Some of the world’s foremost Lean software development practitioners will converge in South Africa in October when software and services specialist DVT hosts one of the largest local events of its kind.
Presented by the DVT Academy, the Continuously Lean Conference will be staged in Cape Town and Johannesburg in early October, and feature international and local speakers that are also leaders in their respective fields. They include renowned Agile authors, mentors and consultants Mary and Tom Poppendieck, and South Africa’s only certified Scrum coach and trainer Peter Hundermark.
DVT Agile consultant Joel Oosthuizen, co-organiser of the conference alongside DVT Academy head Embrenchia Snyman, says the conference should be regarded as a rare opportunity for local Agile practitioners to learn about the most current local and international Lean development trends, principles and techniques from global leaders and experts.
“So often as professionals we have to go abroad to be exposed to the latest developments in the field, so we wanted to take this unique opportunity to bring the teachers closer to home for an intense two-day networking and learning event,” says Oosthuizen.
The conference is aimed primarily at software developers, business analysts, testers, Scrum masters, Agile practitioners, project managers and any CxO-level executives that want to learn about Lean software development and apply Lean principles to their organisations. It will follow a similar format in each city, with the first day presented as a hands-on meet-and-greet conference and the second as an opportunity to participate in one of two intensive workshop streams.
“We open the conference with a welcome address and an insightful keynote from Mary and Tom titled ‘the Building Blocks of Scale’, says Oosthuizen.
“That’s followed up by a coffee and networking break, after which the Poppendieck’s present their second talk, ‘Think for Yourself’. An afternoon talk by Quality Assurance Specialist Mario Matthee in Cape Town and renowned Scrum Trainer and thought leader Peter Hundermark in Johannesburg precedes break-out sessions that close out each of the first days respectively.”
Oosthuizen says attendees can choose from one of two workshops on day two of the event in both cities:
Lean software development in a nutshell, presented by Mary and Tom Poppendieck, identifies what customers really want, isolates inefficiency in the development process, explores what’s wrong with software testing and what can be done to fix it, and outlines strategies that permit confident promise-dating and reliable delivery.
“Agile fundamentals” is a fully customizable ICAgile Certified course presented by Embrenchia Snyman, and includes interactive simulations on Scrum roles and responsibilities; collaboration, learning and improving; Definition of Done, Agile documentation and governance; estimating the big WHEN; emergent architecture; and most importantly – integration.
“There is a great demand for skilled practitioners in South Africa, especially as demand increases to scale Agile development from smaller teams to the broader enterprise,” says Oosthuizen.
“While the future of Agile and frameworks like SAFe will be actively discussed, the main themes will focus on eliminating waste by adhering to modern Lean principles and analysing how to maximise existing investments in Agile to optimise efficiency in the workplace.
“The conference brings together some of the brightest and most successful practitioners in the industry, and I would recommend any professional who’s serious about deploying Agile in their own organisation to register.”
DVT’s Continuously Lean Conference takes place in Cape Town from 6 to 7 October and Johannesburg from 9 to 10 October. For more information and to register visit www.leancon.co.za. You can also follow Leancon via Twitter @LeanConSA and #CLSA for regular updates on confirmed speakers.