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Abstract: The Toyota Way, also known as Lean, was born from hardship and survival and is designed to succeed in both good times and bad. Lean thinking fundamentally changes the engagement model between IT and the business, challenging traditional relationships with staff, customers and partners. This session explains the Lean approach to challenges, continuous improvement, productivity, and quality, and how these principles can help you deliver high-value, high-quality software solutions to reduce operational costs, increase profitability, and survive.

Bio: Jason is a Lead Consultant with ThoughtWorks.  He first encountered Extreme Programming in 1999 which led him to join ThoughtWorks in 2001 where he has expanded his knowledge and practice in Agile software development.  Jason first encountered Lean in 2003 from Lean Software Development by the Poppendiecks.  Since then, he has read everything he can on Lean, attended a Lean Summit, visited Lean manufacturing plants, including Toyota, and did a Lean study tour in Japan in 2008.  Suffice to say, Jason's current perspective on Agile has a decidedly Lean flavour.

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Abstract: Where did the Design phase go? There is a misconception that XP does not promote design. In fact, it is quite the opposite. In this session I will cover XP design, putting it in context with more traditional development approaches. I will also explain how XP promotes continuous design improvement through Simple Design, Continuous Integration, Test Driven Development (TDD) and Refactoring. By following the XP practices developers evolve their code (and design) using incremental proven steps. Moreover this is done without waste (over-design).

Bio: Paulo Caroli serves ThoughtWorks as an Agile Coach with over thirteen years of software development experience. He has a proven track record in variety of IT roles including: Developer, Application Architect, Project Manager, Business Analyst, Quality Assurance, and Trainer. In 2000 Paulo first encountered Extreme Programming, since then he has been ever-increasing his expertise in Agile Management and Agile Development processes and practices. Paulo has been authoring articles, conference sessions, and open source projects in a variety of IT subjects. For more information, please check www.caroli.org.

Paulo joined ThoughtWorks in 2006 and has held the positions of Agile Development Coach, Trainer, and Project Manager. Prior to joining ThoughtWorks, Paulo has worked for several software corporations: research labs, Silicon Valley start-ups, large companies and software consultancies. He has several years of experience coaching and influencing high performance teams (collocated and offshore) in the delivery of custom technology solutions across a wide range of industries. Paulo holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science and an M.S. in Software Engineering both from Pontificial Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (PUC-Rio).

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Abstract: One of the most common misconceptions about Agile is that it involves little to no up-front planning. Sadly, this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy in many organizations unprepared to make the shift towards Agile delivery and their development teams are left to work with 'fragile' analysis artifacts. The Agile Analyst bears the responsibility to advocate the customer's story for the team and to be a steadfast negotiator for value as development challenges unfold. In order to remain effective, they must also keep their process lightweight and low-maintenance. During this session, we will discuss the most effective analysis techniques for Agile teams to set themselves up for delivering quality product without being bogged down in backlog management.

Bio: Adam Monago is the Product Manager for Mingle by ThoughtWorks Studios. In this role, Adam brings to bear the best practices of ThoughtWorkers around the globe to incorporate them into the vision and development of the preeminent collaboration tool for project teams worldwide.

Adam joined ThoughtWorks in 2004 and has held the positions of Client Principal, Project Manager and Senior Business Analyst and also served as the Global Analysis Community Lead. He has led and participated in engagements whose focus have ranged from strategic planning to custom solution development through organizational transformation. Prior to joining ThoughtWorks, Adam held positions with Computer Sciences Corporation, Citigroup and Prentice Hall Higher Education and had several years of experience leading high performance teams in the delivery of custom technology solutions across a wide range of industries. Adam holds a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University, and an M.S. in Information Systems from Stevens Institute of Technology.

Abstract: In this session you will be exposed to Agile coaching and facilitation techniques. Based on Agile values, principles and practices, Agile coaching and facilitation help the software team achieve the business goals, while enabling an effective, exciting, energetic and highly-productive environment. You will hear about the Agile daily activities and challenges, and the common solutions for succeeding in an Agile project.

Bio: Manoel Pimentel is a software engineer with 15 years of experience in the IT industry, currently working as a coach in Agile, Lean and TOC for companies in the service, finance and banking segments. He is the Editorial Director for the Revista Visão Ágil and for the InfoQ Brazil; he writes about Agile for the major portals and magazines in Brazil and abroad. He also lectures at local and international Agile events. He holds the CSM and the CSP Scrum Alliance certifications and is one of the pioneers in the use and disclosure of Agile methods in Brazil.

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Abstract: Continuous improvement plays a key role in agile methods. It is the reason why scrum became so adaptable in different contexts. Retrospectives and short iterations are the base for this continuous improvement, keeping development as close as possible to its best productivity.

Bio: Rodrigo de Toledo holds a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computer Science from the Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio) and a Ph.D. from the INRIA institute in France. Rodrigo has several academic papers in computer graphics, and has worked at Tecgraf/PUC-Rio for more than 10 years in different projects for Petrobras. Before leaving Tecgraf, as a senior researcher, he also played the role of Scrum Master. Nowadays, Rodrigo is a software engineer at Petrobras and a professor/trainer at CCE for both computer graphics and Agile methods.

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Abstract: Using "System Thinking" as you apply Agile principles can lead you far beyond than the simple use of methods and practices that we know today. "System Thinking" is one of the most powerfull themes that can be applied to Agile software projects. This presentation will show how much important is the comprehension of your project as a system and how to use systemic instruments to create leverage in productivity and quality results.

Bio: Alisson Vale is founder of Phidelis Technologies. With more than 15 year of experience with software development and at least 8 years leading and coaching software projects, he is an Agile enthusiast in Brazil, where he has a strong level of participation by writing articles, doing presentations and debating on discussion forums. Today he is a technical coach and Project Leader at Phidelis, where a lot of ideas and techniques are constantly challenged and applied in real world scenarios.