Hi all!!! To both of you - may the future be bright, happy and filled with continued blessings from above gold I've just been sitting around waiting for something to happen. gold element, gold, I just don't have anything to say.

In October, SolutionsIQ organized an entertaining, educational, and well-attended panel on Incremental Architecture.

In November, Michael Kelly will present our next evening meeting topic, Agile Methodologies: A Matter of Survival.

Metaphorically, we frequently think of things as surviving where there's no real threat to life. Companies survive. Products, and the teams that produce them, survive. Individual members of the team continue to be a member of the team by virtue of their ability to survive. In all these activities we see the same lively dance of competition and cooperation, of adaptation and evolution, within a constantly changing environment.

Michael Kelly, a survivor of numerous software campaigns, will bring together the insights of famed survival writer Laurence Gonzales, some rather surprising research into the neuroscience of decision making, and some hair-raising personal experiences to illuminate the importance of agile methodologies and suggest some potential new directions.

This is our usual monthly meeting for the month of November. Remember the location and time for future meetings! Third Wed of the month, at CubeSpace.

Monthly, 3rd Friday meeting of the Extreme Programming user group conversation meeting to discuss all things Agile and Extreme Programming.

Lean methods in software development have progressed from conceptual understanding to practical techniques that people are using to solve problems and ship software today. The Lean toolkit augments or enhances the practices that are available to today's Agile practitioner. Lean expands the organizational scope of Agile and provides a rich and robust set of methods for process improvement.

Corey Ladas is a Lean Software Development consultant and practitioner who focuses on evolving local development processes through systematic self-organization and continuous improvement. He will discuss and demonstrate some of the techniques from his new book, Scrumban: Essays on Kanban Systems for Lean Software Development.

Pizza at 6:30pm, talk at 7pm, beer after. Pizza is sponsored by YesMail. As ever, we will follow the meeting with a chat and hang out at a local pub.

Join other XP and agile methdology practitioners and enthusiasts for a lunchtime discussion.

XPDX is group of IT professionals in the Portland, Oregon area that are interested in Extreme Programming and Agile software development methodologies.

Lean is not just yet another initiative it is a way of doing business. Done correctly lean provides an "operating system" for your business.

Chris Scherer from OMEP will give an overview of Lean with a quick demo and a local case study. He will describe leans impact on business both in the "office" and on the manufacturing floor. Come spend an interactive and informative evening and learn how lean can help you make your business more sustainable by reducing waste and non value added activities.

Chris Scherer: Chris is Chief Financial Officer for the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership (OMEP) and also carries an active caseload of OMEP clients. In 2002, Chris developed OMEP’s Lean Office and Accounting practice and has extensive experience conducting value stream mapping workshops in manufacturing, non-manufacturing and service settings. Prior to joining OMEP, Chris served as principal for CS Projects, LLC, a consulting practice focused on the development of public-private partnerships. He also held positions of responsibility with the Portland Development Commission (Director of Finance and Information Services) and KPMG Peat Marwick (Manager).

Association of Business Process Management Professionals (ABPMP.org) The Association of Business Process Management Professionals is a non-profit, vendor independent professional organization dedicated to the advancement of business process management concepts and its practices. ABPMP is practitioner-oriented and practitioner-led. The mission of the ABPMP is to engage in activities that promote the practice of business process management, has developed a Common Body of Knowledge in this field, and to contribute to the advancement and skill development of professionals who work in this discipline.

Cost: Free, but please RSVP so that we can have enough light snacks for everyone. Please RSVP: Linked-in (http://bit.ly/2jDQUp) Hosted by: University of Oregon Applied Information Management Masters Degree Program. http://aim.uoregon.edu Presented by ABPMP. Association of Business Process Management Professionals: www.abpmp.org

We'll have a discussion on one of the people issues associated with agile software development: how do you turn a bad situation around?

Just as legacy code is a set of problems that take special techniques to overcome, legacy interpersonal interactions are too. I'm pretty sure that unit tests aren't the answer for most interpersonal problems, either. :)

More seriously, it's pretty common to join a company or team with existing trust and communication (and yes, tech) issues. Come share ways of turning those into successes.

Pizza and networking at 6:30pm, 7pm talk, beer afterwards.

(Note: location is hard to get to via GPS or map service. Use directions here instead.)

This is the informal complement to the more formal XPDX meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

Announcing Agile Open Northwest 2010! This Agile Open Space event will be held February 9th and 10th, 2010, in the Seattle Center Northwest Rooms. Please see http://www.agileopennorthwest.org for registration information and further details.

We invite you to our fourth annual Agile Open Northwest conference. Alternating each year between Portland and Seattle, AONW conferences bring together practicing members of the Northwest Agile communities to explore the latest developments in agile software development. We held our third annual event last year in Portland and enjoyed another great success. Registration is $125.00 for both days, including light breakfast and lunch. This low-cost regional conference is a great opportunity to connect with the local agile community, experts and novices alike.

Please join us this year as we host 125 experienced, collaborative, committed agile practitioners from the Northwest U.S. (and beyond) in tackling the issues around our recurring theme "Agile for Real." As in past years, attendance is limited to a predetermined number in order retain the many advantages a small conference has to offer.

Here is a comment from a previous attendee:

"These two-day Agile Open Northwest conferences are an extremely good value. ..[Y]ou learn directly from practitioners in the agile community what works and what doesn't. I attended the first two of these conferences, they were stunningly good... loads of practical, useful stuff and stimulating discussions." -- Ian Savage, PNSQC Program Chair

More information can be found at http://www.agileopennorthwest.org. Registration is open now. We look forward to seeing you there.

We're happy to announce that Elisabeth Hendrickson will be speaking to the Portland Agile Users Group on Wednesday the 17th. She's an energetic and informative member of the greater agile community who periodically comes up from the Bay Area to share her knowledge with us. Her talk on ATDD[*] last year at CubeSpace was great fun and well-received.

This year she'll be taking us through an interactive simulation of an agile transition. When she ran this simulation at Agile 2009, it replicated a number of problems I've seen take months and years to play out on real software teams. Bring your team members! It's far less stressful to talk about problems in the context of an evening's simulation than in the context of three years of product development.

Pizza is sponsored by YesMail of InfoGroup Interactive. Pizza and networking start at 6:30; presentation starts at 7. If there's enough interest, we'll go to a pub afterward for further discussion.

[*] Acceptance-Test-Driven Development

This is the informal complement to the more formal agile users group meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

This is the informal complement to the more formal agile users group meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

This is the informal complement to the more formal agile users group meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

Join us for a discussion of topics related to agile software development! Audience participation strongly encouraged. Pizza is at 6:30; discussion starts at 7.

For those unfamiliar with the term, a fishbowl discussion works like fishbowl coding: there are a small number of people who are up front and allowed to speak at any given time. If you want to ask a question or say something, swap in for one of the people up front. If you're up front and done speaking, sit back down in the audience.

Potential discussion topics include mock objects in testing; balancing ideology with reality; certification; no/low bugs in a codebase; contracting without being able to give a fixed bid. Or bring your own! We'll decide what we're discussing at the beginning of the meeting, but expect the conversation to wander.

This is the informal complement to the more formal agile users group meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

This is the informal complement to the more formal agile users group meetings. Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer.

Agile PDX convenes a monthly 1st Friday practitioner's no-host lunch in central/eastside Portland Metro area as an informal complement to the more formal Agile PDX users group meetings (3rd Wednesday).

Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer, and people interested in all flavors of Agile - XP, scrum, crystal, evo, lean/kanban, FDD, build-your-own, etc.

There's also a 3rd Friday westside lunch. Watch for it too!

Agile PDX convenes a monthly 1st Friday practitioner's no-host lunch in central/eastside Portland Metro area as an informal complement to the more formal Agile PDX users group meetings (3rd Wednesday).

Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer, and people interested in all flavors of Agile - XP, scrum, crystal, evo, lean/kanban, FDD, build-your-own, etc.

There's also a 3rd Friday westside lunch. Watch for it too!

Agile PDX convenes a monthly 1st Friday practitioner's no-host lunch in central/eastside Portland Metro area as an informal complement to the more formal Agile PDX users group meetings (3rd Wednesday).

Come, eat, and discuss all things related (however loosely) to agile software development. We welcome people of all experience levels, from guru to newcomer, and people interested in all flavors of Agile - XP, scrum, crystal, evo, lean/kanban, FDD, build-your-own, etc.

This months discussion will start with a discussion around Uncle Bob’s recent video blog “Restoring the Trust” (http://cleancoder.posterous.com/stub6-restoring-the-trust) as well as other topics related to the recent ten year anniversary of the Agile Manifesto.

Join us at our new location a reserved room at Paddy's Bar and Grill.

NOTE: This event is full! If you want to try to get in, go to the Meetup page and sign up for the waiting list.

Overview

PDX Lean Startup Circle, Urban Airship, Inc. & Emma welcomes Eric Ries, the creator of the Lean Startup methodology. Eric is the author of the popular blog Startup Lessons Learned and the creator of the Lean Startup methodology. He co-founded and served as CTO of IMVU, his third startup, which has today has over 40 million users and 2009 revenue over $22 million. An entrepreneur in residence at Harvard Business School and a frequent speaker at business events, he advises startups on business and product strategy using the Lean Startup approach. Eric will be introducing brand new material covered in his upcoming book, including:

* Applying Lean Startup principles outside of startups in the "garage". 
* Learning the new style of management required for the startup institution.
* How to build startup processes that accelerate the speed through the Build-Measure-Learn feedback loop. 

* How to measure progress, how to setup milestones, and how to prioritize work. 

Tickets for this special event are $25, which includes a pre-order of Eric Ries' upcoming Lean Startup Book that will be shipped to you this fall. For more information on the book see http://lean.st/

Urban Airship & Emma are sponsoring the event and covering the cost of tickets for the event (maximum 75 people).

Agenda

6:00 - 6:30 - Meet and Greet

6:30 - 8:00 - Eric's Talk & Discussion

In this fast paced, hands-on one day course, you will learn and experience the principles and practices of Lean Thinking applied to service industries (non-manufacturing). During this course you will “learn to see” waste in any process, enabling you to identify opportunities for improving speed, quality, cost, innovation, employee engagement, and customer satisfaction.

Lean operates across three levels of an organization.

* <b>At the individual level</b>, Lean enables people to do their daily work, while improving how they do this work, always with a keen focus on what their customers want.
* <b>At the management systems level</b>, Lean focuses on cross-functional activity, breaking down organizational silos, balancing demand and workload so processes flow smoothly.
* <b>At the executive level</b>, Lean connects organization strategy with management systems and daily improvement activities, ensuring that everyone in the organization is communicating clearly and focusing on process improvements that yield the greatest benefit to the organization.

