2022 BAcon Speakers and Sessions
Product Ownership Analysis: New Rules for a Changing World
As the world focuses more on outcomes, the focus also shifts away from projects and towards products. The success of a product depends on the customers’ perception of how well they address their needs. Many organizations have gone to an agile product development practice to ensure that the perceptions of their customers are met, and the Product Owner becomes the driving force for the product’s development.
In this session, learn about the importance of the Product Owner and how your business analysis skills can provide value to your organization in understanding and meeting your customer’s needs.
Learning Objectives:
The need for product ownership analysis skills
Understand roles and responsibilities in product management
How business analysis tools and techniques are used in Product Ownership
Emily Midgley
Emily Midgley, CBAP, CPOA, is the President of the Cleveland Chapter of IIBA and has 15+ years of business analysis experience in the insurance industry. She led business analysis for programs to implement leading-edge technology like big data and mobile apps. As an Agile coach, Emily brings BA practices to product managers and product owners throughout the enterprise to increase focus on customer value.
Digital Products - They're Magically Delicious!
This is for the ones hungry for food AND knowledge!
Have you heard the term digital product and wondered what it really means? Take a moment while we talk through what we define as a digital product with easy and fun comparisons (like a box of Lucky Charms!)
During this brief talk we will also talk about our current digital products that exist within the Nationwide Partner Portal (partner.nationwide.com) and as well how we manage our digital and public facing API products out on our API content library.
Kristen Elliott
Kristen Elliott is an author, businesswoman, technology professional, and educator with a background of various analysis and consulting positions. She currently serves as a digital product owner for a Fortune 100 company and teaches software analysis principles at the undergraduate level.
An ambassador of STEAM, Kristen focuses on the advocacy of others to learn more about software analysis and how the power of the arts fuel creativity, critical thinking, and collaboration. She aims to support that mission through teaching, writing, and speaking about various technology concepts and about the power of the arts in a simple and fun way in hopes of others to become empowered to learn more themselves.
She received her MBA at Capital University with a focus in leadership. She also holds two Bachelor degrees (Music and Psychology) from The Ohio State University.
Kristen resides in Columbus, OH with her husband and two children. In her free time, she acts as a freelance violinist and composer. She has performed as a solo act and with multiple local musical groups as a folk, rock, and looper violinist. She has also composed and released two original albums (under the group name "Elliott Collective") and records professional studio strings for several musicians and groups in Ohio.
Tom Gruzs
Tom is a software engineering product manager at Nationwide and is currently leading the Digital Offerings Team within Nationwide Technology. Throughout his 20-year career, Tom has served various roles from technology support, engineering, and architecture within Nationwide's infrastructure and application product management domains. Tom earned his degree in Managemenr Information Systems from the Ohio State University.
Word Smatter: Exploring Semantics, Testers, and Problems
Testers [do|don’t] (help) [prevent|detect] problems.”
Throughout my career, I’ve encountered many variations of this phrase and discussed the underlying ideas many times. The phrase uses just a few, small words to express many, big ideas. And so, it can be valuable and critical to understand what each word means individually in order to better understand the ideas they convey collectively.
Semantics is the study of meaning in words. The session begins with a brief and broad overview of semantics, and related ideas, which sets the stage for deep analysis of each individual word and its potential meaning. We collaboratively consider:
Testers – What might this word mean to different people and in different contexts?
Do/Don’t – What do normative and descriptive statements have to do with it?
Help – How does the inclusion/exclusion of this word effect the meaning of the phrase?
Prevent/Detect – What does causality and perspective have to do with which word we choose?
Problems – What exactly is the thing that is being prevented or detected?
This session demystifies and promotes semantics, and goes beyond wordplay to introduce critical concepts that have practical impacts on testers, their roles, and their responsibilities.
View the Presentation Here
Damian Synadinos
For more than 25 years, Damian Synadinos helped to “build better software and build software better” through testing. Now, through his company Ineffable Solutions (Ineffable-Solutions.com), he helps “build better people”. Damian is an international speaker and trainer, delivering keynotes, talks, and workshops that are focused on fundamental topics and people-skills, based on real-world experience, and supplemented with deep research. His diverse experience spans many roles, industries, and companies, including CompuServe, NetJets, Abercrombie & Fitch, Nationwide Insurance, and Huntington Bank. Damian also helped organize the "QA or the Highway" testing conference (QAortheHighway.com) from 2014-2020, has over 10 years of theatrical improv experience, authored and illustrated a children’s book, “Hank and Stella in Something from Nothing” (HankAndStellaBooks.com), and draws strangers for fun (IDrawStrangers.com).
