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Jeff Patton, Certified Scrum Practitioner

 Jeff  Patton

Jeff Patton has designed and developed software for the past 15 years on a wide variety of projects from on-line aircraft parts ordering to electronic medical records. Jeff has focused on agile approaches since working on an early Extreme Programming team in 2000. In particular Jeff has specialized in the application of user experience design practice to improve agile requirements, planning, and products. Some of his recent writing on the subject can be found at www.AgileProductDesign.com and in Alistair Cockburn’s Crystal Clear. His forthcoming book to be released in Addison-Wesley’s Agile Development Series gives tactical advice to those seeking to deliver useful, usable, and valuable software.

Jeff works currently as an independent consultant, and a consulting partner with LitheSpeed, DevJam, and Cooper. Jeff is founder and list moderator of the agile-usability Yahoo discussion group, a columnist with StickyMinds.com and IEEE Software, a Certified Scrum Practitioner, and winner of the Agile Alliance’s 2007 Gordon Pask Award for contributions to Agile Development.

Presentation: "Co-making great products"

Time: Wednesday 15:30 - 16:30

Location: Salon C

Abstract:
"Co-making great products” should be the tagline for most of the processes we use today, but sadly the opposite is true.  Software development’s an expensive risky business.  To deal with the risk, the players involved adopt a client-vendor model where those in the client role give requirements and those in the vendor role estimate time and effort and agree to build what’s asked for.  In this model we clearly separate responsibilities and know who’s accountable when things go wrong.   If things go well, both parties claim credit.  If things go poorly as they often do, each party blames the other. Although we know things rarely go as planned, we continue to work in processes where treating our coworkers as outsourced vendors is considered “best practice.” This talk is about an alternative way of working.
In this talk Jeff explores companies beginning to adopt a style of working where everyone in the organization gets involved with identifying and solving problems.  You’ll hear examples from real companies describing their practices for learning first-hand about customers and users, practices for collaboratively designing solutions for the problems found in the real world, and approaches to learning if what we created really benefited anyone.  
This style of work isn’t the traditional client-vendor model where knowing who’s to blame is the primary concern.  It’s a co-making style of work where everyone brings their skills and experience to the table and together takes ownership for making great things.

Presentation: "Panel: Talking Teams and Fielding Your Questions"

Time: Wednesday 16:50 - 17:50

Location: Salon C

Abstract:

This session will be an audience driven fishbowl discussion. Instead of listening to panelists ramble on and on, the audience will submit questions that the panel discusses in the fishbowl. After 5 minutes, the audience will decide (by voting) whether they want to hear more on the current question or move on. We welcome your hardest question and toughest challenges. The session is a forum for open discussion around the realities and tools needed to form and maintain teams that building the right thing, the right way.