Detailed Program

Statistics tells us that Agile methods are used more and more. Many “success stories” tell us how effective they are. Nevertheless, there are more and more stories that tell us when using Agile methods didn’t improve, or made it even worse. Why there is such a big difference when using the same methods? Maybe “Agile” became just a fancy word to name anything new? What does it really mean to be Agile? Do we know that main Agile principles (just with other names) were defined in seventies, that classical software engineering just forgot about them or interpreted differently? And what are Agile methods? Do we know what is the difference between them and when to use them and when not? So what is the most important to understand to succeed?

Vaidas Adomauskas, Project Manager, Adform. Author of the blog scrum.agile.lt

Vaidas Adomauskas has extensive experience on different IT Project Management methods. While studying Master of Software Engineering and Management at IT University of Gothenburg (Sweden) he has conducted research in companies using classical Project Management, E. M. Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints (TOC) and Critical Chain Project Management (CCPM), as well as Agile methods. His Master Theses research was done in Ericsson which was implementing one of Agile methods Lean in their software development department. Vaidas has participated in number of international Agile conferences in USA and Sweden. He was working as a Project Manager in Lavasoft (Sweden) and implemented Scrum in it. When he came back to Lithuania he became a pioneer of Scrum implementation in Adform. Today all Adform development department (>50 employees, 8 cross-functional teams) is successfully working according to Scrum. Vaidas is Certified Scrum Master, member of Lithuanian Project Management Association (LPVA). He shares his experience and thoughts about Scrum and Agile in his blog scrum.agile.lt. Starting this autumn, he will be a lecturer and give a course “Agile Project Management with Scrum” in Vilnius University, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics

Software development projects are not mechanical, repeatable exercises like building a car on a factory line. Instead they are a process of learning and collaboration, deciding what is the right thing to develop. Agile is a community, philosophy and set of tools to enhance these activities.

Sean Blezard, Chief Engineer, Head of Agile Product Development, UK Retail Bank Technology Office

Sean has been at Barclays since 2006 and heads up the largest and most mature Agile delivery team in the company. His team delivers web solutions to the Retail business, using the best tools and practices from the Agile community; in particular those from XP, Scrum and Kanban. Having spent nine of the last fourteen years as an Agile practioner, he has had the opportunity to learn, experiment with and blend techniques and tools from different Agile disciplines to adapt the product discovery and delivery approach to a large enterprise like Barclays.

Customer-driven system is a result of successful implementation of IT project. In order to understand and manage the changing needs it is necessary to maintain regular communication with the customer. The presentation will analyze Scrum methodology as an effective way to involve the client in the project process and to ensure the productive collaboration.

Ruslanas Abdrachimovas, Senior Project Manager, Certified Scrum Master, Exigen Services Lietuva

Ruslanas Abdrachimovas has more than 10 years of experience in IT sector. He is certified JAVA programmer and Scrum Master. He has been working in „Exigen Services Lietuva“ since company was founded so he has designed and created business process management and document management systems. Currently Ruslanas is responsible for project which is implemented by 6 international teams, how this project depends on other projects, and what software development processes are used. Ruslanas conducts workshops for company employees about Scrum, Kanban, and Lean.

Will describe what is the role of a product manager, what are the goals and major tasks. Talk about how product management process relates to software development processes. Briefly review the tools used by Bentley Systems to help with new version release and iterations planning and tracking.

Rimantas Varanavičius, Product manager, Bentley Systems

Rimantas has started professional IT career in 2000 as an intern developer in a company developing software products for churches. After that had an opportunity to try out many aspects of software products development: requirements gathering and analysis, design and development, testing, project management, support, sales and consulting, sales partner channel development. Enjoyed it all! The last 6 years work as Product Manager in Baltic and world-wide leading companies creating document and workflow management solutions. Responsible for market analysis, product roadmaps creation, leading implementation and launches.

Rare company can boast such a pleasure to work only with development of new product. No obstruction from the outside. Management respects the iterative teamwork. At these conditions it is fantastically easy to follow the team’s commitments and produce shippable increments iteration by iteration. Everything depends on us. Scrum rules. However, after the first version released to the world a different life begins - maintenance and warranty services. Critical problems. Dissatisfied customers. Bristling management. At these conditions interference and the changes occur much more frequently than the iteration ends. Priorities shift from the future ROI to present nightmare. It seems you can forget about the Scrum. No hurry to bury the Scrum though. Questions about the maintenance and defect management are ones of the most natural and important for every company adopting Agile. During this presentation we’ll to share the experience of how we solve that in Adform and what do we know about the others. We will also discuss when the Scrum is actually not a valid anymore and what to do in this case.

Aleksej Kovaliov, Development Manager, Adform

15 years of professional experience in software development. Used to work in all possible project roles from the developer to the sales person of complex deals or head of development department. Currently work as a head of Adform Development and IT. During the work in Adform I’ve began seriously interested in Agile and Scrum. Then together with Scrum pioneer Vaidas Adomauskas (see above) we’ve introduced the Scrum to Adform Development department. I had the same practical work as Scrum Master and Product Owner. Sometimes consult other companies to Scrum adoption issues. Certified Scrum Master, Lithuanian Project Management Association (LPVA) member. More information http://lt.linkedin.com/in/aleksejkovaliov.

Launching such reforms as moving to Agile methodologies in the projects, company management have to face with challenges. Moving to a new methodology is important to understand that Scrum is not a goal as itself; it is only the mean to achieve company goals, to ensure its long-term growth and competitive advantage. Company management should ensure that all conditions are set for teams to use Scrum methodology and other Agile practices in their projects. This is achieved by starting the company's internal cultural change; by creating an organizational and legal framework transforming the enterprises organizational structure and using the most appropriate types of contracts, using the right measurement system for business processes and choosing the appropriate technological tools.

Tomas Vaičiūnas, Director, Exigen Services Lietuva

"Exigen Services Lietuva" founder and country manager Tomas Vaiciunas has more than 13 years of experience in the IT sector. He has management experience in building and optimizing processes for both commercial and public sectors. In 2002 as company started its operation T.Vaiciunas initiated and managed the development of new Model Driven Architecture technologies, was responsible for the growth and representation of the company in Lithuania. Currently he is responsible for the insurance solution development and business operation in Lithuania. Tomas Vaiciunas is a member of various associations, jury of Vilnius Gediminas Technical University graduate works.