You’ll return to your organization with:

* Hands-on experience with fundamental Lean tools and techniques that drive process improvement
* The understanding needed to begin investigating the flow of work and information within your organization, identifying opportunities to increase value and reduce waste
* A clear comprehension of the value Lean offers in terms of speed, quality, cost, innovation, employee engagement and customer satisfaction, and an ability to articulate that value within the context of your own organization.

More info: http://oregontrainingnetwork.com/lean-for-service/

Value-first in the nick of time: how agile methods and lean program management averted crisis to deliver the goods on a $20 million business process change.

Part experience report, part expedition, this presentation will take you inside an Agile adoption nested within a project turnaround. From diagnosis through prescription, convalescence, and recovery to eventual triumph and the acceptance of a new status quo, you will hear how a century-old organization transformed its application delivery capability in the face of a crisis, growing a project team from six to 60 developers inside two months and accelerating from one release in six months to several releases every sprint. This is a must-see for anyone who has ever struggled against organizational inertia or dreamed of rapidly scaling Agile from the team level to the enterprise level to the sound of cheering business managers.

Our speaker is Adam Light, Ph.D. Adam is a Management Consultant and Principal at SoTech Advisors (www.sotechadvisors.com) where he plans and executes successful projects and builds work systems that deliver on client goals.

Adam has more than fifteen years’ experience designing and developing business applications from shrink-wrapped software to real-time information services in domains from natural resources management to supply chain optimization.

As a planning and program management leader, Adam has worked with as few as three and as many as twenty teams, using Agile methods and critical chain techniques to turn around failing projects, revive ailing organizations, and redesign application delivery at the enterprise scale. His broad perspective and deep experience enable him to rapidly deliver return on investment from large projects.

This event is free and is at our new location, Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion.

In 2009, Performance Health Technology went "all-in" and began the adoption of agile methodologies throughout the software development process. In this talk, you'll take a multi-year journey with a growing small business and experience the transition from the blissful ignorance of cowboy-coding through the misery and despair of a sinking, dysfunctional organization, and on to the satisfaction and exhilaration that comes with a high-functioning agile team.

This interactive presentation is about both the pain and the fulfillment that comes with developing software in a small business, before, during, and after agile adoption. Developers, Business/IT Managers, Agile Coaches, and Executives are invited to look behind the curtain to see how PH Tech narrowly escaped from the Pit of Development Despair and survived a Total Immersion into Agile.

Chad is the Director of Information Technology at PH Tech. His responsibilities include all aspects of technological infrastructure and software development, including three technology departments; Information Systems, Business Intelligence, and Software Engineering. When he's not talking about healthcare or technology, he's expounding the life-giving qualities of bacon and BBQ. Buy him a beer and he'll give you the recipe for the greatest chicken wing rub he's ever stolen.

This event is free and is at our new location, Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of chicken wings and other agile conundrums.

At the heart of Lean Thinking is the Plan-Do-Check-Act problem solving process popularized by Dr. Deming over fifty years ago. This problem solving discipline is still vital today, and it’s the very core of what it means to be a “learning organization.”

This workshop provides hands-on, experiential learning by applying this discipline to a problem that is meaningful to you:

• First comes a little advance homework – choose a problem you and your team face, gather some data and artifacts, and speak to your stakeholders to understand their perspectives and needs

<li>Then attend the workshop for a six-hour interactive walkthrough of the problem solving process, during which we will tackle the problem you and your team have brought to class</li>

<li>Then participate in a conference call with the course instructor to discuss what you’ve learned, and how you and your team are addressing in a way that it stays solved</li> </ul>

Test Driven Development has reached maturity. Goad Testing takes you a level deeper, examining what tests really are and using the outcome of that exercise to derive new ways of keeping software - both production and test - healthy, flexible, and on-specification. Making distinctions is a critical aspect of a test: It allows a test to serve as an executable specification. Sometimes this ability is lost in the course of maintenance. Goad testing is a way to prevent that from happening without introducing significant extra work or complexity.

About Max Guernsey III, Hexagon Software LLC: I’ve been in the software development industry for over ten years. Nearly half of that has been spent mentoring teams in various aspects of Agility, including Design Patterns, TDD, User Story creation & analysis. In the last few years, I’ve become interested in how Lean and Agile fit together.

This event is free and is at our new location, Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of chicken wings and other agile conundrums.

Difficulty iterating? Stuck in a rut at work? Throw caution to the wind and host a hackathon! You can finally play with Shiny Thing 2.0, show it off to your friends and teammates, all in a format that will encourage you to work in small, iterative slices.

Growing in popularity in recent years, hackathons provide a venue for folks to get together, explore new ideas and (hopefully!) build working software in the span of a couple of days. Come learn about their use in the corporate space and the public space at large, how to sponsor one, and how to make the event create lasting effects. We'll also explore the parallels between agile development and hackathons, and how each is good practice for the other.

Ben Houston is a pragmatic software engineer who is currently in love with mazes and geometry.

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of chicken wings and other agile conundrums.

It's time for your yearly Agile tune-up! Has your Agile team made its new year's resolutions yet? If not, this month's AgilePDX meeting will help. It's all about helping you understand what you can do to improve the state of your Agile practice.

James Shore will kick things off with a description of Agile Fluency. He'll describe multiple levels of proficiency and help you figure out where your team is today. Then, he'll provide specific techniques and practices to focus on as you work to reach the next level.

Next, we'll turn it over to you! You'll break into groups focused on the issues that matter most to your teams. You'll have the opportunity to learn from each other's experiences and to discuss how you can improve your team. Experienced Agile practitioners will be on hand to answer questions and help you figure out which improvements will make the most difference for you.

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of agile fluency

Have you ever begun an Agile adoption, only to watch in dismay and puzzlement as the change fizzles out like a wet firecracker? Have you generated excitement for these new ideas, seen them seem to take root and grow, only to find a year later that people have fallen back into their old ways of doing things? Or, are they now cherry picking Agile practices, perhaps using Agile terms, but ignoring the Agile values? If so, you are not alone. In this talk, Tamara Sulaiman Runyon discusses some reasons why simple practice adoption is not enough; and why transformation is so difficult to make stick in many organizations. Topics include: the nature of change and complex systems models - where do we fit? The key role that vision and leadership play in instigating and supporting transformation; the potential iceberg of organizational culture as a change blocker, as well as people aspects - the levels of discomfort caused by any change; and measuring the growth of competence as Agile practices and Values are assimilated.

Presenter Bio:

Tamara Sulaiman Runyon has been assisting teams in transitioning to agile methods both as a hands-on ScrumMaster and as an Agile Coach and Scrum trainer since 2003. Her passion lies in helping organizations plan and implement Agile transformations. In her role as Enterprise Agile Coach at Intel, she is deeply involved with leading and supporting Agile teams and practices throughout the organization.

She is a Certified Scrum Trainer (CST) and Project Management Professional (PMP). Tamara is the co-originator of the AgileEVM materials and processes that integrate the traditional project management practice of Earned Value Management with the Scrum framework. As a thought leader she is currently serving on the Agile Alliance Board of Directors. Tamara continues to publish articles on Agile-related topics in industry publications such as Agile Journal, Methods and Tools, InfoQ, Projects@Work and gantthead.com. She also shares her experiences, ideas and expertise as a presenter and speaker at conferences.

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of agile fluency

In partnership with the Intel Agile Conference, Rose City SPIN is proud to present this panel discussion on “Agile and the Enterprise”

This will be an open discussion with the panel speakers around the topic of Agile and the Enterprise. Some questions will be facilitated but bring your burning questions about Agile as the audience will be able to ask questions of the panel. This is your opportunity to generate discussion about Agile and Lean topics with some of the top minds in the industry!

About Our Speakers

Mary Poppendieck (poppendieck.com) teaches and consults worldwide on Lean principles for software. Her approach identifies real business value and enables product teams to realize that value.

Ron Jeffries is one of the 3 founders of the Extreme Programming (XP) software development methodology circa 1996, along with Kent Beck and Ward Cunningham. He was from 1996, an XP coach on the Chrysler Comprehensive Compensation System project, which was where XP was invented. He is an author of Extreme Programming Installed, the second book published about XP. He has also written Extreme Programming Adventures in C#. He is one of the 17 original signatories of the Agile Manifesto.

Chet Hendrickson specializes in assisting software organizations become more effective through the use of agile software techniques. A co-author of Extreme Programming Installed, Chet has taught Extreme Programming's values and practices around the world

How to Register

No need to register! This is a FREE lecture sponsored by the Rose City SPIN. But you can help us plan by registering at: http://www.eventbrite.com/event/3127126319

About the Rose City SPIN

The Rose City Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN) is a monthly forum for networking, mutual support, and promotion of effective software practices. We exchange practical experiences, ideas, knowledge, wisdom, and war stories about the technical, business, and human facets of software process improvement. The Rose City SPIN serves the software development community of the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Whether you work for a large company or a small one, corporate or self-employed, industrial or academic setting, you are welcome at the Rose City SPIN.

AgilePalooza is a community event that brings together internationally recognized agile coaches and trainers with local software professionals. Attendees will learn about advancing agile methods through workshops and collaborative sessions.

Use promo code V1Save50-C for 50% off. Only $35!

Speakers include: Dr. Ahmed Sidky has a Ph.D. in value–based process frameworks for effective agile adoption. Ahmed’s work has gained popularity and respect in the agile community as a pragmatic approach for organizations of all sizes attempting to adopt agile. Diana Larsen Drawing on 15+ years of experience working with technical professionals, Diana is a pragmatic agile consultant with FutureWorks. Diana leads system-wide groups in collaborative thinking and planning, as well as guiding teams through project kick-offs, chartering and retrospectives. Dave Sharrock drives change within technology-driven organizations through the introduction of agile product development practices, using agile frameworks such as Scrum. And more!!

For $69, attendees receive a full day of agile learning, lunch and the opportunity to participate in one of two tracks: Practicing Agile and Planning Agile. The Practicing Agile track is geared toward those interested in agile fundamentals and engineering practices and the Planning Agile track is for those planning and managing multiple teams and projects.

Go here to learn more and register: http://www.agilepalooza.com/Portland2012/default.asp

What alternatives are there to the predominant linear management approach which relies on reductionism and the ability to predict. How can you avoid the temptation to engineer and control outcomes by manipulating the component parts of organizations business and process?

