Agile at Work – Case Studies and Best Practices

Presented by: Linda Cook – Managing Partner at Project Cooks, LLC

Hosted by Capital Technology Management Hub

In February, we’ll take the discussion of Agile to the next level by exploring Agile’s practical impact on technology innovation, quality and delivery. 

By adopting tested methodologies from other industries such as manufacturing, the technology sector has embraced the principals of Agile as means to improve productivity, cut cost and improve speed of delivery. 

• Why are government agencies drawn to Agile?
• Where to apply Agile methodologies?
• Where does it work best?
• What are some best practices?
• How to identify red flags?

Local companies such as Input and the Motley Fool used Kanban, a specific flavor of Agile, to achieve great results.

In today’s fast paced world, most IT organizations are looking for ways to improve their speed of delivery.  If you’ve asked yourself how can we deliver products and services more quickly, while maintaining the quality your customers need, you’ll be interested to hear how adding one of the ‘Lean’ techniques has helped teams speed up delivery with predictable results.  Kanban is one of the tools that have proven to be as useful in the IT industry as it is in Manufacturing.  We’ll examine the Theory of Constraints and how Kanban helps identify blockages in workflow.  Kanban, properly applied can help organizations create a level flow throughout their operations.

Linda Cook is a dynamic leader who quickly gains insight into teams and is able to help her clients successfully adopt Lean and Agile methods.  She has 15+ years of IT experience as a developer analyst, tester, database designer, methodologist, manager, trainer and coach.   She has helped many organizations successfully adopt Agile and Lean practices including SCRUM, XP, Kanban, Value Stream Mapping, 5S, Kaizen, and others.  Linda’s clients include large financial services organizations, education, and publishing companies, for example, Capital One, Capital One UK, Liberty Mutual, and Introl Company Inc.  Linda is recognized as one of the pioneer of Kanban System Development.  She led the Agile transformation at The Motley Fool, INPUT, Inc., and others.  Linda received her bachelors' degree from the College of Notre Dame in Business Management, with a concentration in Computer Information Systems. Linda completed formal training on Lean Six Sigma from Villanova University.  She is a certified Scrum Master and is active in the international Scrum community. Linda also serves on the national board of the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN).