CHIFOO Meeting: Agile Retrospectives: Collaboration for Continuous Improvement March 4, 2009

Presented by Diana Larsen, FutureWorks Consulting

Software teams experience what goes right and what goes wrong, what works and what doesn´t, during each and every day of each and every project. What happens to that hard-earned experience? In too many organizations, on too many projects, it dissipates as team members shift focus and move on to the next project or chunk of work. Real value lies in capturing, managing, and disseminating technical knowledge and process wisdom to improve current and future projects.

Retrospectives offer the greatest lever for improving any software development project or process—based on the solid data of a team´s immediate past experience of success and failure. Through Retrospectives, teams systematically evaluate their own performance, explore their lessons learned, expand their capacity and capability, and choose how to improve the way they build and deliver products to customers. For best results, smart teams and organizations convene Retrospectives iteratively throughout the project and again after delivery. Successful teams learn how to encounter problems and implement solutions effectively throughout the project—not just at the end—and identify ways to maintain the relevance of continuous improvement to the work of the team.

This meeting will be held at CubeSpace, 622 SE Grand Ave, Portland.
Registration begins 6:30 pm.
Program followed by questions from 7 - 9 pm.
CHIFOO members get in free. Non-members pay $5 to attend the meeting.

Join us for CHIFOOd, our traditional no-host dinner before the meeting, from 5 - 6:30 pm.at La Merde Lounge at Bistro Montage.

Find out more details about this event.

About the Speaker

Diana Larsen co-authored Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great! (Pragmatic Bookshelf, 2006). Current chairperson of the Agile Alliance board of directors, Diana consults with leaders and teams to create work processes where innovation, inspiration, and imagination flourish at FutureWorks Consulting. With more than fifteen years of experience working with technical professionals, she brings focus to the human side of software development. Her clients value her collaboration in shaping an environment where productive teams can thrive in times of change. Diana discovers solutions and possibilities where others find only barriers and obstacles.