Company Overview
News & EventsRally Software Development's Jean Tabaka to Deliver Keynote at Better Software '05 Conference
Rally experts continue to provide Agile development thought-leadership at major industry events
BOULDER, Colo., September 14, 2005 - Rally Software Development Corp., the leader in on-demand software lifecycle management solutions for scaling Agile software development practices, today announced that Jean Tabaka, one of its Agile coaches, will present a keynote presentation and full-day tutorial session at the upcoming Better Software‘05 Conference and Expo in San Francisco. Tabaka's keynote, Transitioning to Agile Development, marks Rally's continued commitment to providing insight, expertise and experience that supports the mainstream adoption of Agile development practices.
During the past year, Rally has actively promoted the significant benefits that Agile methodologies offer through articles, Webinars, road-shows, conference participation, press interviews and coaching/mentoring programs. The company was a title sponsor of Agile 2005, the industry's major conference that quickly sold out its registration and drew more than 700 attendees in Denver this past July. In addition, Rally has established a comprehensive Agile knowledge portal on its Website - http://www.rallydev.com/agile_knowledge.jsp - that provides a wide range of content on Agile best practices, strategies and how-to information.
"Rally is committed to being the source for practical how-to information on piloting and expanding Agile practices quickly and efficiently," said Tim Miller, Rally's CEO. "We work hard to take the mystery out of Agile through a variety of thought-leadership programs, and having Jean selected to present a keynote at a major industry conference like Better Software ‘05 shows the value our experts have to offer.
In Transitioning to Agile Development, Tabaka will discuss her experiences in helping eight-person teams to 3,000-person IT organizations transition to Agile development. The presentation examines how Agile development practices can be adopted by almost any organization, regardless of size. She'll share how in order for the benefits of Agile practices to be realized, organizations must prepare to discard their dysfunctional behaviors that have accumulated over decades, recognizing the pain points and fear factors in scaling Agile practices across teams and organizations, and provide strategies for a realistic and successful transition.
Tabaka also will conduct a full-day tutorial at Better Software ‘05 entitled Scrum Project Management Practices. In this tutorial, Tabaka will take attendees through a series of exercises, simulations and discussions to bring Scrum alive for the project manager. Using Scrum practices to deliver the tutorial, Tabaka will cover the fundamentals of prioritization, time-boxing and product delivery, and provide an overview of the tools needed for maintaining and delivering product value. Project managers will learn how roles can shift within Scrum projects, and how they can embrace the move from the role of traditional project manager to the owner of plans and decisions as a Scrum Master.
In addition to her coaching duties at Rally, Tabaka is prepping the release of her new book Collaboration Explained: Facilitation Skills for Collaborative Leaders. The book will explain the fundamentals of team-wide collaboration and examines individual collaborative roles in detail. The book's facilitation guidance is presented in straightforward, practical steps that are applied across a variety of Agile methodologies. While other Agile books confirm collaboration as a critical practice for project success, Collaboration Explained brings together the practical "how-to" components of collaboration as facilitation practices for the leaders of Agile teams.
Jean Tabaka specializes in creating, coaching and mentoring collaborative software teams. At Rally, Tabaka is responsible for mentoring software development organizations on how to effectively adopt Agile/iterative practices that result in increased development productivity and shorter release cycles. With more than 25 years of experience in software development for organizations such as Qwest, Siebel Systems and Sybase, Tabaka is a recognized speaker and industry thought leader. She is also a Certified Scrum Master, Certified Scrum Trainer and Certified Professional Facilitator.
Tabaka's Scrum tutorial training session will take place on Tues. Sept. 20, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., with the keynote presentation on Wed., Sept. 21, at 4:30 p.m. The Better Software ‘05 Conference and Expo runs Sept.19-22, at the Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport. For more information on the conference, please visit www.sqe.com/bettersoftwareconf/index.asp.
About Rally
Based in Boulder, Colo., Rally Software Development is the leader in on-demand software lifecycle management solutions for scaling Agile development practices across the enterprise and around the globe. The company's customers include leading software vendors, Internet companies and corporate development teams that are committed to improving their responsiveness to new opportunities and fast-changing customer demands. Rally marries Agile project management with tracking of requirements, tests and defects so larger or distributed teams gain the visibility and collaboration needed to define, develop and deliver high-value software in rapid iterations. Rally's world-renown coaches and expert partners complement its tooling with training and consulting services for creating the Agile organization. For more information about Rally, visit the company's Web site at www.rallydev.com.
Press Contact: Anne Greenhaw
303-565-2832
anne@rallydev.com