The Hidden Requirements
Traditionally, software development has focused on various functional and non-functional requirements (things a system should be or do). While this is important, there has been a lack of focus on emotional requirements (feelings that a system should induce). Why is this important?
Because the way we feel about software is important and should be considered!
A bold claim? Perhaps. And, as with any claim, it should be supported with evidence. In this presentation, I stress the importance of emotional requirements and support the claim by providing relevant facts, opinions, statistics, quotations, examples, hypotheticals, and more. Once I’ve sufficiently supported the claim, I offer a few practical methods by which to elicit, induce, and test emotional requirements. Finally, I use placebos as lens to view software and gain insight into emotional requirements.
Join me for a thorough and useful exploration of The Hidden Requirements!
View the Presentation Here
Damian Synadinos Bio
Breathwork for Stress Management and Productivity
Share breathwork practices and how they can be used for stress management, productivity, creativity and more. The presentation will include an actual breathwork session.
Andrea Kefalos
Andrea Kefalos is has a background in IT consulting and staffing, Software Sales, and Human Resources. She is also certified and teaches breathwork and meditation practices to help clients and organizations to improve efficiency and performance, break through blocks and barriers, and promote overall mental health and wellbeing. She also offers private programming, self-study courses, and facilitation for retreats and corporate events.
Project Impossible: Minimum Viable Product at the Edge of a Cliff
The team had just met, just received the project, and had to deliver in less than 30 hours a product the customer had 'kinda thought about.
Hear how the Cleveland GiveCamp Team dove into the work, built on the fact and assumption-finding that had been done, and delivered a product that knocked it out of the park.
Howard Pearce
Howard Pearce has been with Progressive Insurance since 1994. His experience as a BA started about 20 years ago. He had been a BA, Product Owner, Manager and Project Manager. Howard is also a retired Ohio Army National Guard officer. He is a combat veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
Building Trust and Breaking Barriers (with LEGO!)
LEGO(R) sets are fun to build, but who has ever attempted to build a set without looking at the instructions? In this workshop, attendees will form teams and attempt to build a LEGO(R) set without instructions. Through a series of iterative exercises that provide more product details, the teams will attempt to build & test their product as close to the instructions as possible without peeking.
Each group will learn different approaches to collaborate on product development and testing during the meeting to build a set according to a customer's needs. The workshop will highlight the gap between what we set out to build & the finished product as well as the gap between what our customers expect & the finished product. Our goal as a group will be to refine our techniques so we deliver a product on-time & on-budget that customers will love.
View the Presentation Here
Thomas Haver
Thomas is presently serving as a Test Automation Architect. He leads a team of testers, ops engineers, and production support analysts in the adoption of DevOps practices. Previously, he led the enterprise automation support of 73 applications at Huntington National Bank that encompassed testing, metrics & reporting, and data management. Thomas has a background in Physics & Biophysics, with over a decade spent in research science studying fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy before joining IT.
Effectively Using Value Stream Mapping, A Workshop
Have you ever been interested in exactly how to run a value stream mapping exercise? This workshop will give you the knowledge and experience to help answer that question, as well as facilitate your own session as soon as you return to work.
We will define the following:
1. What are value streams?
2. What is value stream mapping?
3. Why do I use value stream mapping?
4. What metrics do I use to measure my value stream?
5. What is the Theory of Constraints and how to apply it to value stream mapping.
The workshop will start as an information session to get you familiar with the things to define above. Then we will work together to map a pre-defined value stream so that you can learn how to facilitate the session.
During the actual mapping session you will learn:
1. How to map a current value stream, what metrics to capture, how to help the team understand these metrics
2. Take the current state value stream and analyze it through the Theory of Constraints
3. Produce a future state value stream with improvements that need to be made
4. Create an analysis for next steps of improvement after the future state value stream is met.
If you come to this workshop, you can expect the following outcomes:
1. When and why to use value stream mapping
2. How to convince your team to use value stream mapping as a tool
3. How to capture a value stream and analyze it
4. How to continue to use value stream mapping and analysis to improve people (team), process, and tooling.
Logan Daigle
Logan is an Agile and DevOps Coach from Charlotte, NC. He has been involved with providing Technical Excellence and implementing DevOps solutions for 14 years in the military, government, healthcare, retail, finance, and software product industries. In those 14 years he has worked along side technology and business teams and leadership to help orient their measures of success to improving customer outcomes.
