teams that piloted lean practices at the Agile / Lean Practitioners Meetup.

See The slides:

Agile / Lean Practitioners Meetup: Two Biz Funk Teams Go Lean: An Audience-Wide Retrospective from drgravitee

Watch the Recording:

***Interested in learning more? Join our group***

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Event Description:

We will be presenting on how an Editorial and Marketing Team used Agile / Lean practices to execute their projects and work. This presentation will be followed by a panel discussion where team members and stakeholders talk about what 
prompted them to try it and how it worked for the execution teams, while sharing the good, the bad, and the future. This event is co-sponsored with PMI NYC.

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Update on event format:

In order to keep the event concise and offer the opportunity for audience participation we will be conducting a live, public retrospective where our Editorial and Marketing Teams will write down what worked well in their Agile adoption and what didn't work.

Ever heard of a Retrospective?

According to Dictionary.com, in the real world:

ret·ro·spec·tive

[re-truh-spek-tiv]

adjective

1. directed to the past; contemplative of past situations,events,etc.

2. looking or directed backward.

In Scrum:

ret·ro·spec·tive

[re-truh-spek-tiv]

ceremony

1. time-boxed meeting

2. a Scrum Ceremony where the team reflects on what worked well and what can be improved.

3. offers encouragement for teams to continue to improve