Project Management in an Agile World

Ella Lau

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Networking Dinner @ 5:45; Chapter Business @ 6:45; Program @ 7:00 PM

In the South Multimedia Conference Room 1E:

at Countrywide, Building 2, 29851 Agoura Road, Agoura Hills, CA 91302

Developing a web site using agile development methodology, test-driven design (TDD) and Ruby on Rails provided this project manager with a new set of challenges. Agile methodology tends to be fast-paced with development occurring at the same time as the development of detailed business rules. Based on the experiences when managing this effort, the project manager reviews some of the lessons learned. How is managing an agile project different? When managing a traditional project, the development of schedules, estimates and deliverables are managed in a controlled fashion. Traditional PM practices tend to be very formal. An agile project is very fast-paced and has very little formality. What differences are experienced when managing a project in this environment?

Ella Lau is a Project Executive at IBM with their Global Services Division. As a member of the Application Innovation Services practice she has responsibilities for project delivery. The majority of Ella's projects are commercial projects that have ranged is size, complexity and methodology. Team size has ranged from small to over 100 team members. Ella has worked with clients from Education, Healthcare, Automotive, Financial and Public Sector industries. Her specialties are Systems Integration and Application Development projects. Ella recently was recruited to manage an agile development project (SME Toolkit) for IBM's Corporate Community Relations.

Ella has been an IBM Certified Project Manager / Executive since 1993 and received her PMP certification in 2000.