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.

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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

The key to successful adoption of any development methodology is a clear understanding of the roles and responsibilities of each team member within that framework. As agile continues its rapid adoption, it’s essential to define the role of QA in Scrum as concretely as we’ve defined the other team roles.
Agile methodology gives QA an opportunity for broader and deeper involvement in the software development lifecycle, enabling us more effectively to ensure quality, not by finding defects, but by preventing the introduction of defects in the first place. Because quality starts with the user story, QA can drive defect prevention by asking key questions of product owners during requirements definition. We can ensure that comprehensive acceptance criteria are in place, to drive high quality development, testing, and story acceptance. We can also ask technical questions of developers. This results in more thoroughly defined user stories and prompts developers to consider additional issues, and avoid pitfalls in advance of implementation. Finally, to prevent the steady growth of technical debt, we must remind scrum masters to plan story points for fixing both known and unknown defects as part of every sprint. This presentation will teach you how to leverage Agile within your organization to see immediate improvements in the quality of your software delivery.

About the speaker... Karen Ascheim Wysopal has been in software QA for over 20 years, in roles including tester, release manager, software engineer, test automation engineer, and 8 years as QA manager. She’s spent the past five years at Hewlett Packard, and currently heads Quality & PMO in the Software and Web Services organization, overseeing HPConnected.com, ePrintcenter.com, and related HP web-connected print technologies. She was a leader in the organization’s transition to Agile last year. Karen has presented at the Pacific Northwest Software Quality Conference. Her professional passions are building high functioning innovative teams from the ground up, defining processes that encompass a holistic approach to quality, and speaking on best practices to foster improvements across the industry. She can’t seem to stop breaking software.

Play the Game

Join James Shore and Diana Larsen, authors of "The Agile Fluency™ Model: A Brief Guide to Success with Agile," for a two-day Coaching for Results with the Agile Fluency Game Workshop at the Agile Fluency Project offices in Portland, Oregon.

The Agile Fluency Game provides a rich platform for learning about the benefits and trade-offs of adopting agile practices. You can use this physical, euro-style board game simulation to create stand-alone exercises or as part of a coaching/consulting practice, engineering leadership programs, or a larger training course. Learn how, as you create your own custom play-book from a series of mini-workshops using the game materials.

You will receive your own copy of the Agile Fluency Game and learn its secrets. Then you’ll move beyond game facilitation as you gain the knowledge to design powerful interactive learning experiences. For more about the game, visit: https://www.agilefluency.org/game.php .

Curious about the Agile Fluency Project? This is the place to start!

Learn about the Agile Fluency Model, the Agile Fluency Lifecycle, and play the Agile Fluency Game.

You’ll gain new insights into what Agile can look like in your organization and how to invest in change.