David Hussman Global Agility

Agile development tend to thrive on the way collocation allows for less waste and promotes spontaneous collaboration, creating better and more meaningful software products. Many people use this premise to propose that Agile will not / does not work for distributed teams. Although aspects of vanilla agile practices and processes must be changed to fit the constraints of distributed teams, it is working and there are many examples. This presentation will draw on real world examples working with teams in different locations, continents, time zones, and cultures, including examples from a recent agile project for a the large European based bank, ING. Topics covered will include: preparation for distributed agility, modification to core practices, overcoming cultural barriers and boundaries, planning and tracking, tools, and the way that different distributions challenge agile (e.g. two complete teams working on one product verses a business unit relying on an off-shore development team). The goal of the presentation: show that distributed, global agile development can be successful but will most likely fail if a distributed community is not created and differences are not respected. The presentation will discuss both successes and failures for projects spanning the US, Canada, Europe, Russia, Ukraine, India, and China, with the hope of planting critical questions, founded in experience, in the minds of the listeners.

David Hussman has spent many years designing and creating software products in a variety of domains: digital audio, digital biometrics, medical, retail, banking, mortgage, and education to name a few. For the past 7 years, David has mentored and coached agile teams in the U.S., Canada, Europe, Russia, and Ukraine. Along with leading workshops, tutorials at conferences in North America and Europe, David has contributed to several books ("Managing Agile Projects" and "Agile in the Large"), and is currently writing a book for The Pragmatic Programmer series. Other contributions include publication for The Cutter Consortium, presentations at OOPSLA, XP 200N, Agile 200N (co-chair for 2007 and Conference Chair for 2008), The University of Minnesota, and Capella University. David co-owns the Minneapolis based SGF Software and works with large international clients as well as small local firms.