Agile, Lean, and the Space Between

Skill Level:
Abstract

In early 2001, “Agile” was coined as the umbrella term for Scrum, XP, ASD, Crystal, and a few other methodologies. In 2003, Mary and Tom Poppendieck published the book “Lean Software Development: An Agile Toolkit”, and the term Lean Software Development became known among a subset of the larger Agile community.

For years, one could assume that any development group trying to improve its approach to software was applying some form of Agile Software Development methodology. In the last couple of years, Lean Software Development has seen a surge in popularity. Some groups adopting Lean perceive it as an alternative to Agile processes like Scrum, and express a sense of elitism and superiority, having “moved beyond Agile”.

While Agile Software Development and Lean Software Development originate from different sources, they are actually closely related and share a great deal of overlap. In this talk attendees will discover where each came from, and just how much of Agile and Lean are shared in the space between.

This presentation did not take place and consequently the presentation slides are not available

Barry Hawkins

Barry has played various roles in his 17 years in the software industry, including lone developer, team lead, director, and Agile coach and mentor. Barry is one of the few native Atlantans, currently specializing in coaching and mentoring for Agile software development in addition to doing contract software development. Over the years, he has developed on multiple platforms, focusing primarily on Microsoft technologies and then Java from 2003 onward. He views technology as a set of tools, and embraces the use of dynamic as well as statically-typed languages, procedural, object-oriented, and functional programming, each having their own strengths in a given problem domain.

Prior to his career in software, Barry Hawkins spent 10 years designing, selling, and delivering turn-key industrial packaging and marking systems into manufacturing plants throughout the southeastern United States. He was responsible for the implementation, maintenance, and support of every system he sold, which was a formative experience that continues to influence his approach to consulting and coaching.