An Agile Throwdown: Munich Germany Takes On The Columbus Agile Benchmark Study

Michael Mah | 10:00 – 11:15

Abstract

Agile has not only gone mainstream, it’s gone global.  Data patterns on Agile team performance on time-to-market and quality have been emerging over the last decade from research by QSM Associates. Results have been published in research reports, books and articles around the world.

In 2012 Columbus, Ohio participated in the first ever “Agile vs. the World” study.  Data patterns revealed schedule performance that was 31% faster than industry norms. More astonishing was the fact that defect levels were 75% lower than industry norms.

Enter Munich Germany. At their OOP 2013 conference, the Columbus results were presented to a European audience.  The result was an Agile Throwdown; German companies decided to participate in a QSM study of their own to challenge Columbus.

Who’s been chopped?  Come join us for an inside look at data patterns for both Munich and Columbus, illustrated side by side. The results might surprise you. You will see how both cities compared against the QSM worldworld database of 12,000 completed projects. And finally, we will discuss what future might lie ahead.

Speaker

As managing partner at QSM Associates Inc., Michael Mah teaches, writes, and consults to technology companies on measuring, estimating and managing software projects, whether in-house, offshore, waterfall, or agile.

He is the director of the Benchmarking Practice at the Cutter Consortium, a Boston-based IT think-tank, and served as past editor of the IT Metrics Strategies publication. With over 25 years of experience, Michael and his partners at QSM have derived productivity patterns for thousands of projects collected in its worldwide database across engineering and business applications. His work examines time-pressure dynamics of teams, and its role in project success and failure. QSM is the creator of the SLIM® model, a suite of tools for software release planning, measurement, and estimation.

Michael’s background began in physics and electrical engineering and expanded into software. His graduate training was in the field of mediation, facilitation, and dispute resolution. Michael is also a private pilot and lives in the mountains of western Massachusetts with his two children. He can be reached at www.qsma.com.