Ola describes his nonlinear approach, where he combines Real Options, the Mikado Method, and evolutionary design to form a dynamic, diametrically opposite perspective to the familar linear management view.

Presenter:

Ola Ellnestam likes to combine people, technology and business which is best done with simple means and flexible processes. More than that he likes to share his knowledge and experiences because that’s how new insights are created according to him. Ola is a founder of Agical.se , a board member of the Agile Aliance, director of the Agile Alliance conference sponsorship program, and co-author (with Daniel Brolund) of The Mikado Method book.

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of agile fluency

Also, on Thursday, April 19, join Ola for a one-day workshop on The Mikado Method

For more information on the workshop, see: http://calagator.org/events/1250461927

This time around, we're reading Agile Experience Design: A Digital Designer's Guide to Agile, Lean, and Continuous. Want to read, learn, talk about UX and agile, and maybe drink some beer? You should come along!

Build Winning Products with Rapid Customer Insigh The Build Winning Products with Rapid Customer Insight workshop gives you the tools necessary to deliver successful products through more effective ways to access customers, listen for their needs, and integrate this learning into real products. This program is ideal for Agile and Lean development teams working with fast-paced development schedules.

Exclusive offer! OTBC has partnered with Planning Innovations to pilot this program to 12 participants at a special “at cost” rate of $57. By participating, you agree to join us for a 90-minute facilitated discussion to provide Planning Innovations feedback on the program. After this pilot offer, the program will normally be offered at $895/participant.

The best way to learn is by doing. This program is highly interactive with role-playing, real customer interviews, and participating in real world requirements tradeoff discussions using the tools we discuss in the program.

We'll focus on key questions and challenges, such as:

• How do I determine the right customers for insight?
• How can I build a customer panel for fast access?
• What are the best ways to really “listen” for customer needs?
• How can I understand the tradeoffs customer make every day?
• How do I manage and communicate fuzzy customer input?

Prioritize People Over Process: The Brain Science of Happy Agile Teams

Learn how to apply neuroscience and psychology to more effectively work with each other as a happy team that produces better software. You will take away:

• Concrete techniques for more quickly building trust on teams
• Actionable ideas for managing social stress
• Proven techniques for getting the best results from each other

Comments from the Game Developers Conference presentation of similar material:

"Mr. Scott Crabtree was also an absolutely excellent speaker - very inspiring, thought-provoking, and energizing! Please have him back on the same topic of the importance of happiness within teams in the future!"

"The speaker about happiness was amazing."

"Scott Crabtree was Excellent...an excellent tutorial that I would recommend to anyone."

Presenter:

Scott Crabtree, Chief Happiness Officer, Happy Brain Science: www.HappyBrainScience.com/about

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm and will run until 8:30.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of agile fluency

Join us for happy hour to hear how Scrum and Kanban can work together to focus your team’s energy on the most important work -- delivering high quality, on-time projects that exceed expectations.

At the event, you will:

• Learn the characteristics of Scrum and Kanban and how they differ
• Discover best practices that enable these approaches to work together for the good of your organization
• Hear stories of how others have implemented both Scrum and Kanban practices to manage projects and portfolios

The event is complimentary, but space is limited. Please register in advance. We look forward to seeing you there.

Agile Chartering ignites your project Liftoff in a way that gives impetus to the project team, and the business, and sets the endeavor on the trajectory to success. Project leaders and team members use Agile Chartering to inform, inspire, and align everyone involved in product delivery. Experience a journey through the framework for effective, yet lightweight, "just enough" Agile chartering, including the three key elements of inspiring Purpose, collaborative Alignment, and dynamic Context. Learn why real-life team members say Agile Chartering provided the initial momentum that powered their projects toward success.

In this high energy talk, Diana Larsen, co-author of Liftoff: Launching Agile Teams and Projects, will take you on an exploration of ways to accomplish team and project Liftoffs, including the vital step of chartering the project.

Bio:

Diana Larsen partners with clients in the software industry to create, guide, and fortify resilient workplaces and improve project performance. In addition to consulting with and coaching leaders and teams on adopting Agile work systems, she draws on 20+ years of working with technical professionals to lead team, project, and whole system processes for collaborative thinking and planning. Diana co-authored Liftoff: Launching Agile Teams and Projects and Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great. She serves on the board of directors of the Agile Alliance and is a principal of FutureWorks Consulting LLC.

Details and Pizza:

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of launching Agile Projects.

Bio:

Jez Humble is a Principal at ThoughtWorks Studios, and co-author of the Jolt Award winning Continuous Delivery, published in Martin Fowler’s Signature Series. He has worked with a variety of platforms and technologies, consulting for non-profits, telecoms, financial services, and online retail companies. His focus is on helping organisations deliver valuable, high-quality software frequently and reliably through implementing effective engineering practices.

Details and Pizza:

Many thanks to New Relic for covering the speaker costs!

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of launching Agile Projects.

Talk description:

Businesses rely on getting valuable new software into the hands of users as fast as possible, while making sure that they keep their production environments stable. Continuous Delivery is a revolutionary and scalable approach to software delivery that enables any team, including teams within enterprise IT organizations, to achieve rapid, reliable releases through better collaboration between developers, testers, DBAs and operations, and automation of the build, deploy, test and release process.

I’ll start by discussing the value of CD to the business, inspired by the lean startup movement. I’ll then present the principles and practices involved in continuous delivery, including value stream mapping, the deployment pipeline, acceptance test driven development, zero-downtime releases, and incremental development. I’ll cover how CD is enabled by an ecosystem including Devops, cloud computing, agile testing, and continuous deployment.

Frank D’Andrea is an enthusiastic Agile evangelist, mentor, educator, and most recently, the Vice-President of Software Development at Tater Tot Designs. He has extensive experience in managing web and software development projects as well as mobile application and Content Management System development efforts. He is an experienced process improvement specialist with expertise in both Agile and Waterfall development environments.

Frank has leadership experience in both Product and Project Management as well as hands-on experience as a Certified Scrum Professional. Frank has been involved in numerous extracurricular activities as well; such as a 10-year stint of teaching poetry, literature, creative writing, and composition classes at Portland Community College; representing Portland as a member of Portland’s National Poetry Slam team; publishing and performing with Haiku Inferno, and getting his J.D. from Willamette University College of Law.

Here's the abstract:

Agile Still Sucks.

Bringing Agile into an organization is never a good idea. It is disruptive, complicated, and very expensive. It brings organizational dysfunction to the surface and shines a bright light on business practices that sabotage teams and fail to deliver value to clients. Further, unwitting teams may adopt a version of Agile that becomes dogmatic, inflexible, and interested in perpetuating the "process” of Agile rather than being, well, agile. The only thing worse than bringing Agile in, is trying to get Agile right.

That said, everyone should be using Agile. This presentation will explore ways to bring Agile into an organization, how to choose the right "flavor” of Agile, and what to do when it goes badly – because it will. This presentation will also examine how to expand the Agile conversation from within the software development team, outward to internal stakeholders, and eventually into client engagements.

Details and Pizza:

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of launching Agile Projects.

Bring your questions. Bring your Problems. Join us for Lean Coffee facilitated by Diana Larsen.

Lean Coffee started in Seattle in 2009 when Jim Benson and Jeremy Lightsmith wanted to combine lean and Knowledge work. Now, Seattle Lean Coffee happens every week, and is very popular.

Lean Coffee is a structured, but agenda-less meeting. Participants gather, build an agenda, and begin talking. Conversations are directed and productive because the agenda for the meeting was democratically generated.

(http://leancoffee.org/)

Details and Pizza:

This event is free and is at Puppet Labs. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

Arlo Belshee and James Shore present "This One Goes to 121:"

We will explore excellence. What it is, how one achieves it, and how one exceeds it. What determines the outer limits of your team s capability? How can you be continually more awesome? We've each got a decade of transitioning to (Jim), being on (Arlo), and building (both) awesome Agile teams.

Details and Pizza:

This event is free. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion of launching Agile Projects.

Agile Fluency Tune-Up

It's time for your annual tune-up! Do you want to get more mileage out of your Agile teams? Is one of your New Years' resolutions to figure out how to get the results Agile promises? If so, come to AgilePDX's annual tune-up session, hosted by James Shore and Diana Larsen. They'll walk you through four levels of Agile fluency and how to make the leap from one level to the next, then help you apply those ideas to your real-world situation. You'll go home with specific, actionable ideas you can use with your own teams.

Details and Pizza:

This event is free. It begins at 6:30 pm with pizza, sponsored by PNSQC (Many thanks to both Puppet Labs and PNSQC for supporting agile in Portland).

The program starts at 7:00 pm.

After the program you're invited to join us for a no-host gathering at a nearby brewpub for further discussion.

Agile Open Northwest, a non-profit alliance of agile practitioners in the US Pacific Northwest region, presents our seventh annual conference, now expanded to a third day! This conference contains over 90 sessions bringing novices, journeymen, and experts together for face-to-face conversations exploring the most important topics in Agile software development today.

What: An Open Space conference about Agile practices and techniques. Where: Ambridge Event Center, Portland, Oregon When: February 6 to 8, 2013 - Now three days long! Who: YOU and other experienced, collaborative, committed agile practitioners. Registration is limited to 150 participants. Cost: $200 for the three-day event, including continental breakfast and lunch each day, and dinner on the first night.

Agile Open Northwest 2013 offers an opportunity to strengthen our community of practice and co-create the future for Agile development in our region. For three days, we build on conversation after conversation as we engage important questions like:

What is Agile really? What are the most important practices in making Agile approaches really successful on my team? Who practices Agile philosophies, methods, principles or practices in the Northwest, and what's the impact? What is the difference between Lean, Scrum, XP, and other Agile approaches? What new technical challenges face Agile? What are the latest cutting edge developments in the Agile software development world? How do Agile frameworks and methods co-exist with project management, process control and other governance structures? How do we adapt Agile practices to our organizations without diluting them? Can Agile methods work in big, risky projects? How? When distributed teams use Agile approaches, what changes? If we adopt an Agile mindset, what might the transition look like in my organization?

Only 20 spots so sign up today!

Someone get the Fabreeze, because your idea STINKS!

A softer way of putting that is your idea has a hole in it somewhere. You should identify the holes in the boat before launching your transatlantic journey.

Forget your solution and run your first experiment by talking to customers and validating that they have the problem you think they have.

Learn the importance of Customer Development and why talking to customers is step one for any new idea, product, or service. After a brief intro to Lean and my personal story, we will set up your first problem/customer statement and conduct your first experiment using the Validation Board. Part of this class will be "out of the building" as we do in our Lean workshops.

