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Richard Durnall, Principal Consultant, Agile and Lean methods

 Richard  Durnall Richard Durnall is a Principal Consultant for ThoughtWorks based in Melbourne Australia, with over 13 years experience in the high-technology industry. Richard helps ThoughtWork's clients to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their IT divisions by applying Lean and Agile techniques to their businesses.

Richard spent a number of years working in the Manufacturing & Supply Chain Systems Division of Ford Motor Company, working with a global team to introduce Lean principles to the manufacturing plants and re-align the IT systems to the new processes. Richard was lucky enough to work with a number of Lean experts, some ex-Toyota, and has been applying this knowledge in the IT domain for the last 5 years.

Richard is a frequent author on applying Lean management thinking to IT divisions at his site (www.richarddurnall.com) and presents frequently on the applications of Lean in IT.

Richard has spent a number of years working with Agile software development teams and uses his Lean knowledge to resolve the larger organisational issues often experienced by large organisations moving to new working practices.

Richard's clients include some of Australia's largest businesses in the financial services, government, print, on-line and service sectors.

Richard is a certified 6-Sigma practitioner and a chartered member of the British Computer Society.

Presentation: "The IT Division. Refactored."

Time: Wednesday 14:45 - 15:45

Location: Rytmisk Sal

Abstract: In this presentation Richard will discuss the history of the current management models and philosophies in the IT world, their inherent deficiencies and the case for change. The presentation will explore concepts from 'Lean Manufacturing', 'Systems Thinking' and 'Change Management' that can be applied to solve the organisational level challenges being experienced by most large IT divisions.

The presentation will discuss established concepts that are being applied around the world, emerging techniques that are being applied by innovative organisations and yet to be applied models that are tipped to solve IT's major historic issues.

Richard will discuss alternative models for IT strategy deployment (Hoshin Kanri), business process analysis (Value-Stream Mapping), organisational structure (Inversion of Control) and alternative accounting and planning models (Throughout Accounting) amongst other cutting-edge techniques.

This presentation is a must for anyone interested in or involved in enterprise level Agile adoption or simply with an interest in hearing more on 'Lean & Systems Thinking' from an experienced practitioner.

Keywords: Lean Thinking, Systems Thinking, Agile Coaching, Transformation, Adoption, Change Management

Target audience: This presentation will be of benefit to...
  • engineers with an interest in how larger organisational issues can quickly translate to working level problems and become barriers to developer productivity.
  • IT leaders interested in changing the command & control structure of their organisations in the pursuit of improved results.
  • coaches and change managers interested in introducing new tools and concepts to help deal with organisational change and adoption issues.
  • anyone interested in learning more on 'Lean & Systems Thinking' from an experienced practitioner.