Rachel Davies

I have found this wiki a great resource over the last few years and would like to thank all who have taken the time to share their experience here.

I am more interested in what makes successful teams tick than writing software these days. I am passionate about agile software development because it increases the chance of success in the face of complex problems and recognizes that teams are made-up of individuals rather than resources.

I have worked in software development since 1987, mostly working on real-time systems in communications and robotics, using Ada, C, C++ and UML. In 2000, I was privileged to join the XP team at ConneXtra and spent a couple of years there programming doing Java based web development using TestDrivenDevelopment and PairProgramming. Also working there are the time were JohnNolan, PeterMarks, TimMackinnon, Julian Higman, IvanMoore, Tung Mac, MatthewCooke?, Paolo Polce

After that I worked for 8 years as an independent agile coach. In 2005, I spent 5 months working on a short project VirtualPairProgramming from home (using Netmeeting) which worked quite well for our team of 4 developers (JohnDaniels, DaveCleal and DuncanPierce) working on the SunSPOTs SDK. In 2011 I helped get IndustrialLogic Europe started. More recently I joined UnrulyMedia? as coach of their Development and Product teams - this company is the brainchild of some ex ConneXtra people so we use XP and use many practices established there such as GoldCards?.

I feel it is important to share success stories, lessons learned and connect with others using agile techniques. For this reason I put much of my spare time into the organization of agile community events and conferences. I have served on the board of directors for AgileAlliance from 2003 and as conference chair for Agile2008. Agile2008 and Agile2009 have given me the opportunity to play the role of XP Customer in developing the submission system with PeterMarks.

I've written a book about AgileCoaching? (http://pragprog.com/titles/sdcoach/agile-coaching) with co-author Liz Sedley.

For those who want to meet others doing XP in the UK I recommend a visit to the ExtremeTuesdayClub and Extreme Programmers London meetup group. I went to my first ExtremeTuesdayClub meeting in Oct 2000 and try to get there every few months (even tho I live in Warwickshire not London).

My email is mailto:rachel@agilexp.com

My website is http://www.agilexp.com

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