We will cover the following in the this session. - Brief into to Lean and why it is valuable - Complete run-through of Validation Board (as this will be the basis of all experiments) - How to turn assumptions into experiments - Types of minimal viable products to build - What features do my customers want (setting up experiments for team) - Customer development tactics and exercises to implement - Case study of real life implementation and business model

About Adam Berk Entrepreneurial Science, Lean Startup Machine

I am the Global Director of Entrepreneurial Science at Lean Startup Machine. I have the great pleasure of travelling around the world to teach entrepreneurs about Lean methodologies. I have helped over 100 teams of entrepreneurs in Istanbul, Silicon Valley, NYC, Seattle, Vancouver, Montreal, and at The University of Florida, Microsoft, AOL, NewsInternational, etc.

Standing on the shoulders of giants like Eric Ries, Steve Blank, Patrick Vlaskovits and others, we have distilled the Lean methodology into actionable, sequential steps. I really enjoy teaching early stage companies how to identify their riskiest assumptions and test them using our own proprietary tool, the Validation Board. I wish I could have taken this class when I built my first startup, neighborrow.com and I used the methods I teach in my current app for wedding photos - where I validated the solution and had paying customers before I wrote a line of code.

The Use of Cadence in Agile and Traditional Projects: Sprint Length, Integration Frequency, and Other Matters of Rhythm

Presented by Kathy Iberle

Dates/Times: Thursday, March 14, 2013: Networking @ 5:30-6:30 PM; Seminar 6:30-7:30 PM

Abstract:

A sprint is just one example of the use of cadence or rhythm to make a process more efficient. Once you understand the fundamentals of cadence, you can apply cadence in both agile and traditional projects to reduce overhead and coordinate activities. Learn how to determine the ideal sprint length for your project, find out when continuous integration won’t help, and discover other ways that cadence can benefit your project! This talk explores the science behind the concept of a “project heartbeat” using 2nd-generation Lean thinking. Bio:

Kathy Iberle is an expert at producing high-quality software and high-tech products using practical methods. She worked in a variety of fields during her long career at Hewlett-Packard - electronic instruments, medical products, printers, and Internet applications – and she has seen development from a range of perspectives: software developer, quality engineer, test lab manager, requirements manager, agile coach, process improvement expert. Kathy has a deep knowledge of the underlying theory behind agile and Lean development, combined with a flair for pragmatic applications, which has enabled her to successfully extend software agile development methods into areas where most people think “agile just can’t work”. Kathy reviewed technical papers for the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) for many years, served as co-chair of PNSQC’s Program Committee in 2009, participated in the invitation-only Software Test Managers Roundtable for five years, and has published regularly since 1997. Kathy has an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Washington, and an excessive collection of degrees in Chemistry from the University of Washington and the University of Michigan. Visit her website: www.kiberle.com

A Special Treat from PNSQC

Plan on coming early! In collaboration with the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference (PNSQC) the SPIN meeting will have pizza and pop provided by PNSQC beginning at 5:30 pm.

PNSQC is the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference, a group of volunteers interested in Software Quality. The Mission of the PNSQC is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. As a non-profit, it seeks to promote software quality by providing education and opportunities for information exchange within the software community.

Thanks also to OTBC

We want to thank OTBC (http://www.otbc.org/) for providing the space for this talk

How to Register

This is a FREE lecture sponsored by the Rose City SPIN. But you can help us plan food and drinks by registering at: http://marchspin.eventbrite.com

Rose City SPIN

The Rose City Software Process Improvement Network (SPIN) is a monthly forum for networking, mutual support, and promotion of effective software practices. We exchange practical experiences, ideas, knowledge, wisdom, and war stories about the technical, business, and human facets of software process improvement. The Rose City SPIN serves the software development community of the Portland/Vancouver metro area. Whether you work for a large company or a small one, corporate or self-employed, industrial or academic setting, you are welcome at the Rose City SPIN.

Networking at 5:30 PM, talk begins at 6:00 PM.

In partnership with the Intel Agile & Lean Conference and the Pacific Northwest Quality Conference, Rose City SPIN is proud to present this park bench discussion on “Escaping Velocity.”

Has Agile crossed the chasm and if so, what’s next? What will the industry look like in the next five years? This will be an open discussion with the speakers and audience about where we are and where we’re going in product development. Bring your burning questions about Agile as the audience will be able to ask questions during the park bench session. This is your opportunity to generate discussion about Agile topics with some of the top minds in the industry!

Speakers:

James Grenning trains, coaches and consults worldwide. James professional roots are in embedded software. His mission is to bring modern technical and management practices to embedded development teams. He is the author of Test-Driven Development for Embedded C. He is a co-author of CppUTest, a popular unit test harness for embedded C and C++. He invented Planning Poker, an estimating technique used around the world, and participated in the creation of the Manifesto for Agile Software Development. His business website is http://renaissancesoftware.net.

David “The Dude” Hussman teaches and coaches agility in companies of all sizes all over the world. For more than 10 years, David has evolved the successful adoption of agile methods in medical, retail, legal, education, health care, control systems, digital audio, financial and more. Sometimes he is pairing with developers and testers, while other times he is helping product manager create product roadmaps. David believes in helping companies design processes that help them instead of simply teaching them to follow a process. In addition to working side by side with design and delivery teams, David works with leader and executives to promote the use of agile methods to attack the real challenges of their specific industry. In 2009, David received the Gordon Pask Award from the Agile Alliance. David’s company called DevJam provides coaching, coursework, development staff and product development. DevJam has seasoned mentors and builders who pragmatically match technology, people, and processes to create better products in more competitive cycles.

Diana Larsen is a founder of FutureWorks Consulting, LLC, Diana Larsen partners with clients in the software industry to create, guide, and fortify resilient workplaces and improve project performance. In addition to consulting with and coaching leaders and teams on adopting Agile work systems, she leads team, project, and whole system processes for collaborative learning, thinking and planning. Diana co-authored Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great! and Liftoff: Launching Agile Teams and Projects. She serves on the boards of directors of the Agile Alliance and the Agile Open Northwest non-profit, and is an associate of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute.

Please register at: http://www.eventbrite.com/myevent?eid=6157030845. (Registration is option, but it does help organizers plan).

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free, but space is limited, please purchase a ticket to let us know you will be coming.

The event is free and open to the public, but please let us know you are coming by grabbing a ticket at leancoffee.eventbrite.com.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free, but space is limited, please purchase a ticket to let us know you will be coming.

The event is free and open to the public, but please let us know you are coming by grabbing a ticket at leancoffee.eventbrite.com.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free, but space is limited, please purchase a ticket to let us know you will be coming.

The event is free and open to the public, but please let us know you are coming by grabbing a ticket at leancoffee.eventbrite.com.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Who: YOU and all members of the local active Agile community (i.e., anyone who's doing any form of Agile - or wishes they could)

What: We invite you to join us in looking at future opportunities for AgilePDX.

When: On our regular meeting date, 3rd Wednesday, August 21

Why: Because "self-organizing" "collaborative" "responding to change"

How: Alicia Lanier (our facilitator) will help us stay on track as we take a couple of hours to look at:

• our draft Purpose and how it influences our decisions

• where we are now and how we got here (3+ meetings at different days, times of day, and geographic locations!)

• what that tells us about where we'd like to be

• what next steps will help us get there

Not one of our usual meetings, but more of an AgilePDX-wide retrospective and continuous improvement event. Please join us in service to the local Agile community. AgilePDX can be the best user group EVER!

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Many large companies struggle to bring innovation and lean thinking to their entrenched processes. If your teams have their motivation in the right place but their processes aren't meeting their needs, join us this September in Portland for Lean Day: West.

Come learn what it takes for lean teams to, not just thrive, but reinvent the way large companies build software. Speakers include tech, design and research leaders from GE, PayPal, Intuit and many other companies.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

It's not too late to register or volunteer for PNSQC, the Northwest's premier software quality conference. Attend the conference, watch the keynotes, talk to paper and poster presenters, come to the official party.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Greetings! 2014 is going to be great. I have teamed up with ISITE DESIGN and people from Silicon Valley to bring experts from the Agile Community to speak on topics ranging from Innovation to Enterprise Agile Transformation. We have speakers lined up from PayPal, Twitter, Ebay, Cisco, Apple, Visa, Walmart.com, Macys.com, etc.

These meetings will be monthly - happening on the last Thursday of every month at ISITE Design in NW Portland. To make the it even more interesting, we will have networking, food, and wine/beer the first hour, followed by the speaker for the 2nd hour, and then wrap up for the last 30 minutes. And the events will be FREE!

So, hope you can join us and make 2014 a Success for the Agile community in Portland. Speaker details to follow soon - check the website!

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

Companies who have ‘gone Agile’ often experience several failure modes. We know that Agile brings unprecedented transparency to adopters - but this often exposes organizational dysfunction which has ‘always been there,’ but often neither acknowledged nor addressed. This can result in one of the most disruptive transitions a company can go through. What to do?

-How can we spare ourselves months of what seems like inevitable struggle? -What have some veteran Agile practitioners learned, and done, to accelerate their transition, and reap the rewards that have eluded others? -How have they measured success?

Our panel of Product & Development experts will share their experience and strategies, to help you cross this minefield successfully and faster.

Mark Bednarski has worked with iGrafx since 2007, starting in Germany as a Business Process Consultant and Six-Sigma Black Belt. He transitioned into Product Management in October 2013 when he transferred to iGrafx headquarters in Tualatin, OR. iGrafx goal - to reduce the release cycle from 18 mos. to 6 mos. - required major changes in both Dev & PM processes, which Mark will lead to completion by the end of this year. This goal screamed for an Agile approach, causing Mark to learn and discover on his own – a tough learning curve, which started to pay back just a few months ago.

Tony Aiello has spent 20 years in machine vision / factory automation engineering, and 5 years in the movie business. He's regularly intrigued by how much these disciplines actually have in common from development / production viewpoints, and gratified that the skills are transferable.

We will confirm the remaining two panelists early next week.

Questions? Contact [email protected]

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

We're bringing Lean Coffee back from summer vacation!

Come join us for Lean Coffee. We will be talking about "Lean Knowledge Work" using the Lean Coffee format. We tend to focus on the business of software development, but you can talk about any topic your group agrees to talk about.

For more on Lean Coffee, check out leancoffee.org. To see what this group has discussed in the past, check out portland.leancoffee.org.

