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.]
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Selected Publications
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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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
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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.
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Professional Activities
June 2020 - current
Director, Senior Partner, Red Ocelot Ltd.
2021 - Aug 2023
Head of Computer Science and Software Engineering
2022
Distinguished Contributor
2009
Chartered Fellow (FBCS)
1999
Chartered Engineer (CEng)
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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