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Author, practitioner, researcher and educator on agile software development including large-scale and multinational teams. Creating new knowledge in global software engineering, deployment of cloud-hosted software services and ICT for international development in the global south (ICT4D). Professor of Software Engineering at University of Salford. Founding Senior Partner at [Red Ocelot Ltd.]

Publications

( 01 )

Selected Publications

Book Mockup

This textbook is about working in teams to create functional software. It covers skills in agile software development methods, team working, version control and continuous integration and shows readers how to apply some of the latest ideas from lean agile and Kanban.

Part I focuses on people. This is about self-organising teams and agile rolees such as scrum master and product owner. Part II is on product. The book discussed requirements, design, development and security. Part III is on process, discussing agile and lean processes, as well as version control and test automation. Part IV is on advanced skills in large-scale agile, cloud deployment, technical debt and DevOps.

[web site]

February 2019

Tailoring Product Ownership in Large-Scale Agile Projects, IEEE Software

In large-scale agile projects, product owners undertake a range of challenging and varied activities beyond those conventionally associated with that role. This article describes product-owner activities and behaviors that are valued by experienced product owners and their line managers. 

[pdf preprint] [published]

July 2016

Artefacts and Agile Method Tailoring in Large-Scale Offshore Software Development Programmes, Information and Software Technology

This study identified 25 artefacts, organised into five categories: feature, sprint, release, product and corporate governance. It was discovered that conventional agile artefacts are enriched with artefacts associated with plan-based methods in order to provide governance. The empirical evidence collected in the study is used to identify a primary owner of each artefact and map each artefact to specific activities within each of the agile roles.

[pdf preprint] [published]

December 2015

How Product Owner Teams Scale Agile Methods to Large Distributed Enterprises, Empirical Software Engineering

This research describes nine product owner team functions identified: groom, prioritiser, release master, technical architect, governor, communicator, traveller, intermediary and risk assessor. These product owner functions arbitrate between conflicting customer requirements, approve release schedules, disseminate architectural design decisions, provide technical governance and propogate information across teams. The functions identified in this research are mapped to a scrum of scrums process, and a taxonomy of the functions shows how focusing on either decision-making or information dissemination in each helps to tailor agile methods to large scale offshore enterprise development programmes.

[pdf preprint] [published]

( 02 )

Education

Education

1996 Ph.D., Voting in Real-Time Distributed Computer Control Systems, University of

Sheffield, UK

2003 M.Ed., Teaching and Learning for University Lecturers, University of Sheffield, UK

1990 B.Sc., 2.1 Hons. Computer Systems Engineering, University of Wales, Bangor

Teaching

( 03 )

Teaching

Trimester 1

Live project using agile software development methods with projects set by external partners. Preparatory workshops and lectures provide opportunities to acquire skills required for successful completion of HackCamp.

Trimester 1

Lean and Agile Software Dev (MSc Software Engineering)

Students get a unique opportunity to work as an Agile Coach, supporting an undergraduate HackCamp software team working on a live project with a client. Also, learning about lean and large-scale agile.

Trimester 2

Software Business (MSc Software Engineering)

Strategies, plans and models to support software start-up company creation. Using a value proposition to create features for a specific market or demographic. Selecting software practices relating to the software start-up company context, focusing on trade-offs between process maturity and innovation agility.

Professional Activities

( 04 )

Professional Activities

June 2020 - current

Director, Senior Partner, Red Ocelot Ltd.

Engineering software evolution to create high-value impact. 

[Red Ocelot]

2021 - Aug 2023

Head of Computer Science and Software Engineering

University of Salford

 

[University of Salford]

2022

Distinguished Contributor

IEEE Computer Society

 

[IEEE Computer Society]

2009

Chartered Fellow (FBCS)

BCS, The Chartered Institue for IT

 

[BCS]

1999

Chartered Engineer (CEng)

Engineering Council (Registration Number 516767)

 

[Engineering Council]

( 05 )

Talks and Media

2023

Directions in Agile Software Development

Presentation Department of Informatics,
University of Oslo. August 2023.

2022

Large- scale Agile: LeSS, SAFe or Spotify?

Presentation to Manchester BCS, the
Chartered Institute for IT. November 2022.

2022

Improving Plant Operations Through Innovative Software Products

University of Salford, REF Impact Case Study video

TalksMedia
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