An Introduction to Scrum

With the growing popularity of Agile practices, Scrum has become a defacto standard set of practices for running Agile projects. Giora and Brian will introduce the values and practices defining Agile Software Development and explain the mechanics of using Scrum to manage these type of projects. Participants are welcome to engage in a dialog to better understand the differences between Agile and traditional, waterfall project management. The group should come away from this presentation with a better understanding of Agile and Scrum, as well as how it can be leveraged in highly volatile situations that are typical in modern corporations.

Giora Morein is a Principal Agile Coach and co-founder of BigVisible Solutions. He specializes in rapidly ramping up new Agile and Scrum teams through practical training coupled with hands-on mentoring and coaching. He has been successful in helping organizations scale their Scrum initiatives both in size and distributed location. Giora has also created a number of effective Agile and Scrum training programs focusing on practical techniques and practices. He has had extensive experience consulting in large, Fortune-class companies, including: Merrill Lynch, Fidelity, John Hancock, SSGA, Cessna Aircraft, Bell Helicopter, McKesson and GE Healthcare (Formally IDX). Giora is a Certified Scrum Practitioner CSP) and PMI-Certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He earned his Bachelors degree from Boston University and an MBA from Northeastern University.

Brian Bozzuto is an Agile Coach with BigVisible Solutions. With an extensive background in large financial service companies, he has worked as a developer, analyst, project manager, and coach. His current focus is working directly with teams as they adopt Agile and Scrum practices and incorporating these behaviors into the processes and cultures of established organizations. Brian has worked on numerous large integration projects involving enterprise portals and other web technologies. He has worked, in various roles, at Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare, Fidelity Investments, Investor's Bank & Trust, Bank of America, and Fleet Bank. He is a Certified ScrumMaster, Project Management Professional and has an MBA from Boston College.