New Relic is hosting this event, providing us space and coffee (and a spectacular view). The event is free.

First of an energetic Lean Coffee discussions where we discuss a wide variety of questions that you bring for feedback, inquiry and laughs with fellow Agile practitioners. You pick your poison (in more ways than one).

For those of you with a downtown phobia, this is our first Lean Coffee on the inner eastside!

Lean Coffee discussions are where we discuss a wide variety of questions that you bring for feedback, inquiry and laughs with fellow Agile practitioners.

Sharpies and sticky notes are our agenda-setting tools of choice.

Intel Corporation’s preeminent development conference is back for its 7th year. This year’s conference focuses on building Culture, Community, and Craft to enable you and your teams to deliver faster with higher quality and customer value.

Discover the latest in Agile methods, Lean practices, requirements engineering, complex adaptive systems and more. Each week offers opportunities in which you can participate, including:

Keynotes with leaders and innovators from industry Tutorials and workshops, from basic through advanced Experience reports from leading development teams across Intel Networking events

Join us for Lean Coffee at Viewpoint Construction Software on Wednesday, August 5 at 7:30am. Viewpoint is located at the east landing of the Hawthorne Bridge, at 1510 SE Water Ave. Come to the Tech Center on the eastern side of Water Ave.

Lean Coffee is a simple, efficient, and fun way to discuss open ended topics in a small group. We’ll tend to focus on agile software development, but welcome any and all topics of interest. Porltand Lean Coffee is always an open, free community event. Some notes from past discussions are available on http://portland.leancoffee.org/

For more on Lean Coffee, check out http://leancoffee.org/

2016? Agile? Like to prognosticate, expound or listen intently? We're there for you.

(Did you miss the last one due to some unfortunately hyper-confusing instructions? Ahem. That organizer has been taken out to the back shed for re-education. Let's do this right.)

We'll meet at 5pm, spend a few minutes gathering ideas and drinks, then roll right into the smooth easy cadence of lively discussion.

Details on how Lean Coffee works are on the meetup site.

RSVP on meetup.com to secure your spot!

The SAFe® Agilist certification program is for executives, managers and Agile change agents responsible for leading a Lean-Agile change initiative in a large software enterprise. It validates their knowledge in applying the Scaled Agile Framework, lean thinking, and product development flow principles in an enterprise context so they can lead the adoption of the Scaled Agile Framework.

This Leading SAFe® workshop will show you how to deliver large projects with multiple teams and how Agile works at the portfolio and program levels.

Summer Orientation starts now! Learn how Little Data can lead to BIG results. For anyone interested in how to manage and align your team with data, learn from product experiments, and answer the questions "How are we doing?" and "How can we be better?"

Notion hosts a Portland-based, quarterly speaker series, and you're invited! Be inspired by leaders who use data to identify bottlenecks and build a collaborative data culture. You'll join members of Portland's vibrant tech and startup communities while enjoying some tasty snacks and beverages.

Many thanks to CENTRL Office for hosting Wednesday, July 27!

RSVP now to reserve your spot as there will be a limited number of tickets available!

A two-day technical program and one day of workshops for software quality engineers, testers, managers, consultants, software developers, Agilists and non-Agilist.

A featured speaker is author, consultant and “Pragmatic Manager” Johanna Rothman of the Rothman Consulting Group, Inc. She will lead a workshop on using Agile + Lean to deliver business value every day..

PNSQC events draw participants from Universities and Corporations from around the world. Among the major participants are ADP, Boeing Computer Services, Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Mentor Graphics, Tektronix, Microsoft, Portland State University and Oregon State University.

PNSQC’s mission is to enable knowledge exchange to produce higher quality software. We seek to increase the awareness of the importance of software quality. As a non-profit corporation, we seek to promote software quality by providing education and opportunities for information exchange within the software community. PNSQC provides opportunities to demonstrate, teach and exchange ideas on both proven and leading edge software quality practices.

The Lean Portland Meetup Group is for people interested in lean methodology for change management and empowering teams in all organizations business and non-profit and government https://leanpdx.wordpress.com/

Meet your Lean peers and find out what we have going on! - RSVP and join us at 5p

All too often entrepreneurs delay action while they perfect their product or service. However, to be a successful entrepreneur today you need to move quickly to market. That can mean developing and validating markets even before you are ready to serve them. We will explore 3 key strategies to launch your idea before fully developing your product or service.

Level up your skills, network with peers, and learn to accelerate stakeholder value delivery with this unique workshop from nuCognitive.

The first Agile principle is "Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software." However, in practice this does not seem to be true nearly as often as it should be. Teams often fail to provide early, frequent delivery of stakeholder value. Instead, they focused on spikes, class libraries, infrastructure, and other inward-focused work, without an understanding of their stakeholders and what they value. As a result, many teams start with what is most familiar, easiest, or most convenient for them rather than what stakeholders value most.

Why do teams often become focused on (or even obsessed with) feature development and maximizing development velocity? Without explicit focus on value, the association between velocity, feature development, and value-delivery is weak - perhaps even non-existent. At best, these projects are conducted sub-optimally. Frequently, they fail when stakeholders remove funding because they perceive a lack of value add.

Value-driven delivery is achieved using the answers to three simple, but not at all easy, questions: 1. Who are your stakeholders? 2. What do they value? 3. What are you doing in the next two weeks or less to provide value to them?

Teams often have many more stakeholders than they first realize. Value-driven Delivery ensures those stakeholders are made explicit, and that the list of stakeholders is kept current throughout the project.

Value-driven delivery captures and maintains stakeholder values in a quantified, verifiable way. This ensures that teams can know the real effects of each stakeholder value delivery, and prevents work based on an outdated understanding of value.

Value-driven Delivery also challenges teams to sequence deliveries so that they deliver the most valuable things first. This can have tremendous benefits, generating early business results and reducing the time required for the team to get into a positive Return on Investment for the project.

Value-driven delivery makes a natural overlay for Scrum, but does not require Scrum's use to be effective. Value-driven delivery does not ignore features and velocity, but it explicitly places value delivery above those things as the top priority.

Two other advantages to Value-driven Delivery worth mentioning: First, it is not limited to software, but applies to all aspects of an organization, including the executive suite, human resources, finance, IT, and product teams. Second, it is not focused on or limited to any particular scale. In fact, it is scale-free, working on small teams and teams of more than 500 engineers in a 100K-person company.

Learning Outcomes: -The definition and nature of value -The principles and practices of Value-driven Delivery -How to use Evolutionary Delivery to manage value-driven work, alone or in concert with Scrum -Fundamentals of several disciplines and models that aid value-driven work, including the Kano Model, elements from Diffusion of Innovations, UX Proof Points, and the HEART Framework -Attendees will gain enough understanding to begin using Value-driven Delivery in their own work if they desire. -Additional sources of information will be provided for continued learning.

Who should attend: Product management, product owners, product developers, service designers, architects, product managers, engineers, business development, business strategy, marketing, planners, project managers, software developers

Join us for an all day Scrum workshop on June 24th, 2017; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel.

Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques, in particular they utilize scrum to manage their projects.

Scrum has the power to transform project management across every industry, every business, and even across your personal life. By using Scrum, you’ll become more agile, discovering how to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the inevitable change that comes your way. By staying focused, collaborating, and communicating with customers and your team, you can accomplish what truly needs to be done — successfully.

Come get a taste of the future of project management and learn about the Scrum process. This one day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from scrum introduction certification class and Product Owner role in the Scrum Process.

STRUCTURE OF EVENT:

Day 1 – Learn about the Scrum Process, Learn what a Scrum Master is responsible for, come away with insights on how to manage your next project

BENEFITS

•Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science •Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors •Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs) •Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace •Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

Additional for Audience: SW Engineers: eXtreme Programming, Test Driven Development, Pair Programming Project Managers: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Scrum

WHO SHOULD COME? People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS: •Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales. •Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months. •Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales. •Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers. •Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations. •International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS: •PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute •PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org •CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance •CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

THERE WILL BE FOOD AND COFFEE! FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected].

Agilists from across the Pacific Northwest will converge at the Nike World Headquarters for a career changing day. This is a one-day conference with 3 keynote speakers (Richard Sheridan, best-selling author of Joy Inc., Gene Kim, founder and CTO of Tripwire, and Mamie Jones, SVP of Product Development at Intuit) as well as 20 workshops on Leadership, Product, Technical Enablement, Leadership, Innovation, Agility and much more.

Use this promo code, MeetAC17 for a 10% discount on registration if you register by 8/23/2017!

Practical, Hands-on Training For Kanban Learn how to “Stop Starting and Start Finishing”

Join us for an all day Kanban workshop on March 31st, 2018; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel. Our Kanban workshop will help you adopt a value–centric system of planning and executing your work. In this one day course we cover the basics of Kanban, one of the agile processes, through a combination of theory and extensive exercises. With in-depth exercises and coaching from an experienced practitioner, participants will learn how to initiate change with Kanban and bring in process improvements by identifying and addressing bottlenecks, prioritize, and initiate collaboration.

BENEFITS:

+++ Get a thorough understanding of the Kanban method, its core principles and practices +++ Learn how to design and introduce a Kanban system into your existing work environment +++ Understand how to improve service delivery with Kanban systems and ensure better customer focus +++ Learn to maximize benefits of the Pull-based workflow, limit Work In Progress (WIP) through continuous collaboration and active, ongoing learning and improving by defining the

    best possible team workflow

+++ Learn concepts through case studies, interactive role play, exercises and discussions +++ Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science +++ Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors +++ Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs) +++ Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace +++ Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

WHO SHOULD COME?

Kanban is one of the easiest ways to get your process and delivery under control, anyone with work that needs to get done will benefit. People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals, CIO’s, Team Leaders, Technical Leaders, Program Managers, Department Managers, Portfolio Managers, Supply Logistics Professionals.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.

Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.

Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.

Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.

Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.

International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS:

PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected].

PSU’s Center for Executive & Professional Education (CEPE) has ongoing needs for instructional staff. If you’re interested in teaching for CEPE (or think you might be!), please join us for this info session to meet us and learn about our needs. After a presentation on our history, courses, hiring process, and what we look for in instructors, we’ll break into discussion groups so attendees can network and learn more.

Intro to Scaled Agile Framework Agilist (SAFe) Training Two Days Training

Join us for a two-day Scaled Agile Framework workshop on June 09th, 2018 and June 16th, 2018; featuring Jay Mittal PMP, CSM, CSPO, SA, SPC; an experienced Project and Product Manager, whose client list include many of the Fortune 500 companies, including Nike and Standard insurance in Portland, OR. Jay is a certified trainer for SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Product Owner, and SAFe Agilist courses.

