As we strive to deliver better projects to our customers, I am more and more intrigued by Agile development processes.  Luckily, I’ve been granted a media pass to both the upcoming Better Software Conference and the Agile Development Practices Conference here in Las Vegas.  For the first time ever, these two agile-focused conferences are co-located and one admission (or media pass) gets you into both conferences and their associated expos.



These conferences will be held in Las Vegas at Caesar’s Palace June 6-11.



Key reasons to attend the Better Software Conference and the Agile Development Practices Conference are to:

 

 






     
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  • Discover the latest in software development, agile software development, technologies, trends, and practices.





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  • Network with hundreds of your peers to problem solve, collaborate, and gain fresh ideas.





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  • Enjoy opportunities to meet with the speakers throughout the week.





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  • Benefit from real-world experiences of leading software development organizations.





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  • Attend the EXPO for the latest tools and services to help you build and deliver better software.





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  • Engage with summit participants in thoughtful discussions about leadership at the Agile Leadership Summit.





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Since I’ve never worked for a company who utilizes agile development processes on the product development activities or on their projects, I’m hoping to gain useful insight and understanding on these practices and share them with our readers.  As a project manager, I also plan to take away what I learn and use these concepts to both better manage my projects and to work with the development staff and my clients to provide them with better built solutions in the end.



The full conference including all sessions from both conferences runs from June 6 through June 11.  Certification training will be offered and both conferences include many key note addresses, useful classes and numerous working sessions and panels.



High-level combined conference schedule at a glance:



Sunday:

 

 

 

 

 






     
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  • Software Tester Certification—Foundation Level Training (3 days)





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  • Scrum Master Certification (3 days)





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  • Practical Test-driven Development (3 days)





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  • Agile Testing Practices (2 days)





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  • The Foundations of Agile Development (Free bonus session)





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Monday-Tuesday:

 

 

 

 

 






     
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  • 37 In-depth Tutorials in both half- and full-day formats





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  • Multi-day training classes continue





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  • Business Analysis Workshop





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Wednesday-Thursday:

 

 

 

 

 






     
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  • 4 Keynote Presentations





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  • 24 Concurrent Sessions





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  • Networking EXPO





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  • Special Events





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Check back here after the conference to see some of my follow-up articles and thoughts on implementing agile development practices on our projects as well as information from some of the specific vendors and products displayed at the conferences.