In moving toward outcome based thinking and processes, Logan has witnessed how proper output measurement and observability can really help a team work well together. In addition to this, measuring what matters and working to make things as simple as possible ensure that the technology teams he has observed deliver software sooner, safer and happier. It is a blessing to see teams learn how to become self-managing to deliver great outcomes for their customers and their business all while becoming happier employees and technologists.
In general, Logan has a passion for being Agile, doing DevOps well and using agile engineering practices to build, test and deploy software. He has value stream mapping, development, Agile coaching and DevOps experience. His experiences have been in support of both Windows and Linux infrastructure, and many tools that are key to the success of applications in both. He is currently focusing on evangelizing in the technology community to bring DevOps to the masses.
Logan is a husband and father of 3 boys. His hobbies are running and hiking when he's not chasing the kids around the house.
Example Mapping: The New Three Amigos
Example Mapping is a collaboration technique used by teams to help refine requirements. Every team should have a set of “ready” criteria that includes some kind of workshop between development team members to establish a shared understanding. In a time-boxed Example Mapping session, rules will summarize examples or constraints about a user story, and questions about outcomes or dependencies are documented for future refinement. The end result are requirements written as user behavior with a shared understanding among all roles on an Agile team. The audience will participate in a live Example Mapping session and learn how to implement the workshop within their own team.
View the Presentation Here
Thomas Haver Bio
Creating a Habit of Agility
I often hear, “We have Agile but we do not collaborate and morale is low.” I hate to break the news, but just because teams practice Agile does not mean that Agile culture and collaboration appear automatically. Establishing an Agile mindset requires teams to break their past habits and change their behaviors. However, this can be difficult when many have been led through their careers with ideas of the lone warrior and error avoidance in mind. Without leadership embracing, practicing, and protecting the shift to an Agile culture, it’s easy for teams to fall back into their old habits. This session will discuss how organizations can create a habit of agility for their teams, enabling culture change and Agile transformation success.
Wendy Flowers
Wendy is a Senior Value Stream Architect at Tasktop. Before Tasktop, Wendy Flowers had 7 years of experience as a manager and project manager before moving on to lead the PMO at a government agency. She transitioned from project management to an Agile Coach role where she helped teams transitioning or looking to improve their Agile deployment. As an Agile Coach, she also reviews organizations' current processes and provides insights on how to improve and mature their processes. Wendy holds the following professional certifications: Certified Scrum Master (CSM), SAFe Program Consultant (SPC).
Roadmap for a Product Career
Looking for your next career challenge, and not sure in which direction you should head? Let's explore some of the paths available in the business analysis and product world.
In this interactive workshop, we will use a career planning canvas to identify where we are today, and to begin to consider where we might like to go next. Then we'll discuss typical roles associated with these disciplines, the skillsets needed for each, and some ways to grow and strengthen those competencies. Participants will leave with a starter roadmap of next steps to take toward fulfilling their career aspirations.
View the Presentation Here
Faye Thompson
With more than twenty years of project delivery experience, Faye Thompson serves as a consultant coach, product owner and scrum master. With a focus on an agile mindset and continuous improvement, Faye has had a positive impact in the financial services, healthcare, advertising, marketing, automotive, retail and aviation industries. Passionate about using innovative solutions to drive business value, she trains, mentors and coaches workgroups as they transform themselves into highly engaged and energized teams.
Faye also enjoys serving on the board of directors for the Central Ohio Agile Association, on the Core Program Committee of the Women in Agile Launching New Voices initiative, and as President of the Women in STEMM Alumni Society of The Ohio State University. She spends her free time volunteering as an emergency medical responder and public affairs coordinator for the American Red Cross.
Articulating Value to Stakeholders
Many of us participate in periodic reviews of the work that our development teams have completed in the form of a sprint review. Sometimes it can seem difficult to articulate the value that has been delivered when that work product doesn't seem 'flashy' or 'exciting'. Too often, this prompts us to fall back to into old patterns of status review. Join us as we examine some different ways to represent value, while getting the feedback we need to adjust and inform our work going forward.
View the Presentation Here
Faye Thompson Bio
Vertical Slicing - It's a Piece of Cake!
