Siddharta Govindaraj – A Startup Journey: Evolving from ad-hoc to Agile to Kanban

Just added:

Siddharta Govindaraj will speak on “A Startup Journey: Evolving from ad-hoc to Agile to Kanban“.

This experience report describes a period of 6 years in two startup companies that I was involved with.

The first part covers the period from 2004 to 2006 when I was working with a startup based out of Singapore. I explain how we moved from doing ad-hoc development to adopting Scrum. Adopting Scrum was a big improvement over our previous ad-hoc approach but Scrum also led us to make some classic mistakes (from a lean point of view).

The second part covers the period from 2007 to 2009 when I started my own company in India. The company was started with Scrum right from the beginning. I explain how we evolved from vanilla Scrum to Lean and Kanban.

My primary interest is in improving the way software is delivered. I take great interest in lean and agile software development methodologies. I am also interested in the social aspects of software development and how it relates to the technical aspects. I started a company, Silver Stripe Software Pvt Ltd, to work further in the area of software process.

I help conduct Lean and Agile software development events and seminars in Chennai, India through the Chennai Agile User Group. I am also a part of the Agile Software Community of India (ASCI) and help organise ASCI events in Chennai.

I’m also one of the organizers of Proto.in, a bi-annual event that showcases startup companies to an audience of venture capitalists, technologists and media, and the co-organizer of the Chennai OpenCoffee Club, a place where entrepreneurs from Chennai meet once a month.