We’re kicking off 2021 with a special 20th Anniversary panel event of agilists with deep global experience to reflect on how Agile has played out in Australia relative to the rest of the world. As Carl Sagan said, “You have to know the past to understand the present.”

The discussion topic is:
“How has Agile played out in Australia over the past 20 years compared with the rest of the world?”

Our panelists have a lot of insights to share about this having all worked in Agile environments on other continents for many years before Australia.

We’ll start with 30 mins of moderated discussion amongst the panelists before opening it up to questions from participants submitted via chat.

You can expect to come away with a broader perspective on what’s happening in the world of Agile and some surprises about the biases that you’ve taken on. This may lead to you to question some of your assumptions and look past local trends in 2021.

— Panelist Alex Sloley —
Alex Sloley is an Agile consultant, specialising in Agile training, Agile coaching, and software development best practices. Alex is a fifteen-year veteran of Microsoft where he acted as a Program Manager, Software Test Engineer, and Software Design Engineer in Test. At Microsoft, he shipped in over ten products, worked with Microsoft Research on multiple high-profile projects, & helped lead his org. into enterprise-level implementation of Scrum. As an Agile consultant, he has led Agile transformation efforts at a variety of clients, spanning industries and incorporating a diverse range of Agile practices. Alex has helped clients across North America and Europe, with clients such as Baker Hughes, Cisco, Genentech, HdL, Integrated DNA Technologies, Intel, Nordeus, Nordstrom, Satori Software, Shell, Starbucks, WatchGuard, and Zoll.

— Panelist Mike Mallete —
Mike has been an Agile practitioner since joining his first XP team in the early 2000s. He eventually went full-time Agile Coaching by 2010. Since then, he has helped multiple organisations from start-ups to large multi-nationals improve & transform their way of working.

Before that, he has worn multiple hats in the software development industry, from software development, architecture, sales, people management, training, etc. in the Southeast Asian region. As of late, he started fiddling with various martial arts as a way of staying fit and having fun.

— Panelist Simon Bennett —
Simon Bennett has been delivering Software Projects ranging from $300M F-16 mission simulator programmes through to hosted web applications across Australia, Asia, the middle east, USA & Europe. The last 13 years have been focused on delivering solutions in an Agile Fashion.

In 2007, he joined the UK’s premier Agile Solutions Consultancy “Conchango” as a managing consultant, working on scaled scrum initiatives at blue chip enterprises such as Harrods, Barclaycard, Tesco, Chevron and the Financial Times. After acquisition by EMC Consulting he was appointed their global practice lead for Agile, Lean and Systems Thinking services.

After leaving EMC he formed LASTing Benefits providing consulting, coaching and training services globally.

— Moderator Rowan Bunning —
Rowan Bunning is an Australian pioneer of Scrum. Rowan learned the disciplines of eXtreme Programming (XP) in 2001 & became one of Australia’s first Scrum Masters in 2003.

Rowan is one of Australia’s first Agile Coaches, having been hired as such by one of Europe’s foremost Agile consultancies in 2007. As a Certified Scrum Trainer since 2008, Rowan has delivered over 400 Scrum training courses, making him one of the most experienced Agile trainers in Oceania.

— Agenda —
7:50pm Join the call for informal networking
8:00pm Welcome & introduction of panelists
8:10pm Panel discussion
8:40pm Discussion of participant questions
9:10pm Close