The key to starting development off right and delivering the right thing to our customers lies in breaking down the work into small, approachable parts. And it starts with the backlog items we create for our teams; ensuring they are sliced in a way that delivers value. Taking this approach is crucial in building the most successful product - but sometimes this is challenging! Understanding various slicing techniques and ways to think about the features your team is developing can have a lasting impact on the success of your product. In this talk, attendees will learn how to effectively slice features in a way that creates transparency, maximizes the flow of delivery, enables easier prioritization, and ensures a valuable solution for the customer.
View the Presentation Here
Kelsey Jones
Kelsey Jones is an Agilist at Insight Consulting Services. Her organization builds effective delivery structures where people and products thrive. Kelsey has a passion for products and finding ways to support her teams in delivering value to customers. She is a leader in the Business Analysis space at Insight, leading community of practices as well as training programs for those new to the role, and has coached many teams on agility and keeping a customer focused mindset."
Thea Cassudakis
Thea Cassudakis is an Agilist at Insight Consulting Services. Her background in IT and communication align with her responsibilities as a Product Owner and Business Analyst. She is passionate about solving problems, eliciting requirements, and building relationships with multi-level stakeholders. She is also passionate about mentoring those that are transitioning into the workforce or are new to IT, specifically those that are interested in Business Analysis.
A Jedi Knight or a Stormtrooper!!
How to become a Master facilitator?
Are you struggling with engagement in your teams? Do you feel included in meetings? Are calendars booked out? Cannot make decisions?
Step away from traditional structures, grab your audience’s attention and innovate each time you connect with your teams. Facilitation is the art of stimulating deeper understanding, fresh thinking, and behavioral transformation, it all starts with engaging teams. A facilitator must also have experience in applying these techniques in different situations with varying levels of complexity establishing an environment of psychological safety and creativity.
“Whether you can observe a thing or not depends on the theory which you use. It is the theory which decides what can be observed”- A. Einstein
Join this interactive presentation to deepen the facilitation skills that allow you to bring forward powerful engaging discussions leading to an inclusive outcome for your teams.
View the Presentation Here
Vandana Rajagopal
Vandana Rajagopal is an Agile Coach within Consulting Services at Insight. From her multi-faceted experience in healthcare and IT, she has been involved in implementing Agile and developing a product-centric approach in healthcare, insurance, utility, and software product industries.
Vandana specializes in growing the mindset and behaviors of individuals and teams, enabling them as change agents to embrace new ways of working to deliver value-based outcomes. She is passionate about developing skill sets in teams and helping individuals grow in their core capabilities along a self-discovery path.
In an effort to giving back to the community, Vandana serves as a lead in the Women in Agile Columbus chapter. She provides opportunities for individuals to share knowledge and creates space for new voices. During her free time, she is a yoga instructor and helps create a safe and healthy community by building mindfulness in both adults and children.
Abstract for Reboot Your Team with Flow Metrics
Is your team in a rut? Is your delivery just so-so? Are story points and velocity not helping your team improve? If you are stuck and you don’t know what to do or are interested in flow, come learn how you can use flow metrics to reboot your team and improve focus. The best part is you won’t need anyone’s permission to begin.
View the Presentation Here
Tiffany Scott
Tiffany Scott is a Senior Consultant at Strive Consulting in the Management Consulting practice, where she coaches leaders how to strategically harness agility. Since 2009, she has worked as a transformation coach, Scrum Master, and analyst on agile teams in the financial services, insurance, healthcare, transportation, aviation, and utilities industries. Tiffany uses a blend of Scrum and Kanban philosophies to develop interactive exercises that jump-start leaders and teams on their journey towards agility. She holds certifications from Scrum.org and ProKanban.org and is in the process of becoming a licensed trainer for both organizations. In her free time, she enjoys game nights with her family, hydroponic gardening, and reading.
Customer-Driven Value Streams
Value Stream Evangelist Chris Gallivan will talk about value streams as a mechanism to zoom out on value, and align to the perspective of your customers. We will discuss what is our customer's perspective, why it doesn't naturally align with ours, and what we can do about it.
View the Presentation Here
Chris Gallivan
Chris Gallivan is a Principal Flow Advisor at Planview. Chris has an extensive history improving flow in the automotive industry. His experience ranges from DevOps Dojos to Platform Engineering, from traditional software to embedded systems. Chris is the proud father of a two pizza team and a lifelong musician