The School of Business is excited to announce a new event designed to bring faculty and practitioners together for interactive sessions addressing important business issues. You’re sure to walk away with new ideas on topics you know a little, or a lot about. We will be offering three sessions for an eclectic audience of faculty and business partners. Each session will feature a faculty member presenting leading research on a pertinent topic, a leading practitioner describing best practices on the same topic, followed by discussion facilitated by the SBA Dean. The generative discussions should yield valuable insights for all involved. A reception with appropriate Friday afternoon refreshments will follow.
The inaugural session will focus on agile software development. Forrester Research reported that agile is now the primary software development approach used within organizations. Principles underpinning agile methods have been informed by lean manufacturing and inspired the runaway NY Times best-seller, The Lean Startup. This talk is sure to be interesting for issues beyond technology development. Presenter Erica Wagner (Information Systems professor and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs) will be joined by a two dynamic presenters and industry experts on agile development, Derwyn Harris and Ed Copony. Derwyn is the co-founder of Jama Software in the Pearl, a local business that has been cited by Forbes as one of “Americas Most Promising Companies.” Ed, a software developer with extensive experience in agile and its application within large and small companies, leads a Portland-based development team for a Chicago insurance firm and performs freelance agile coaching.
Presenter Bio's:
Erica Wagner is the Ahlbrandt Professor of Technology Innovation and Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs in the School of Business, Portland State University. Her research focuses on the ways software is 'made to work' within different organizations, with particular emphasis on how trouble initiatives are turned around. She earned her Ph.D. from the London School of Economics, and previously taught at Cornell University and The London School of Economics.
Ed Copony is a software developer who leads a Portland-based development team for Chicago-based Fidelity Life. He has extensive experience with agile teams in a variety of settings -- from Fortune 100 companies to tiny startups -- as a developer, manager, and a coach.
He also performs freelance agile coaching and development consulting work, and maintains a few open source projects.
Derwyn Harris is Co-founder and Solutions Architect Manager at Jama Software. He is an engineer, consultant and trainer, with broad experience deploying complex software-integration projects of all sizes, He is passionate about standards and about his customers, constantly seeking to understand development trends and how they impact his customers’ success. He writes and presents frequently to business analysts, project managers and executives seeking to effect change.