Blockbuster. Kodak. Tower Records. Nokia. Taxi Industry. Compaq. These companie were all iconic market leaders that couldn’t adapt to new business models and technology innovations ahead of their competitors. Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper, and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. Enterprises must learn how to adapt quickly to these changing technologies and economic conditions or they will become extinct, no matter their size, smarts, or strength. This holds true even for businesses that don’t consider themselves Information Technology (IT) or software companies. Professional services, financial services, healthcare institutions, and government entities are all highly dependent on their ability to produce new technology-based products and services. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques.

Come get a taste of the future of management and learn about SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework). This two day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from SAFe Agilist (SA) Certification program and is for executives, managers and Agile change agents who are responsible for leading a Lean/Agile change initiative in a large software enterprise.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS:

IBM: "There will only ever be a need for 100 computers." DEC: "No one would ever buy a personal computer." Blockbuster: "People don't want to watch films over the internet." Novell: "Our technology is much more sophisticated than Microsoft." Bookstores: "People want to pick up and handle the books, not read them on the computer." SONY: "Beta technology is far superior to VHS." LOTUS: "Our spreadsheet is far superior to Microsoft even if it is complicated." NOKIA: "Our phones are the world standard, even if they are proprietary." TOWER RECORDS: "People want to own their own music, not rent it online." BlackBerry: "Our security is what companies want, they won't let Android or iPhones on their network, even if our stuff costs more." Kodak: "People will always prefer film cameras, even if we invented digital ones."

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

– Learn about the Scrum Process. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. Come away with insights on how to manage your next project – Learn about the Scaled Agile Framework for enterprises. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. And how large organizations like Intel, Nike, Google, and Apple are implementing Agile techniques in Scaled environments. Come away with insights on how to manage your next projects.

BENEFITS:

• Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science
• Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors
• Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs)
• Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business programs.

JAY MITTAL’S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Highly skilled professional with over fifteen years of experience, Jay has extensive experience in diverse software and hardware platforms providing management, leadership, analysis, design, development, migration to implement business technology solutions.
• Experienced in complete life cycle of software development projects in both Waterfall and Agile frameworks including working as Project Manager, - Product Manager, Scrum Master and Agile coach.
• Consulting experience with Standard Insurance, Anthem Insurance, Nike, Michelin Tire, Novelis, WebMD.
• Experienced in different Industry Verticals including: Retail, Life & Health Insurance, Manufacturing, Advertising, and Banking.
• Worked as Project and Product Manager with Fortune 500 companies. Client list include Nike, Standard Insurance, Michelin Tire, and WebMD.

JAY MITTAL'S CERTIFICATIONS:

• Implementing Scaled Agile Framework - SAFe 4.5 Program Consultant (SPC)
• Leading Scaled Agile Framework - SAFe 4.5 Agilist (SA)
• Scaled Agile Framework for Teams - SAFe 4.5 Practitioner (SP)
• Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
• Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
• PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
• Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP - MS Project 2010)

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING:

This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed.

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected]. P.S. Location might change due to size of class. If this is the case; we'll be using a different venue in the downtown Portland Area.

RSVP Now: http://bit.ly/agiletraining2018

Want to learn how to take your projects to the Next Level

Practical, Hands-on Training for Scrum

Join us for an all day Scrum workshop on June 23rd, 2018; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel.

Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques, in particular they utilize scrum to manage their projects. Scrum has the power to transform project management across every industry, every business, and even across your personal life. By using Scrum, you’ll become more agile, discovering how to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the inevitable change that comes your way. By staying focused, collaborating, and communicating with customers and your team, you can accomplish what truly needs to be done — successfully.

Come get a taste of the future of project management and learn about the Scrum process. This one day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from scrum introduction certification class and Product Owner role in the Scrum Process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

– Learn about the Scrum Process. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. Come away with insights on how to manage your next project

BENEFITS

Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs) Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

ADDITIONAL FOR AUDIENCE

SW Engineers: eXtreme Programming, Test Driven Development, Pair Programming, Project Managers: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Scrum

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business programs.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales. Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months. Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales. Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers. Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations. International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS

PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING

This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected]. P.S. Location might change due to size of class. If this is the case; we'll be using a different venue in the downtown Portland Area.

Abstract: Lean is an interactive theorem prover and functional programming language. Lean implements a version of the Calculus of Inductive Constructions. Its elaborator and unification algorithms are designed around the use of type classes, which support algebraic reasoning, programming abstractions, and other generally useful means of expression. Lean has parallel compilation and checking of proofs, and provides a server mode that supports a continuous compilation and rich user interaction in editing environments such as Visual Studio Code, Monaco, Emacs, and Vim. In the first part of this talk, we provide a short introduction to Lean, its applications, and its metaprogramming framework. We also describe how this framework extends Lean’s object language with an API to many of Lean’s internal structures and procedures, and provides ways of reflecting object-level expressions into the metalanguage. We provide evidence to show that our implementation is efficient, and that it provides a convenient and flexible way of writing not only metaprograms and small-scale interactive tactics, but also more substantial kinds of automation. In the second part, we describe our plans for the system, and what we are currently working on.

More information about Lean can be found at http://leanprover.github.io. The interactive book “Theorem Proving in Lean” is the standard reference for Lean. The book is available in PDF and HTML formats. In the HTML version, all examples and exercises can be executed in the reader’s web browser.

Bio: I’m a Principal Researcher in the RiSE group at Microsoft Research. I joined Microsoft in 2006, before that I was a Computer Scientist at SRI International. I obtained my PhD at PUC-Rio in 2000. My research areas are automated reasoning, theorem proving, decision procedures, SAT and SMT. I’m the main architect of Lean, Z3, Yices 1.0 and SAL. Lean is an open source theorem prover and programming language. Sebastian Ullrich and I are currently developing the next version (Lean 4). Z3 and Yices are SMT solvers, and SAL (the Symbolic Analysis Laboratory) is an open source tool suite that includes symbolic and bounded model checkers, and automatic test generators. Z3 has been open sourced (under the MIT license) in the beginning of 2015. I received the Haifa Verification Conference Award in 2010. In 2014, the TACAS conference (Tools and Algorithms for the Construction and Analysis of Systems) has given an award for “The most influential tool paper in the first 20 years of TACAS” to the Z3 paper: Z3: An Efficient SMT Solver. 14th International Conference, TACAS 2008, vol. 4963 of Lecture Notes in Computer Science. In 2015, Z3 received the Programming Languages Software Award from ACM SIGPLAN. In 2017, the International Conference on Automated Deduction (CADE) presented the Skolem Award for my paper “Efficient E-Matching for SMT Solvers” that has passed the test of time, by being a most influential paper in the field. In 2018, the ETAPS conference has given the test of time award to the Z3 paper: Z3: An Efficient SMT Solver. You can see more about me at https://leodemoura.github.io/about.html

Practical, Hands-on Training For Kanban

Learn how to “Stop Starting and Start Finishing”

Join us for an all day Kanban workshop on August 04th, 2018; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel. Our Kanban workshop will help you adopt a value–centric system of planning and executing your work. In the one day training we cover the basics of Kanban, one of the agile processes, through a combination of theory and extensive exercises. With in-depth exercises and coaching from an experienced practitioner, participants will learn how to initiate change with Kanban and bring in process improvements by identifying and addressing bottlenecks, prioritize, and initiate collaboration.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

      * Understand how to make prioritization, sequencing and scheduling decisions based on economic factors instead of hunches.

      * Learn how to forecast single and multiple work items (releases, sprints) and be able to answer the questions like "When will the work be finished?" accurately instead of guessing due dates.

      * Acquire skills to avoid emotional objections to changes in general and to Kanban WIP limits introduction in particular.

      * Enabled by seven Kanban cadences, be able to introduce continuous learning and improvement process by implementing organizational feedback loops.

      * Familiarize with Kanban Risk Management approaches, service orientation, asymmetrical commitment and rollout phases for a Kanban initiative.

      * Increase Kanban knowledge to manage, sustain and scale evolutionary improvements in their organization.

BENEFITS:

      * Get a thorough understanding of the Kanban method, its core principles and practices.

      * Learn how to design and introduce a Kanban system into your existing work environment.

      * Understand how to improve service delivery with Kanban systems and ensure better customer focus.

      * Learn to maximize benefits of the Pull-based workflow, limit Work In Progress (WIP) through continuous collaboration and active, ongoing learning and improving by defining the best possible team workflow.

      * Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science.

      * Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors.

      * Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs).

      * Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace.

      * Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies.

      * Learn concepts through case studies, interactive role play, exercises and discussions.

WHO SHOULD COME?

Kanban is one of the easiest ways to get your process and delivery under control, anyone with work that needs to get done will benefit. Kanban works across multiple functions of an organisation, from senior managers looking to adopt Lean Management to members of delivery teams willing to improve their working practices. Who should come? People whose work is completed through projects and through teams;

      * Senior Managers

      * Program and Project Managers

      * Product Managers, Product Owners and Business Analysts

      * Scrum Masters, Team Leads and Change Agents

      * Product & Software Developers & Testers

      * Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers,

      * Agile Coaches & Practitioners (Scrum, XP, DSDM, AgilePM, etc.)

      * Portfolio Managers, Supply Logistics Professionals.

      * Other roles such as HR and Finance professionals

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

      * Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.

      * Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.

      * Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.

      * Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.

      * Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.

      * International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS:

      * PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute

      * PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org

      * CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner,   Scrum Alliance

      * CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected].

*** P.S. Location might change due to size of class. If this is the case; we'll be using a different venue in the downtown Portland Area.

Want to learn how to take your projects to the Next Level

Practical, Hands-on Training for Scrum

Join us for an all day Scrum workshop on August 11th, 2018; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel.

Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques, in particular they utilize scrum to manage their projects.

Scrum has the power to transform project management across every industry, every business, and even across your personal life. By using Scrum, you’ll become more agile, discovering how to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the inevitable change that comes your way. By staying focused, collaborating, and communicating with customers and your team, you can accomplish what truly needs to be done — successfully.

Come get a taste of the future of project management and learn about the Scrum process. This one day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from scrum introduction certification class and Product Owner role in the Scrum Process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

– Learn about the Scrum Process. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. Come away with insights on how to manage your next project

BENEFITS

Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs) Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

ADDITIONAL FOR AUDIENCE

SW Engineers: eXtreme Programming, Test Driven Development, Pair Programming, Project Managers: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Scrum

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business programs.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 * Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.
 * Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.
 * Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.
 * Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.
 * Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.
 * International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS

 * PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
 * PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org
 * CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance
 * CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING

 * This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed. 

