June 20th, 2022 by Adam Sandman
The #teaminflectra attended the Agile DevOps West conference on Jun 15th and Jun 16th in Las Vegas. As a gold sponsor, #teaminflectra was a proud contributor to the #agiledevopscon that had 3-day pre-conference tutorials, 4-conference keynotes, 18-industry technology presentations, 36-talks, and 1-day Agile + DevOps Leadership summit. Dr. Sriram Rajagopalan (@agilesriram) also presented his unique approach to the importance of #businessagility in one of the industry technology presentations on Wednesday. In addition, there was a large expo hall for attendees to benefit from the numerous interactions and product demos of various sponsors.
Inflectra Team in Las Vegas
The US based team, Adam Sandman, Jessica Moore, Rick Baucom and Sriram Rajagopalan traveled to Las Vegas on Tuesday.
Leaving extra time to set the sponsor booth in the expo hall, acclimatize to hot temperature, and adjust ourselves to the new time zone, the #teaminflectra also spent some time walking the Las Vegas Boulevard enjoying a meal at the Gordon Ramsay Pub.
We had two members who had never visited Las Vegas and we walked across the Paris Eiffel Tower setup, roamed through the malls with numerous Casinos, and witnessed the dancing foundations in the Bellagio.
This area was the place where Ocean 11 was filmed. Finishing our dinner at the Caesar’s palace, the #teaminflectra was ready for day 1 of the conference.
Day 1
Inflectra Booth at Agile DevOps West
Despite setting the booth early, the #teaminflectra ran through their final checks on the days of the conference ahead of time to greet people hungry for information!
Adam Sandman and Jessica Moore were greeting people answering their questions and discussing partnerships while Rick Baucom and Sriram Rajagopalan were demonstrating the features of our products.
Our team were demonstrating to visitors: SpiraTest for Test Management, SpiraTeam for expanding SpiraTest with additional features and Task Management, SpiraPlan for augmenting SpiraTeam with program, portfolio, and risk management, and Rapise for codeless test automation.
Industry Technology Presentation by Sriram Rajagopalan
Sriram Rajagopalan started his talk in the favorite movie trailer format! “In a world where Agile and DevOps talks focus on technical agility, one person, Sriram Rajagopalan from Inflectra raises to the occasion, discussing the importance of team’s focus on business agility through value stream generating value for customers!” connecting with the story-telling format of the keynote. As the crowd burst into applause, Sriram Rajagopalan emphasized the importance of how value flows both vertically and horizontally requiring teams to collaborate outside of the “Shift-Left-and-Shift-Right'' mindset and into “Shift-Up-and-Shift-Down''.
The audience’s continued engagement with the synthesis of the statistical data from the State of Agile surveys and the upward and downward flow of value demonstrations in Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and Disciplined Agile Delivery (DAD) was clear with their questions during the session. “Your demonstration of value brings a lot more clarity than what SAFe diagrams and trainers teach,” said one participant representing the financial industry. “Your visuals in the presentation are stunning and engaging,” commented another participant!
Bringing more clarity through visual animations and powerful discussions into his own unique STEP approach to business agility by managing risks through strategic agility, technical agility, execution agility, and portfolio agility, Sriram Rajagopalan drew further focus into how SpiraPlan supports all these dimensions for supporting business agility!
If you want to bring his presentation to your team and how SpiraPlan can support your business agility, reach out to Thea Maisuradze at marketing@inflectra.com
Team Inflectra wrapup
The #teaminflectra walked towards the Venetian mall awestruck by the Gondola ride and the false ceiling.
Somehow figuring out the maze of where we wanted to eat, the team spent recapping our day and planning for the next day!
Day 2
Inflectra Booth at Agile DevOps West
The #teaminflectra continued to address questions from some of the audience from Day 1.
Asking time for demo and seeking technical questions on automation, the Day 2 continued supporting the team.
And, yes, there were also people that stopped by to collect the famous Inflectra "James Bond" pens based on others' recommendations.
As the day progressed, the #teaminflectra spent time catching up with other sponsors that expressed an interest in sponsorship.
Sponsoring the Leadership Summit
Inflectra was proud to sponsor the 2022 Agile and DevOps Leadership Summit at the conference. Adam Sandman introduced the importance of Leadership in navigating through strategy and culture and distilling it to the team level for agility to survive as part of its culture.
Sriram Rajagopalan facilitated some of the initial team discussions in preparation for what people wanted to talk about the following day at the Leadership Summit.
Wrap Up
After disassembling the booth and packing it all up, #teaminflectra took a cab from Las Vegas Boulevard to the historic Fremont District area of Las Vegas.
Sriram Rajagopalan and Adam Sandman spotted the International Hotel in the James Bond movie, Diamonds are Forever, and also the car chase near the Golden Nugget Casino.
We spent time walking through the open-air mall and spending time in the original Atomic Liquors cocktail bar! Believe it or not, we were able to take part in their 70th anniversary celebration. They are famous as the place where local residents would watch the Atomic Bomb tests, starting in 1952.
And, yes, on the way back, we spent time dancing to the old rock songs and returned to the hotel.
But as they say... what happens in Las Vegas.... stays in Las Vegas, :-)