Not only is Equal Experts sponsoring this year’s Agile Manchester in May, but three members of our network are presenting too. Come along and say hi!

The three-day conference runs between 8th and 10th May and is held at thestudio, bang in the middle of the city. It’s the largest Agile event in the north of England, with over 280 tech practitioners (software engineers, analysts, UXers) expected to attend.

As in previous years, Agile Manchester has some brilliant keynote speakers lined up:

Tendayi Viki – Associate Partner at Strategyzer
Tendayi is an award winning author and innovator. He has worked with several large organisations including Pearson, Standard Bank, Unilever, Rabobank, American Express, The British Museum and The World Bank.

Allen Holub – Independent Agile-transformation consultant, Holub Associates
Allen is an internationally recognised Agile-transformation consultant and software architect. He speaks internationally about these topics and agile-friendly implementation technology (like microservices) and architecture.

Alison Coward – Founder, Bracket
Alison is the founder of consulting agency Bracket, helping teams in the creative and digital sectors to work better together.

Michael Brunton-Spall – Agile cybersecurity thoughtleader, Bruntonspall Ltd
Michael is an independent cybersecurity consultant working for the UK government.

As mentioned, Equal Experts is well represented too, and we’ll be presenting three case studies:

Paul O’Donnell – Delivery Manager, Equal Experts
“How a major UK retailer transformed its shop-floor culture with an app”.
How can a simple app transform how people behave on the shop floor of a multibillion pound retailer? What is it that brings users back daily? This case study tells the story of how one agile delivery team overcame some complex challenges to deliver a web app that attracted users in 93% of stores within 2 weeks of launch, and sees 90% of users returning every week.

Jon Ayre – Transformation Practice Lead, Equal Experts
“Introducing agile – surviving the immune system”
If you’ve ever been responsible for introducing agile to an organisation, or you’ve lived through an agile “transformation”, you will, no doubt, have felt embattled and besieged. It’s a thankless task, prone to long periods of pain and occasional moments of elation, but all too often it ends with an exodus and a reversion to tried and trusted ways. In this session, I will share my thoughts on the process, discuss some reasons for failure and propose a way forward that in itself is inherently agile and collaborative. Remember that bit in Jaws where they compare scars and stories, shortly before one of them gets eaten by a shark? A bit like that. A discussion about the highs and lows of introducing agile to an organisation and surviving the process (or not). It’s not about agile – you already know about agile; it’s about the painful journey from agitator to agile with a few ideas to make it easier. It’s also about prejudice.

Jon Fulton – Delivery Lead, Equal Experts
“Agents of change”
Agile practitioners everywhere work hard to build successful delivery capabilities and achieve great outcomes. More often than not, that means helping to change the way things get done. However, as we’ve all experienced, change can be a difficult and frustrating process. Jon will explore behaviours and approaches that can be both helpful and unhelpful when trying to influence organisations and be an agent of change.

Equal Experts in the north

Since opening an office in Manchester in 2016, we’ve expanded across the north. We have an office in Leeds and are now looking to spread our wings to Liverpool too. In fact, in just three years we’ve grown to around 200 employees and associates across the north. For a flavour of life at Equal Experts North, watch our short video, and if you’re interested in coming to one of our ExpertTalks Meetups, our Manchester one is now one of the biggest tech Meetups in the city with over 3,000 members.

We’re always keen to hear from highly skilled, experienced software engineers able to work in these areas – as well as potential clients that could benefit from our services and approach, of course!

If you’re interested in joining Equal Experts in the north or want to find out more, get in touch at helloUK@equalexperts.com