Many Agile teams have a hard time managing technical debt. Like foundational stories, technical debt stories often get pushed to the bottom of a product owner’s priority list. It seems like we fight a constant battle between dealing with our mess and wanting to deliver the sexy new feature. In this session, we will cover:
• What technical debt is (and what it isn’t)
• Good and bad sources of technical debt
• Techniques to reduce the production of more debt
• Creating a debt reduction value proposition for product owners and customers
• In-sprint options for dealing with debt (and foundational stories)
Erika Burrows, PMP, PMI-ACP has a diverse professional background that includes being a 9-1-1 operator, a supervisor in an automotive factory, an enumerator for the U.S. Census Bureau, and a college English teacher. She has more than 15 years in project management, software development, and marketing and advertising; has worked in Dubai, Bangalore, and all over the United States as a project manager for an engineering firm; and served as the Senior User Experience Specialist and UX Team Lead for a Fortune 500 utility holding company. More recently, Erika has turned her focus to Agile, helping to transform several large companies. Erika currently serves as an Agile Web Application Development Manager for Palmetto GBA, a subsidiary of Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina that specializes in government contracts.
Erika has spoken at regional, national, and global conferences including DevNexus, BST Global Users Conference, the Society for Technical Communications (as former president of the East Tennessee Chapter), and the Modern Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature Conference. In addition, she has served as guest instructor and guest speaker at the University of Tennessee, the University of Toledo, and others.
Erika holds a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Toledo and a Master’s degree in Creative Writing from the University of Tennessee; considers herself to be a writer by trade; and enjoys spending time with her husband Wayne, their five children, and their six grandchildren.
