CT-SPIN #74: Outsourcing Technical Teams – the challenges and the processes

Posted on 11 January 2012 by brenna.excell

Outsourced Technical teams are increasingly common and come with a different set of challenges. In this constantly evolving industry, many lessons and innovations can be learned from Indian IT enterprises.

In this talk, Harish Lala from Zensar Technologies will gives us an insight into outsourcing, how it has evolved and what the best practices are to build a successful and sustainable outsourcing model.

Snacks kindly sponsored by Zensar Technologies. Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

 

Wednesday, 18 January 2012, 18h15

Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

RSVP

Anyone is free to attend. Please RSVP at ctspin74.eventbrite.com.
Alternatively, if you experience any problems, RSVP by sending YES or MAYBE via our contact form.

Venue

Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

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Agenda

18:15 Welcoming and Introduction
Brenna Excell
18:20 Outsourcing Technical Teams – the challenges and the processes
Harish Lala
19:20 Closing and Thanks
Brenna Excell
19:25 Networking & Further Discussion

Speaker Profile

Harish is Associate Vice President at Zensar Technologies and has been instrumental in setting up and establishing Zensar’s South African business. Harish started Zensar South Africa in 2001 and has been in SA for over 10 years. Today the South African business has more than 500 associates and is the foundation for growing investments into Africa. Harish graduated with a degree in Engineering from National Institute of Technology and has a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA) from SP Jain, Mumbai, both premier Indian educational institutions. Prior to Zensar, he worked with a multibillion dollar IT services organization in India.

 

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CT-SPIN #73: The Challenge of Distance

Posted on 9 November 2011 by Christian Oloff

One of the principles behind the agile manifesto highlights face-to-face conversation as the best method for conveying information within a development team, yet there are times when teams consist partly or entirely of members who are geographically dispersed. While there is currently no true substitute for face-to-face interaction, there are some steps that can and should be taken to improve the quality of dispersed interactions.

In this talk, Philip Anastasiadis will be sharing some of the insights from his research, which includes analysis of some of the recent case studies reported by Jeff Sutherland on hyperproductivity in dispersed Scrums.

Amazon Web Services Logo

Snacks kindly sponsored by Amazon Web Services (Cape Town). Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 16 November 2011, 18h15

Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

RSVP

Anyone is free to attend. Please RSVP at ctspin73.eventbrite.com.
Alternatively, if you experience any problems, RSVP by sending YES or MAYBE via our contact form.

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CT-SPIN #72: SPINJam – The Agile Toolbox

Posted on 11 October 2011 by Administrator

The first line in the Agile Manifesto reads: we have come to value

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

This is something that we all struggle to understand and implement in our various environments. Developers, managers, product owners, architects, gurus, coaches, mentors and masters all bring a creativity and a differentiating factor to the software that they are involved in producing. On the other hand, the processes and tools provide a supporting back drop to these activities and they help us organize and manage the clutter of day to day activities.

In the inaugural SPINJam event in October we want to explore the tools that you use to support the individuals in your team and organisation.

The format of the SPINJam will be loosely based on the WIPJam format from the recent AppsWorld conference at the CTICC – we will have a panel of about 5 people together with a facilitator to lead the conversation. We will start the evening with a 5 minute session for each of the panelists to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the tools they have or are using. This will then flow into an open floor discussion lead by the facilitator. The aim is to have a frank and open discussion of tools ranging from your favourite type of whiteboard; through to your best ever bug tracking system; and ranging to your views on source control systems and their pros and cons.

Event Sponsors:
Event SponsorEvent Sponsor

Snacks kindly sponsored by Alacrity and PolymorphSystems.
Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 19th October 2011, 18h15
Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

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Agile India 2012

Posted on 25 September 2011 by Annu Augustine

Agile Alliance is happy to present Asia’s largest Agile conference. Agile India 2012 is the first Agile Alliance conference to be held outside North America.

Come and join us for three spectacular days in India’s technology hub—Bengaluru. Learn and share your experience in software development and agile adoption with various speakers and attendees from different parts of Asia and around the world. Participate and exchange ideas with researchers and academics from around the world as they showcase the best of international research on Agile software development.

Agile India 2012 will have many sessions on all aspects of agile including agile product management. Learn more at Agile India 2012.

I am actively looking for speakers for the agile product management stage, for any further information, please contact me at: annua@digiata.com

Hoping to see some of the passionate South African agilists there!

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CT-SPIN #71: How to do what you love and get paid for it

Posted on 13 September 2011 by Annu Augustine
Event Sponsor:
Event Sponsor

Many people get told that they should do what they love and the money will follow but get disappointed that the money does not follow. As a result many people give up on pursuing what they love or their mission in life. In this talk, Sandras outlines the follow up steps required to do what you love and get paid for it.

