Following Mark’s lead, I am posting sessions I would like to attend at the Agile 2008 conference. There are so many good ones to choose from, it’s hard to decide! If you are planning to go to any of these sessions, post a comment and let’s get in touch. Also check out the Agile 2008 Friendfeed room for others attending.
Tuesday
Morning
- Expanding Agile Horizons: The Five Dimensions of Systems by Mary Poppendick. I’ve read from a few people she is an amazing speaker worth listening to, regardless of topic. I’m interested in learning where Agile may be heading next.
- Agile Distributed Teams by Douglas Shimp. At ifPeople, all developers work for partner companies in South America, mostly Argentina. I’m based in Canada and the rest are in Atlanta. So yeah, distributed is a big topic for us. 🙂
- Leadership Success Recipes for Agile in the 21st Century by Jean Tabaka, Chris Louvion. Jean is another amazing speaker. I’m particularly interested in leadership as a project manager trying to become a scrum master. Only down side is talk seems focused on large organizational issues, though not 100% sure about that.
After Lunch
- Introduction to Lean Software Development by Allan Shalloway. I know little about Lean, so interested in knowing more about this agile approach and how our company might benefit from Lean principles.
- Adventures in Agile Contracting: Evolving From Time and Materials to Fixed Price, Fixed Scope, Fixed Schedule contracts by Teresa Franklin. We have some clients who really struggle with the Agile approach to contracts, and we don’t always succeed at helping them understand. Teresa is presenting how her company evolved their approach.
- What Makes Distributed Agile Projects Succeed (or Fail) by Chris Sims. More distributed best practices, learned in the trenches from a guy who has worked with a lot of distributed teams.
- Agile and Paper Prototyping by Todd Zaki Warfel. Won’t likely get to this because it covers both afternoon sessions. Always interested in better ways to communicate requirements efficiently.
Late Afternoon
- Agile Contracting by Rachel Weston, Chris Spagnuolo. I’ve read some of Chris’ experiences with Agile contracting in the Rally Agile Commons.
- Business Value – Soup to Nuts by Andy Pols, Chris Matts. Outline looks great – how to ensure projects focus on value that matters to client, and helping them to realize the value they are receiving.
- Money for Nothing and Your Change For Free: Agile Contracts by Jeff Sutherland. Another top notch speaker on a topic I need more insight on.