Session Abstract:

In all development organizations, agile or otherwise, there is still a fair amount of upfront planning getting done, some in release planning but mostly in the annual planning session that leads to each budget year. The annual planning session, in particular, puts a strain on product managers at a specific time of the year, usually impairing their ability to give attention to other things in their domain, such as market analysis and leading the delivery.

In this session we will look at how Lean thinking can help us improve our planning process by turning it into a continuous effort, instead of a one time big effort. We will discuss how this should be done and how Lean Product Management can help us ease a lot of the pressure points connected with long term planning by employing the important concepts of Flow and Heijunka.

We will try to learn from this about the role of the Product Manager in a lean organization, and see how this can change the role by giving it more focus.

Lecturer’s short Bio:

Inbar brings with him more than 15 years of experience in the Hi-Tech market, working in small and large companies, in a range of roles from development and architecture to working with customers as Project and Product Manager.

Since 2008, Inbar has been helping development organizations improve their results by adopting Agile and Lean practices. Inbar focuses on management in an Agile/Lean world, working with companies to build new processes and a new culture.

Because of his background in Product Management, Inbar sees Agile/Lean not just as a development tool, and works with Product and Marketing departments to teach them how to use Agile/Lean tools to respond quicker and more effectively to the changing markets.

Inbar holds an MA in Buddhism and East Asian Cultures as well two second degree black belts in the martial arts of Iaido and Jodo.

Inbar is currently studying for a PhD in East Asian mythology.