Snacks kindly sponsored by Alacrity. Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 21st September 2011, 18h15
Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

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CT-SPIN #70: Your team in light and colour

Posted on 10 August 2011 by Hendrik
Event Sponsor:
Event Sponsor

Developing software requires both art and craft to create a successful project and to lead a team that excels at what it does. In this talk Stephen Quirke, from StrategyWorks, walks us through the similarities between successful water colours and great teams.

Snacks kindly sponsored by PolymorphSystems. Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 17th August 2011, 18h15
Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town

Continue reading →

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SPINJam – The Agile Toolbox

Posted on 4 August 2011 by Hendrik

The first line in the Agile Manifesto reads: we have come to value

Individuals and interactions over processes and tools

This is something that we all struggle to understand and implement in our various environments. Developers, managers, product owners, architects, gurus, coaches, mentors and masters all bring a creativity and a differentiating factor to the software that they are involved in producing. On the other hand, the processes and tools provide a supporting back drop to these activities and they help us organize and manage the clutter of day to day activities.

In the inaugural SPINJam event in October we want to explore the tools that you use to support the individuals in your team and organisation. So if you’ve had experience with a set of tools that you’ve come to love or hate please let us know since we are busy putting together a panel focusing on this topic.

The format of the SPINJam will be loosely based on the WIPJam format from the recent AppsWorld conference at the CTICC – we will have a panel of about 4 people together with a facilitator to lead the conversation. We will start the evening with a 5 minute session for each of the panelists to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the tools they have or are using. This will then flow into an open floor discussion lead by the facilitator. The aim is to have a frank and open discussion of tools ranging from your favourite type of whiteboard; through to your best ever bug tracking system; and ranging to your views on source control systems and their pros and cons.

If you are interested in being on the panel or have any additional suggestions please ping us on twitter (@CT_SPIN) or send an email to the committee or the discussion list.

Hope to hear from all you Agilists soon!

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CT-SPIN #69: RESTful Web Services – A Journey

Posted on 12 July 2011 by Herman Lintvelt

Today web services have become the standard way for inter-application communication and integration. While most enterprise web services are built based on SOAP, WSDL and the WS-* specification universe, a rapidly growing number claim they use a better way: REST, short for REpresentational State Transfer. In this talk, I will try to provide a pragmatic introduction to the fundamentals of REST and RESTful HTTP application integration, based on my personal journey from confused REST skeptic to fluent proponent.

Logo Open Box Software

Snacks kindly sponsored by Open Box Software.
Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 20th July 2011, 18h15
Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town
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A reflection on my past six months at SPIN

Posted on 27 June 2011 by Annu Augustine

The past six months at SPIN has been an enriching experience. I attended my first SPIN meeting about thirteen months ago and was immediately keen to play a greater part of this initiative. The once in a month meetings are after hours, there is really no better place to meet individuals who are passionate about what they do and willing to share their experiences. I saw this as an opportunity to surround myself with passionate people, and I have discovered that this indeed is the case.

SPIN is a great initiative; there is no monetary benefit to anyone involved: the committee members, speakers or members. It simply is about sharing one’s experience with the community at large. What has amazed me is not only the number of attendees but also the broad spectrum of member profiles. There is definitely a strong learning culture here.

SPIN’s primary objective is to:
‘promote transformation via process improvement and by enhancing its member’s skills’

I like the fact that it is not tied into a specific software development methodology or framework. It is simply sharing real life experiences and raising awareness about relevant processes in our ever changing industry.

We have had quite a number of the sponsors who have approached us and offered to sponsor the meetings. I always get excited when this happens, it gives us an indication that we are definitely providing events with value to the community at large. Many thanks to all our awesome sponsors this year.

A special thanks to all the speakers that have spoken this year. We have also had some very keen first time public speakers. We have such a warm crowd that we encourage these speakers to go ahead and use us as a platform.

I would also like to personally thank my fellow committee members. We are all people with busy schedules, but when it comes to preparation time for the monthly event, each one has played his part. It has been such a team effort, and been an awesome experience sharing the last six months with you guys, looking forward to the next six months as well.

Elections for next year’s committee is coming up soon, I encourage anyone who is keen to play an active part of SPIN to elect yourself or recommend someone. I can assure you it will definitely be worth your time and efforts.

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CT-SPIN #68: Production Support – if it’s visible, it’s manageable

Posted on 6 June 2011 by Christian Oloff

Tons of bugs, a gloomy support team, and new features always being more important than fixes; this is how Austin Fagan describes the beginning of his quest to help improve the production support processes at a leading UK broad band supplier. He will tell us more about the starting point, improvements achieved and lessons learned along the way.

Logo Unboxed Consulting

Snacks kindly sponsored by Unboxed Consulting. Wine kindly sponsored by Yila Consulting.

Wednesday, 15th June 2011, 18h15
Events Room,
5th floor,
Bandwidth Barn,
125 Buitengracht Street,
Cape Town
Continue reading →

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