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected]. P.S. Location might change due to size of class. If this is the case; we'll be using a different venue in the downtown Portland Area.

AgileCamp is a 1-day conference held in four cities across North America, including the Northwest, New York Metro area, Dallas and the San Francisco Bay Area! AgileCamp brings together the Agile community for a day filled with learning about Organizational Transformation including Business Strategy, Agile Practices, Lean Startup and Design Thinking. This year, we will feature 3 Keynote speakers and 20-24 session Tracks, packed with rich and valuable content and presented by Agile experts and thought leaders. Our objective is to bring together Agilists, from novice to expert, to advance Agile knowledge in the community.

Have traffic and work schedules prevented you from joining an agile event on a topic which could help you or your teams? Then a virtual "pub lunch" may be the answer!

This agile lunch discussion is a collaborative effort between Seattle and Portland agile minds, and we're hoping it won't stop there. The event is held on a Zoom conference line. We've learned using video is best, and you might consider your environment before joining -- find a quiet space where you won't be interrupted or feel self conscious. We're monitoring chat as a back channel, so if you can't find a spot in the discussion, add your question in chat and our hosts will try to work it in.

Topic: Agile thinking: Compare Scrum, Lean, Kanban, XP and any other methodologies you have used. What has worked? What hasn't? Maybe one methodology is better suited for certain situations or work efforts. Or you have seen great success going beyond frameworks and methodologies. Join us and tell us about the spices in your kitchen, and let's compare notes!

Please RSVP at our Meetup event and get the zoom connection info: https://www.meetup.com/AgilePDX-User-Group-Portland-Metro/events/254946132/

The DevOps simulation experience is a role-based workshop, focused on the software development and deployment lifecycle. The simulation is highly realistic, and leverages game dynamics to empower cross-functional teams with a shared vision of successful DevOps practices. Participants from a variety of disciplines are immersed into a simulated environment whereby they are challenged to release new products while internal and external forces continually change. This realistic approach delivers a level of tension and excitement that creates an ‘A-HA!’ moment for all involved.

WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE

Accelerated understanding of the benefits of DevOps best practice to large audiences

Rapid familiarization with DevOps terminology and Agile, Lean and ITIL v3 processes

Understanding of how DevOps best practice can facilitate alignment of IT to business objectives

Understanding of DevOps practices that can be executed with immediate effect

SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager Training

Join us for a our SAFe Product Owner/Product Manager workshop on Saturday, October 27th, 2018; featuring Jay Mittal PMP, CSM, CSPO, SA, SPC; an experienced Project and Product Manager, whose client list include many of the Fortune 500 companies, including Nike, Columbia Sportswear, and Standard insurance in Portland, OR. Jay is a certified trainer for SAFe Scrum Master, SAFe Product Owner, and SAFe Agilist courses.

Blockbuster. Kodak. Tower Records. Nokia. Taxi Industry. Compaq. These companies were all iconic market leaders that couldn’t adapt to new business models and technology innovations ahead of their competitors. Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper, and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. Enterprises must learn how to adapt quickly to these changing technologies and economic conditions or they will become extinct, no matter their size, smarts, or strength. This holds true even for businesses that don’t consider themselves Information Technology (IT) or software companies. Professional services, financial services, healthcare institutions, and government entities are all highly dependent on their ability to produce new technology-based products and services. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS

IBM: "There will only ever be a need for 100 computers." DEC: "No one would ever buy a personal computer." Blockbuster: "People don't want to watch films over the internet." Novell: "Our technology is much more sophisticated than Microsoft." Bookstores: "People want to pick up and handle the books, not read them on the computer." SONY: "Beta technology is far superior to VHS." LOTUS: "Our spreadsheet is far superior to Microsoft even if it is complicated." NOKIA: "Our phones are the world standard, even if they are proprietary." TOWER RECORDS: "People want to own their own music, not rent it online." BlackBerry: "Our security is what companies want, they won't let Android or iPhones on their network, even if our stuff costs more." Kodak: "People will always prefer film cameras, even if we invented digital ones."

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

You’ll learn how to apply Lean thinking to write Epics, break them down into Features and Stories, plan and execute Iterations, and plan Program Increments. Finally, attendees learn about the Continuous Delivery Pipeline and DevOps culture, how to effectively integrate as Product Owners and Product Managers, and what it takes to relentlessly improve the ART. In addition, you'll learn;

 * Learn about the Scrum Process.
 * Learn what a Product Owner/Product Manager is responsible for.
 * Come away with insights on how to manage your next project
 * Learn about the Scaled Agile Framework for enterprises.
 * Learn what a Product Owner for in large organizations like Intel, Nike, Google, and Apple are implementing Agile techniques in Scaled environments. Come away with insights on how to manage your next projects.
 * Apply SAFe in the Lean enterprise
 * Connect SAFe Lean-Agile principles and values to the PO/PM roles
 * Collaborate with Lean Portfolio Management
 * Explore continuous value with Program Increment Planning
 * Execute the Program Increment and deliver continuous value
 * Articulate the Product Owner and Product Manager roles
 * Create a role action plan

BENEFITS

 * Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science
 * Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors
 * Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs)
 * Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace
 * Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business programs.

JAY MITTAL’S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 * Highly skilled professional with over fifteen years of experience, Jay has extensive experience in diverse software and hardware platforms providing management, leadership, analysis, design, development, migration to implement business technology solutions.
 * Experienced in complete life cycle of software development projects in both Waterfall and Agile frameworks including working as Project Manager, Product Manager, Scrum Master and Agile coach.
 * Consulting experience with Standard Insurance, Anthem Insurance, Nike, Michelin Tire, Novelis, WebMD.
 * Experienced in different Industry Verticals including: Retail, Life & Health Insurance, Manufacturing, Advertising, and Banking.
 * Worked as Project and Product Manager with Fortune 500 companies. Client list include Nike, Standard Insurance, Michelin Tire, and WebMD.

JAY MITTAL'S CERTIFICATIONS

 * Implementing Scaled Agile Framework - SAFe 4.5 Program Consultant (SPC)
 * Leading Scaled Agile Framework - SAFe 4.5 Agilist (SA)
 * Scaled Agile Framework for Teams - SAFe 4.5 Practitioner (SP)
 * Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Master (CSM)
 * Scrum Alliance Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO)
 * PMI certified Project Management Professional (PMP)
 * Microsoft Certified Professional (MCP - MS Project 2010)

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING

This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed. In addition for more information with SAFe certification. www.scaledagile.com

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected].

This highly interactive, instructor-led simulation is a high-impact, energetic way to accelerate understanding, involvement, and acceptance of DevOps and Agile, Lean, ITIL® best practice in your organization. It helps accelerate the adoption of DevOps across the enterprise, while successfully turning DevOps opponents into advocates. By helping to clearly communicate the DevOps case for change, it creates shared understanding and commitment towards Development and Operations working together as a high-performing team. This unique experiential learning approach causes breakthrough understanding and transforms learning into an engaging, fun, and memorable shared experience.

HOW IT WORKS

The DevOps simulation experience is a role-based workshop, focused on the software development and deployment lifecycle. The simulation is highly realistic, and leverages game dynamics to empower cross-functional teams with a shared vision of successful DevOps practices. Participants from a variety of disciplines are immersed into a simulated environment whereby they are challenged to release new products while internal and external forces continually change. This realistic approach delivers a level of tension and excitement that creates an ‘A-HA!’ moment for all involved.

WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE

Accelerated understanding of the benefits of DevOps best practice to large audiences

Rapid familiarization with DevOps terminology and Agile, Lean and ITIL v3 processes

Understanding of how DevOps best practice can facilitate alignment of IT to business objectives

Understanding of DevOps practices that can be executed with immediate effect

AGENDA

ROUND ONE - CHAOS

Working in silos (IT and the Business) Communication issues and chaos Collaboration issues resulting in poor business results and higher costs Introducing the DevOps concepts including Agile, Lean and ITSM

ROUND TWO - IMPROVED

Refining and improving issues from round 1 Introducing Service Virtualization Introducing Continuous Integration Introducing Continuous Deployment Introducing Minimum Viable Product iterations Introducing Automation and Fail Fast Introducing Service Level Management

ROUND THREE - OPTIMIZED

Demonstrates that DevOps culture is key to operational excellence Demonstrate importance of processes and their relationships Significant reduction of development time and errors Increased collaboration, automation and repeatable practices Increased understanding to work together as a high performing cross-functional team Improved ROI and optimized business results

Practical, Hands-on Training For Kanban

Learn how to “Stop Starting and Start Finishing”

Join us for an all day Kanban workshop on April 20th, 2019; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel. Our Kanban workshop will help you adopt a value–centric system of planning and executing your work. In the one day training we cover the basics of Kanban, one of the agile processes, through a combination of theory and extensive exercises. With in-depth exercises and coaching from an experienced practitioner, participants will learn how to initiate change with Kanban and bring in process improvements by identifying and addressing bottlenecks, prioritize, and initiate collaboration.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

 * Understand how to make prioritization, sequencing and scheduling decisions based on economic factors instead of hunches.
 * Learn how to forecast single and multiple work items (releases, sprints) and be able to answer the questions like "When will the work be finished?" accurately instead of guessing  due dates.
 * Acquire skills to avoid emotional objections to changes in general and to Kanban WIP limits introduction in particular.
 * Enabled by seven Kanban cadences, be able to introduce continuous learning and improvement process by implementing organizational feedback loops.
 * Familiarize with Kanban Risk Management approaches, service orientation, asymmetrical commitment and rollout phases for a Kanban initiative.
 * Increase Kanban knowledge to manage, sustain and scale evolutionary improvements in their organization.

BENEFITS

 * Get a thorough understanding of the Kanban method, its core principles and practices.
 * Learn how to design and introduce a Kanban system into your existing work environment.
 * Understand how to improve service delivery with Kanban systems and ensure better customer focus.
 * Learn to maximize benefits of the Pull-based workflow, limit Work In Progress (WIP) through continuous collaboration and active, ongoing learning and improving by defining the best possible team workflow.
 * Learn concepts through case studies, interactive role play, exercises and discussions.
 * Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science.
 * Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors.
 * Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs).
 * Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace.
 * Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies.

WHO SHOULD COME?

