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Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - 11:30am - 12:30pm
Agile Readiness
AW1

Going Agile? Three Conversations to Have Before You Start Prior Year Content

All too often, companies adopt a mission to “go agile” before truly understanding what that entails. Business managers are quick to jump on the agile bandwagon, believing that going agile will magically make projects happen faster. Teams are getting certified in Scrum believing it is the silver bullet that will suddenly make everyone more productive. Inevitably, cracks begin to develop, and expectations are not met, leaving everyone questioning the value of going agile at all. Heather Fleming and Justin Riservato say there is a better way! The truth is that going agile will result in more productive teams and faster delivery of projects—but only if everyone can agree on the rules of the game. Learn why gaining consensus on the principles of agile is more important than implementing a specific process. Explore how having three key conversations—about saying no to deadlines, ensuring business partner engagement, and experimenting with process—up front can save you from an agile disaster.

1.00 PMI® PDU
Heather Fleming
Heather Fleming, Gilt

As senior director of the program management organization at Gilt, Heather Fleming oversees the execution of strategic technology initiatives across the company’s 170-member tech team. Heather’s chief aim is to challenge the status quo of project management best practices by continually experimenting with agile project management methodologies. Since joining Gilt in 2010, she has directed a wide variety of customer-facing, international, and back office projects instrumental to the ecommerce leader’s continued growth and success.

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Justin Riservato
Justin Riservato, Gilt

An integral part of Gilt’s growth since 2009, Justin Riservato has worked with just about every team and department. Justin has developed a direct, tell the truth approach and philosophy to project communication that has improved both collaboration and trust across teams. From his past life of living and working on sailboats, Justin has been able to draw numerous parallels between program management and working on a ship—at least the way he does it.

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