Agile Gurus Team Up With OTN to Deliver Top-Notch Trainings

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) September 20, 2010 -- It’s not easy being Agile.

Sure, it’s built on a set of very simple business principles and software development concepts, but agility represents a fundamentally different way of getting things done. It’s not just out of the box, Agile stomps on the box and recycles it into a better form. Agility requires a major commitment to education and training, new tools and techniques, patient transition and cultural change. Organizations must embrace agility from the team upward, and from top executives downward. It’s a total 360 approach.

Major change of this nature might not be for everyone. But Oregon Training Network and internationally acclaimed trainers James Shore and Diana Larsen think it should be, and as such are pleased to offer two trainings Oct. 11-15 for those interested in hands-on experience using the Agile framework for helping teams maintain a focus on the timely, cost-effective delivery of products and services.

“Agile was first created in the late 1990s when the industry was in crisis, and people were eager to replace the process-heavy and laborious method of developing software,” says Shore, an early adopter of Agile development who leads, teaches, writes and consults on Agile development processes. In 2001, he was one of the first 10 people to sign the newly-released Agile Manifesto (http://agilemanifesto.org/). “Success stories became common enough that others have adopted it, and in the past few years, Agile has grown from its grassroots into mainstream project management culture.”

In the traditional way of doing business, companies would plan for long software development schedules. For example, a retail software company might create a yearly product that they needed to roll out in time for the holiday shopping season. Any delay in the process could prompt layoffs or other fiscal- and procedural setbacks, and oftentimes what was shipped was already in need of adjustment.

With Agile, Shore says organizations are better equipped to handle problems: “In July, you discover the regulators are going to change requirements for this year’s product, so you shift direction and work on a different piece. In August, you learn a new fad has come along. Normally it would be way too late to deal with this because you’d be in the death throes of product delivery deadlines. But with Agile, you’ve created something that’s shippable every week. Agile, as its name suggests, is very fluid.”

"In addition to making sure customers receive the value they need, the Agile Alliance (agilealliance.org) puts emphasis on developing software by finding a balance between three outcomes: productive, humane and sustainable,” says Larsen, course instructor and chair of the Agile Alliance board of directors. “Agile methods avoid the expensive death marches that drain organizational capacity and impair individual well-being. Agile team-based work creates the kind of collaborative work setting that fosters innovation and best thinking. Because of the focus on transparency and information visibility, learning the Art of Agile boosts everyone's performance and sense of accomplishment,"

Agile development speeds the delivery of initial business value, and through a process of continuous planning and feedback, is able to ensure that value is maximized throughout the development process. Teams continuously align the delivered software to desired business and customer needs.

“OTN’s goal is to bring this type of relevant, cost-effective training that professionals want and need to strategic locations throughout Washington, Oregon and Northern California,” says OTN’s Executive Director Rachel Kjack. “In the current economic climate, we take our charge of advancing the local workforce even more seriously than before and are thrilled to connect people to subject-matter experts like James and Diana.

“We know from our work with them and others in the Agile community that this framework helps organizations best their competitors, engage employees, surpass customer expectations and take their business to the next level.”

The Art of Agile Planning will take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., Oct. 11-12, and The Art of Agile Delivery will take place between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Oct. 13-15 at the Ambridge Event Center (www.ambridgeevents.com) Both classes offer hands-on practice in the adoption and practice of agile development. To learn more and to register, please visit OTN at www.oregontrainingnetwork.com.

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