J. B. Rainsberger, “Theory of Constraints”, Agileee conference, 2009 from Alexey Krivitsky on Vimeo.

J.B. Rainsberger
Canada, independent

J. B. (Joe) Rainsberger (jbrains.ca/) helps software organizations better satisfy their customers and the businesses they support. Expert at delivering successful software, he writes, teaches and speaks about why delivering better software is important, but not enough. He helps clients improve their bottom line by coaching teams as well as leading change programs. He helps software organizations off the treadmill of over-commitment and under-delivery, addressing all aspects of software delivery including understanding the business, gelling the team and even writing great code. Learn more about how Joe will inspire your software organization at get.started@jbrains.ca.

“An Introduction to Agile Through the Theory of Constraints”

Agile has all these weird, expensive-looking practices: pair programming, test-driven development, regular planning meetings, moving the programmers and business people closer together, focusing people on a single project, multi-disciplinary teams. We can’t afford to go agile!

In this session, J. B. Rainsberger introduces agile practices by relating them to core business matters: compounding early earned value and reducing unnecessary costs. Learn why practice and learning are really profit centers. Maybe you can’t afford not to go agile!

Process/Mechanics

This is a straight chalk talk. Me, a whiteboard, a marker, an audience, and intermittent Q&A. You can find an excerpt from this presentation at XP Day Manhattan 2007 at YouTube.

It’s different every time, and it works every time. First presented in May 2005 at the XP/Agile Toronto user group.

Learning outcomes

• Understand how agile practices relate directly to core business concerns
• Feel more comfortable with agile practices as an investment, rather than a sunk cost
• Understand how to present agile practices in a compelling way to business people
• See a more concrete, relevant justification for agile practices than “you’ll like it, and people will feel better”