AgilePhilly May 2014 "Customer Relationships"

The Role of Customer Engagement in Successful Organizations

Our meeting is THURS, May 22nd

Customer Relationships are something that all members of a team should be cognizant of, even testers and in-house Ops - - we all have customers we report to, whether they are anonymous web users, product owners, or in-house managers.

Local expert Bob Schatz will be making this popular presentation that he recently gave to the Agile Group in Washingtown, DC.  Besides his versatility, Bob always has a perspective toward the people interactions of a methodology.  Bob Schatz is a Certified Scrum Master Trainer, and presented to AgilePhilly in Spring of 2013 on SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework).

Summary: One of the key practices in successful projects is the engagement of the people that will be using a product in the development of it. In agile practices, there are ceremonies built into the methods to encourage that to happen. Some companies do it well, most seem to avoid it because they fear what they might get as feedback. That seems quite ironic that by avoiding the feedback early, there is a greatly increased risk of delivering the wrong thing to the users. In this session we will review the key points of customer engagement in agile practices, how to do it, and why its critical to project success.

Bio: Bob Schatz is the owner of Agile Infusion http://www.agileinfusion.com Since 2002, he has helped many companies in their transition to agile development methods. Prior to this, Bob was responsible for leading the Primavera's software team with Ken Schwaber and Bob Martin to create a true agile success story in the transition to using Scrum and XP. Before that, Bob spent seven years at Liquent publishing software targeted for the pharmaceutical market, and 12 years at GE Aerospace/Lockheed Martin.

Bob has lead implementions in Scrum and XP, and driving culture changes in large organizations, and often speaks about the benefits and challenges of bringing agile techniques into an organization.

For more about Bob see his Linkedin profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobschatz

Location: Note that this meeting will be in the western suburbs close to the Willow Grove Exit on the PA Turnpike. This is at new member company Reed Tech.

http://goo.gl/maps/o7j59

Take the Willow Grove exit of the PA Turnpike

Pretend to get on Rte 611 South, and then take the first right onto Maryland Road.

Slight right onto Witmer Road.

Left of Dresher, and Left onto Walnut Grove Drive.

Reed Tech

7 Walnut Grove Dr
Horsham, PA 19044
215-441-6400

http://www.reedtech.com

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