Timetable Sydney SDC 2011

Johanna Rothman
Rothman Consulting Group (USA)
http://www.jrothman.com/

Johanna is an internationally recognised expert in managing IT product and software development. She helps managers and leaders solve problems and seize opportunities.

Johanna consults, speaks and writes on managing high-technology product development.  She enables managers, teams and organisations to become more effective by applying her pragmatic approaches to the issues of project, product and people management.

Johanna has written a number of popular books. Her most recent book is "Manage Your Project Portfolio: Increase Your Capacity and Finish More Projects". Previous books include the 2008 Jolt Productivity award winning "Manage It! Your Guide to Modern, Pragmatic Project Management"; and "Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management" (with Esther Derby). Johanna has also authored numerous articles and manages two blogs - Managing Product Development and Hiring Technical People - details of which can found at her web site www.jrothman.com.

We are honoured that Johanna can join us in 2011.

Steve Adolph
Agile Coach, Rally Software (USA)
http://www.rallydev.com/

Steve is an Agile Coach with Rally Software where he pursues his passion for helping organisations get the job done. Steve has been creating and managing software development projects long enough to remember Fortran and OS/MVT JCL. His professional career ranges over many exciting and critical projects including designing call processing software for digital exchanges, design and development of leading edge network management systems, railway signalling and telecom billing.

Prior to his recent move to Rally Software, Steve founded the pragmatic software engineering solutions provider, WSA Consulting, Vancouver. His areas of interest include use cases, requirements, software project management, product management, organisational behaviour, software architecture, patterns and software methodologies.

Steve is the author of numerous articles on software development and and is co-author of the book "Patterns for Effective Use Cases". He is an expert when it comes to teaching others about business modelling, requirements analysis, software architecture and design. He is active in the Agile community, is the co-founder of Agile Vancouver and was a track producer for the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago.

Shane Hastie
Chief Knowledge Engineer, Software Education (NZ/AU)
http://www.softed.com

Shane's role at Software Education is that of Chief Knowledge Engineer where he provides training and consultancy in business systems analysis, requirements engineering, software project management, software testing, and design techniques using traditional, Object Oriented as well as Agile methodologies.

With over 25 years experience in software development in real-world environments, Shane has worked on a diverse range of projects which have allowed him to design and build systems in the finance, agriculture, pharmaceutical, manufacturing, security and aviation industries. The systems these projects have developed cover a similarly impressive variety - from a pharmaceutical drug dissolution analysis sytem to an airline revenue management system which was sold to 12 airlines throughout Africa. Shane's wealth of experience implementing complex systems in the real world enables him to bring great value to the training courses he delivers for Software Education, and the consultancy services he offers to Software Education's customers.

Shane has a Masters degree in Information Management (MIM), is a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM), is ISTQB Foundation certified (CTFL), is also a Certified Business Analysis Professional (CBAP®) and a Qualified Business Analysis Professional (QBAP).

Shane was nominated for the inaugural NZ “BA of the Year” award in 2009 in a competition run by Computerworld and RedVespa.

Shane is a member of the International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA™), the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), and the Agile Alliance. He is a frequent speaker at industry events, and a trained personal development coach. 

Kent J. McDonald
Knowledge Bridge Partners & Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance (USA)
http://www.knowledgebridgepartners.com

Kent specialises in successfully applying pragmatic approaches to strategic planning and coaching business analysts and project managers. His more than 15 years of experience include working in business analysis and planning, project management, and product development in a variety of industries including financial services, health insurance, performance marketing, human services, non profit and automotive.

He is a Program Manager at Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Health Insurance who insure or pay health benefit claims for more than 2 million members in Iowa and South Dakota. Kent co-founded the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) and currently serves as President. He helped organise the Central Iowa Business Analyst Development Day 2008 and was a reviewer for the Customer and Business Value track at the Agile 2009 conference in Chicago.

Kent is co-author of Stand Back and Deliver: Accelerating Business Agility, a book that brings together immediately usable frameworks and step-by-step processes that help organisations deliver business value and build competitive advantage.