Summary

Industry fads and fashions continue within agile guidance. From Scrum to Kanban to DSDM and now SAFe jostling for attention and certification spending. Extreme Programming still stands, almost uniquely, as a guiding light untainted by a business model. There is no XP Alliance, Lean XP University or Scaled XP Academy. Making use of XP ideas is simply down to practice and so is demonstrating proficiency. How old fashioned! This month we welcome Rachel Davis back to Agile Yorkshire to talk about how she has been using XP in her current role at Unruly. As a practised and in demand speaker Rachel is not to be missed. During the first half of the evening Ray Edgar will also touch on the guidance theme and explore some code threads within some old and new agile frameworks. Many of you will know Ray as a regular attendee and supporter of Agile Yorkshire now turned contributor and speaker.

Programme

XP @ Unruly
Unruly is the leading global platform for social video marketing. Founded in 2006, we now have 11 offices and employ over 125 people globally including Germany. We've been applying eXtreme Programming (XP) from the start and that's still a core part of how we develop our software products. As our company and customer base has grown, we've had to figure out how to shape user stories and make plans with stakeholders spread across US and Europe. We also have grown our tech team so we can continue to develop new product offerings with rich user-experience while improving our underlying infrastructure to handle a growing amount of traffic and data. Come to this session to hear about how we use XP and where we've had to make adjustments to adapt to scale.
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Rachel Davies
Rachel is co-author of the first “Agile Coaching” book and works as Agile Coach at Unruly Media, the leading global platform for social video marketing. Internationally recognized and presenting at industry conferences worldwide, Rachel started out working as a software developer and has been an agile practitioner since 2000 applying a range of agile methods including XP, Lean / Kanban and Scrum.
Implementing Agile/Lean Software Delivery at Enterprise Level
This is a fresh look at implementing Agile/Lean at an Enterprise level - why we should be using this approach, what we need to address and understand, and how it can be delivered successfully. This understanding is specifically necessary now in the wake of the proliferation of Agile scaling frameworks - SAFe, LeSS, DaD, VDD etc, all generally deriving from attempts to make Agile ""stick"" in organizations, usually after implementation within software development- successful or failed. With reference to the new BCS Agile Practitioner certification and many gems from experts in the field, we will re-examine the key ideas of Agile/Lean, and how focusing on them can deliver measurable benefits and success to the Enterprise overall. Bring along your inquiring mind, forget that we all know the benefits of agile, don't try to memorize the manifesto again, and don't be relying on any comfort with the iron triangle. It may not exist when we have finished!
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Ray Edgar
A seeker of patterns, knowledge, linkages, motivation, happiness and success in a complex world. Ray is a consultant aiming to inspire organisations and teams to focus on creating valuable products whilst at the same time enjoying their work and respecting each other. Ray has had many roles in software development over 25+ years including DBA, Analyst, Trainer, Architect. Recently as Technical Director and Solutions Lead Ray helped to build a successful software services company from a team of 2 to over 50 and their current no. 2 position in the UK market. Now as founder of Ware2 Ltd, Ray is looking to take Agile/Lean out of software development and across the Enterprise in order to deliver measurable benefits of this approach to product delivery.