Summary

If you work within public sector IT or are just a mere tax payer you should have an interest in Brian Werham, our main speaker for May, who will share extracts and experience from his recently published book: "Agile Project Management for Government: Leadership skills for implementation of large-scale public sector projects in months, not years". It's received five star Amazon reviews and I'm confident Brian will too. He may even play his ukulele! We’ll also dive into the Mikado Method, a straightforward approach to refactoring legacy systems that promises to turn your long, painful refactoring projects into efficient, manageable tasks. It's a night not to be missed for anyone looking to keep their systems running smoothly while embracing change.

Programme

How the FBI saved the $500m Sentinel project using agile project management.
Brian will explore the business aspects of the 'Agile' approach – and how its advantages can be explained to and senior leadership through a story. A case study that resembles a scientific experiment where, after, two failed 'Waterfall' projects, an 'Agile' approach succeeded. In half the time and at half the cost. It is a compelling tale of how 'Agile' leadership can deliver. It is the story of 'Agile' success at the FBI….
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Brian Wernham
Brian Wernham has more than 30 years' experience in adaptive project leadership. He is an independent consultant and works in both the public sector and the private sector. He has extensive international experience, having worked in the USA, UK, Canada, Hong Kong, Germany and on offshore development in Bangalore. Brian’s first book, Agile Project Management for Government was recently published by Maitland and Strong. By the time that the term 'agile' was first coined, Brian had already been successfully leading iterative, adaptive projects for over 10 years on both sides of the Atlantic. He works as a hands-on program manager and has real-world implementation expertise together with a comprehensive understanding of the related international research. He has consulted for major strategic international organizations such as Gartner Group, the National Audit Office in London and Seer Technologies in North Carolina. His comprehensive public sector experience includes the Department for International Development, the World Bank, the United Nations (Geneva), and local government authorities. Brian is a Fellow of the Association for Project Management, a Fellow of the BCS and has a MBA from Henley Management College. He applies adaptive planning approaches as an offshore Yachtmaster and as a keen off-piste skier. He is currently consulting for the UK Government in London.
Mikado Method - Making Code Changes Less of an Impact.
The Mikado Method is a simple straightforward methodology for large scale refactoring. We've all been there; tasked with a change, which as optimistic developers we say won’t take us long, weeks later we’re still fighting the system. Enter the Mikado Method, a way to peel the layers of complexity away from any system. Systematically attack refactoring, in the knowledge that every change you make will be for the better of the system, rather than hoping it will be. When it comes to refactoring legacy systems, sometimes it faster just to get in there and naively attempt to make the change required rather than speed weeks analysing the affects. Naively making the change will always have knock on affects to other parts of the system. It is these knock on affects that cause what we believe to be quick changes to become large, long drawn out changes. With the Mikado Method, your system will always be runnable while you refactor, say goodbye to the feature branches of refactoring, and hello to a runnable testable system all the time.
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Kev McCabe
Kev has worked with large corporations in the Finance, Media and E-commerce spaces. He’s currently the Technical Lead for General Electric,He has had an Interest in all things Agile since 2002, mainly XP, but of late Scrum & Kanban having become a Certified Scrum Master in 2012. Outside of the office, you can find Kev either propping a bar up or watching Rugby (London Irish Mainly).