Collaboration and Facilitation with Dispersed Teams

Jeff Ward (Command Information), Bill Schneider (Digital Focus)

Discovery Sessions · Individuals & Teams

Friday, 08:30, 1 hour 30 minutes | Meeting Room 3

Collaboration, individual interactions, and face-to-face conversation are fundamental concepts in agile software development. Consequently, agile teams benefit greatly from a co-located environment. Ideally, team members can spend significant time working in one room, sharing information, pair-programming, and conducting their meetings and design sessions in full-view of the story cards, tasks, and charts hanging on a wall. But what if an organization's structure or physical environment prevents co- location? What if team-members that need to work together are stationed in separate offices, work remotely at their homes, or are dispersed across geographic regions or time zones? How can these resources still collaborate successfully in an agile development environment? As more organizations move to adopt agile principles and practices, confronting these questions will become more common. This session will focus on the organizational and environmental factors that present challenges or perceived barriers to agile adoption and implementation, and identify potential solutions, whether available or needed.

Jeff is a seasoned IT consultant with over 17 years of professional experience in software development and project management. With strong technical, business, and communication skills, Jeff has extensive experience envisioning and implementing creative, strategic, value-added solutions. He has expertise in leading all phases of system lifecycle development. As a Senior Project Manager with Command Information, Jeff manages agile teams on development projects and has served as an Agile Coach on various customer engagements. He is also a Certified Scrum Master.