Agile 2010 is fast approaching, and AccuRev is excited to sponsor and support the Agile community involved with this conference.  However, our excitement is partly due to the fact that Damon Poole, AccuRev’s CTO, was chosen as a featured speaker for not one, not two, but three sessions during the conference week.  I sat down with Damon to chat about his Agile 2010 plans, the ideas behind his session topics, and ultimately, the unrelated topic of my recent exposure to Star Wars.

Star Wars aside, Damon has some great talks about Agile development and components planned for Agile 2010.

Damon’s Discussions on Agile Development and its Various Components

Damon’s first Agile 2010 session will take place on Tuesday, August 10^th at 1:30 PM and is titled “Scrum and Kanban- Like Chocolate and Peanut Butter.”  Here Damon proves Scrum and Kanban are not in fact mutually exclusive, but play well together, much like chocolate and peanut butter.

KE: “So Damon, how did you come up with the chocolate and peanut butter concept?”

DAMON: “I have witnessed infighting within the Agile community, between Scrum advocates and Kanban advocates.  Agile is a way of thinking, and the community wins when there is a synergy between camps.  I want people to recognize that not only can Kanban and Scrum co-exist, they can actually be a very beneficial combination to development teams.”

KE: “Who might this session be best suited for?”

DAMON: “I would say this session is for folks that are already doing Scrum and are curious about Kanban.  I will address Kanban basics, how Kanban can help with real-world process problems, how to apply one-piece-flow to Scrum, and the value of work-in-progress limits applied to Scrum.”

KE: “Since it’s about chocolate and peanut butter, will there be Reese’s?”

DAMON: “You bet.”

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The following afternoon, Wednesday, August 11^th at 1:30 PM Damon will present “Getting Managers and Agile Teams Out of Each Other’s Hair.”

KE: “This sounds like an interesting Agile pain point that lots of us can relate to.  How do you approach this topic?”

DAMON: “Well, one of the most talked about, but least understood components of Agile is the ‘self- organizing team.’ There is little research published on this concept and I spent a lot of time looking outside of software development for information and advice on self-managing teams.  I came up with new perspective on this concept by examining external roots of the practice.  What it is, what the benefits are, how it works.  I will share my advice on manager roles and responsibilities, aspects of self-organization enabled by multiple Agile development components, and challenges that teams face.  It should be a good session, I have given it before and it’s always well-received.”

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The third day with Damon is on Thursday, August 12^th at 9:00 AM. He will present “Managing Growth Pains on the Way to 40 Scrum Teams”

KE: “Forty Scrum teams is getting up there.  How would you recommend managing such large amounts of teams?”

DAMON: “You’re right, 40 Scrum teams is the sign of a large organization.  I have interacted with lots of large Agile shops that operate with many more than 40 Scrum teams, and noticed issues with Agile weren’t all that different from shops with smaller teams.  By recognizing trends and patterns sooner than later as the organization becomes deeper involved with Agile, teams can start following certain practices to eliminate issues.  When it comes to addressing issues, the sooner the better.

KE: “What best practices have you recommended to larger-sized Scrum teams in the past?”

DAMON: “Multi-stage Continuous Integration, small story size, collocation, cross-functional teams… a few more.  This is a good session even if your organization doesn’t have 40-something Scrum teams today.  It teaches you about growing pains and prepares you for future growth.

Well, Damon sure sounds like he has a busy week lined up at Agile 2010.  Make sure to check out his sessions- they are featured on the Agile 2010 schedule and under the “What’s Hot” tab in the Agile 2010 app for iphone and Droid, so don’t forget to add Damon’s sessions to your schedule via these apps!

Follow AccuRev on Twitter @accurev for Damon’s latest updates from Agile 2010!