Kanban is one of the easiest ways to get your process and delivery under control, anyone with work that needs to get done will benefit. Kanban works across multiple functions of an organisation, from senior managers looking to adopt Lean Management to members of delivery teams willing to improve their working practices. Who should come? People whose work is completed through projects and through teams;

 * Senior Managers
 * Programme and Project Managers
 * Product Managers, Product Owners and Business Analysts
 * Scrum Masters, Team Leads and Change Agents
 * Product & Software Developers & Testers
 * Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers,
 * Agile Coaches & Practitioners (Scrum, XP, DSDM, AgilePM, etc.
 * Portfolio Managers, Supply Logistics Professionals.
 * Other roles such as HR and Finance professionals

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 * Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.
 * Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed timeframe. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.
 * Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.
 * Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.
 * Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multi-cultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.
 * International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS

 * PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
 * PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org
 * CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance
 * CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

RSVP TODAY: http://bit.ly/kanban2019pdx

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: PLEASE CONTACT US AT [email protected].

This highly interactive, instructor-led simulation is a high-impact, energetic way to accelerate understanding, involvement, and acceptance of DevOps and Agile, Lean, ITIL® best practice in your organization. It helps accelerate the adoption of DevOps across the enterprise, while successfully turning DevOps opponents into advocates. By helping to clearly communicate the DevOps case for change, it creates shared understanding and commitment towards Development and Operations working together as a high-performing team. This unique experiential learning approach causes breakthrough understanding and transforms learning into an engaging, fun, and memorable shared experience.

Want to learn how to take your projects to the Next Level

Practical, Hands-on Training for Scrum

Join us for an all day Scrum workshop on May 18th, 2019; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel.

Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques, in particular they utilize scrum to manage their projects.

Scrum has the power to transform project management across every industry, every business, and even across your personal life. By using Scrum, you’ll become more agile, discovering how to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the inevitable change that comes your way. By staying focused, collaborating, and communicating with customers and your team, you can accomplish what truly needs to be done — successfully.

Come get a taste of the future of project management and learn about the Scrum process. This one day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from scrum introduction certification class and Product Owner role in the Scrum Process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Learn about the Scrum Process. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. Come away with insights on how to manage your next project

BENEFITS

 * Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science
 * Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors
 * Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs)
 * Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace
 * Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Engineers, Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Program Managers, Business Executives, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business and engineering programs.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 * Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.
 * Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed time frame. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.
 * Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.
 * Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.
 * Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multicultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.
 * International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS

 * PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
 * PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org
 * CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance
 * CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING

This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UNITS

By attending this workshop you’ll receive professional development units (PDU). They are for professionals looking to maintain Project Management Institute (PMI)- certified credentials. Eligible PDUs: 8 PMP PDUs

ADDITIONAL FOR AUDIENCE

SW Engineers: eXtreme Programming, Test Driven Development, Pair Programming, Project Managers: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Scrum

NEXT EVENT?

For more information and dates about our next event, join our Meetup Group: http://bit.ly/PortlandAgileTraining

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

For further information: please contact Heber Michaels, [email protected] or our team at [email protected].

The Future of Work open space conference was created to bring together people who desire to change our standard definition of work and organizations or explore ideas on how we can improve the nature of work. It's a space to find connection among the many movements we're seeing based on the concepts of Lean, Agile, Responsive, and beyond. Regardless of industry or background, this is a safe space to share ideas, learn from those who have practiced new ways of working, and bring your most interesting questions to the table.

If you desire work to be engaging, enable great teams and amazing solutions, and empower all workers, this is a place to re-imagine what work could look like and learn how it can be done.

Regular Rate: $75 

Student: $35

REGISTER: Eventbrite

Connect with us on Facebook (fowpdx), Twitter (@fowpdx), or Email ([email protected]).

Want to learn how to take your projects to the Next Level

Practical, Hands-on Training for Scrum

Join us for an all day Scrum workshop on August 10th, 2019; featuring Suzanne Ward MBA MEng PMP CSM CSPO PSM CSP, a Scrum Master & Agile Coach/Trainer from Intel. Our world is changing fast. Markets and consumers are demanding faster, cheaper and better products. Demands for quicker turnaround on new product development and innovation have only increased. How do companies like Google, Yahoo, Amazon, and Apple keep up? They practice agile techniques, in particular they utilize scrum to manage their projects. Scrum has the power to transform project management across every industry, every business, and even across your personal life. By using Scrum, you’ll become more agile, discovering how to react more quickly and respond more accurately to the inevitable change that comes your way. By staying focused, collaborating, and communicating with customers and your team, you can accomplish what truly needs to be done — successfully.

Come get a taste of the future of project management and learn about the Scrum process. This one day classroom training with exercises will cover the material from scrum introduction certification class and Product Owner role in the Scrum Process.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Learn about the Scrum Process. Learn what a Product Owner and Scrum Master is responsible for. Come away with insights on how to manage your next project

BENEFITS

* Retain more information because of our unique hands-on approach; based on the latest research into brain science
* Be entertained by stories from our real-world experienced and knowledgeable instructors
* Maximize investments already made by gaining valuable Professional Development Units (PDUs)
* Increase your personal worth within your company and in the marketplace
* Network with people from Intel Corporation and other software companies

WHO SHOULD COME?

People whose work is completed through projects and through teams; Engineers, Software Engineers, Marketing Professionals, Project Managers, Program Managers, Business Executives, Technology Professionals, Students in MBA or undergrad business and engineering programs.

SPEAKER'S CAREER ACCOMPLISHMENTS

* Product, Brand, and Marketing Management in diverse range of markets and industries, with P&L responsibilities up to $100 million annual sales.
* Quick Learner of new industries/product offerings with results-oriented achievements. Created excitement around a static accessories category in condensed time frame. Created full line of support, educational, training, and presentation materials. Impact of efforts increased sales from $16.4M to $37.2M in 24 months.
* Program management for multiple high tech/electronic development projects, averaging $3 million annual budget. Serve in project manager and product manager capacities. Two successful worldwide launches in 3 years. $1M annual OEM/B2B sales and $10M annual sales.
* Combine demonstrated product management leadership experience with strong hands-on technical background. Equally comfortable delving into product requirements with hard-core engineers as well as presenting to executive level decision makers.
* Uniquely skilled at fostering new ideas, building successful cross-functional teams, and nurturing a culture of consumer-driven product development and user experience innovation. Experience working in and managing cross-functional, cross-division, cross-geographic and multicultural sales, marketing and engineering organizations.

International program management, sourcing, engineering, OEM/ODM management/development experience. Overseas work assignments in EU and Asia with extended stay in Asia.

SUZANNE WARD'S CERTIFICATIONS

* PMP, Project Management Professional, Project Management Institute
* PSM, Professional Scrum Master, Scrum.org
* CSM, CSPO, Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Product Owner, Scrum Alliance
* CSP, Certified Scrum Professional, Scrum Alliance

CERTIFICATIONS FOR THIS TRAINING

This workshop is meant to introduce professionals and students to the Scrum methodology, though the material we cover will give you the knowledge and material covered in the exam for the Professional Scrum Master (PSM) certification. https://www.scrum.org/. Our students have gone on to take this test after the event, and passed.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT UNITS

By attending this workshop you’ll receive professional development units (PDU). They are for professionals looking to maintain Project Management Institute (PMI)- certified credentials. Eligible PDUs: 8 PMP PDUs

ADDITIONAL FOR AUDIENCE

SW Engineers: eXtreme Programming, Test Driven Development, Pair Programming, Project Managers: Bridging the Gap between Project Management and Scrum

ADDITIONAL BENEFITS?

For further information: please contact Heber Michaels, [email protected] or our team at [email protected]

This highly interactive, instructor-led simulation is a high-impact, energetic way to accelerate understanding, involvement, and acceptance of DevOps and Agile, Lean, ITIL® best practice in your organization. It helps accelerate the adoption of DevOps across the enterprise, while successfully turning DevOps opponents into advocates. By helping to clearly communicate the DevOps case for change, it creates shared understanding and commitment towards Development and Operations working together as a high-performing team. This unique experiential learning approach causes breakthrough understanding and transforms learning into an engaging, fun, and memorable shared experience.

HOW IT WORKS

The DevOps simulation experience is a role-based workshop, focused on the software development and deployment lifecycle. The simulation is highly realistic, and leverages game dynamics to empower cross-functional teams with a shared vision of successful DevOps practices. Participants from a variety of disciplines are immersed into a simulated environment whereby they are challenged to release new products while internal and external forces continually change. This realistic approach delivers a level of tension and excitement that creates an ‘A-HA!’ moment for all involved.

WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE

Accelerated understanding of the benefits of DevOps best practice to large audiences

Rapid familiarization with DevOps terminology and Agile, Lean and ITIL v3 processes

Understanding of how DevOps best practice can facilitate alignment of IT to business objectives

Understanding of DevOps practices that can be executed with immediate effect

Startup Magic .Live is a 1/2 day workshop for entrepreneurs lead by serial entrepreneur and lead mentor from Google's Launchpad Accelerator Chris Heuer. Leveraging his insights from over two decades of advising, consulting and mentoring startups around the world, this workshop will teach you secrets that improve your chances for startup success.

Join us to learn the 10 essential pieces of magic that will differentiate you and your startup from the thousands of others vying for attention from potential cofounders, investors, customers and early supporters. Work with Chris to improve the foundation upon which you will build your startup and begin serving customers.

This highly interactive, instructor-led simulation is a high-impact, energetic way to accelerate understanding, involvement, and acceptance of DevOps and Agile, Lean, ITIL® best practice in your organization. It helps accelerate the adoption of DevOps across the enterprise, while successfully turning DevOps opponents into advocates. By helping to clearly communicate the DevOps case for change, it creates shared understanding and commitment towards Development and Operations working together as a high-performing team. This unique experiential learning approach causes breakthrough understanding and transforms learning into an engaging, fun, and memorable shared experience.

HOW IT WORKS

The DevOps simulation experience is a role-based workshop, focused on the software development and deployment lifecycle. The simulation is highly realistic, and leverages game dynamics to empower cross-functional teams with a shared vision of successful DevOps practices. Participants from a variety of disciplines are immersed into a simulated environment whereby they are challenged to release new products while internal and external forces continually change. This realistic approach delivers a level of tension and excitement that creates an ‘A-HA!’ moment for all involved.

WHAT YOU'LL EXPERIENCE

Accelerated understanding of the benefits of DevOps best practice to large audiences

Rapid familiarization with DevOps terminology and Agile, Lean and ITIL v3 processes

Understanding of how DevOps best practice can facilitate alignment of IT to business objectives

Understanding of DevOps practices that can be executed with immediate effect