“I have noticed that even people who claim everything is predetermined and that we can do nothing to change it, look before they cross the road” (Stephen Hawking). As agile teams, we know that we can’t know everything, so we shouldn’t waste time thinking about that which we don’t know and can’t predict. Faster feedback loops, smaller pieces of functionality, and product owners imbedded with project teams help us identify risk better than speculation. So why are we still losing sleep over it? Annette Head shares the story of how her team used a risk census and a risk burndown chart to help them sleep peacefully at night. A risk-based approach is inherent to properly executed agile projects. Integrating risk assessment into the agile process tells us where to focus our energies first. So arm yourself with tools to help you and your team stop worrying about the risk monster lurking under your bed.
Annette Head
Principal Financial Group
A QA leader at Principal Financial Group, Annette Head has more than fourteen years experience in the QA field, leading testing efforts for web applications, web services, and home-grown tools. Annette teaches Scrum, Kanban, and Cucumber within her organization, and loves coaching and mentoring on all things agile. She has been a board member of the Des Moines Area Quality Assurance Association. In her free time, Annette volunteers as a teaching assistant and as a mentor for Tech Journey (techjourney.org/) and HyperStream (hyperstream.org/), organizations that encourage youth to learn about and pursue technology careers.
Speaker Presentations
Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - 4:15pm
Agile Techniques
Things That Go Bump: Product Risk Assessment in Agile