RACHEL DAVIES
30, Lancaster Road, Rugby, Warwickshire, CV21 2QW.
Telephone: Home(01788) 574007 / Mobile (07951) 168408
Email: Rachel @agilexp.com
Rachel specializes in coaching teams in agile software development. She has experience in
managing teams, requirements analysis and programming in several languages. Rachel is a
frequent presenter at industry conferences and a serving director of the Agile Alliance.
April 2003 – Present Independent Consultant
Delivering services in training, facilitation and coaching on agile planning and software
development techniques.
Engaged as a coach at Egg then Roche and GlaxoSmithKline. At Egg internet bank Rachel
provided coaching to ten development teams and further teams at outsourcing partners, Keane and
Lostwax.
Provided consultancy at a number of companies; to assess their agility and make recommendations
to improve their software development process.
Facilitated requirements gathering and retrospective workshops at organizations in domains as
varied as: bioinformatics, digital TV, drug safety, financial services, harbour board finance
operations and government support of community waste recycling initiatives.
October 2000 – April 2003 Developer, Connextra Ltd
As a developer at this pioneering company, she was fully immersed in the end-to-end lifecycle of
eXtreme Programming (XP) using pair programming and Test Driven Development for a server-
side Java application. She was involved in working with customers to refine stories, planning,
coding, deployment and support.
Connextra used the XP method to develop a workbench tool used by advertisers to create and
manage web advertising campaigns; to deliver dynamic content, based on queries setup against
XML data feeds and contextual analysis of the requesting web page. This product has been in use
by commercial customers since mid 2001 whilst product development continued in parallel.
May 2000 – October 2000 OO Analyst, CMG plc
Worked in small team of analysts using RUP based process to specify requirements (both UML
use cases and operational constraints) for framework to calculate call charges and discounts in
real-time, catering for GSM, GPRS and WAP protocols.
Responsible for mentoring development team on software architecture, UML and use of design
patterns
Aug 1994 – May 2000 Manager, Marconi plc
Managed 18 software engineers for 1.5 years on a large development of IP Telephony application
software, of the SoftSwitch product. Responsible for project plans, objective setting, appraisals
and training plans.
Introduced software process based on RUP to support incremental development, to mitigate risk
using new technology, working with evolving draft protocol standards (H.323) and to produce
demonstrators for international industry expos. Mentored team in use of tools, UML, design
patterns and C++.
Software design using UML for control of SmartPhotonix DWDM add-drop multiplexer product.
Prototype user interface developed in C++ using Visual Studio. Team lead responsible for 5
developers.
Requirements specification for broadband call control platform. Software development in C/C++
working in Strategy division on demonstrators for broadband call control and video-on-demand
projects.
Feb 1994 - Jun 1994 Software Development Manager, Brain Power International Ltd
C++ development of a product to aid in diagnosis of the condition of dyslexia. A member of the
management team responsible for the daily running of international sales and distribution business
servicing the ophthalmic industry in the UK and Europe. System administrator of PC network.
Dec 1992 - Jan 1994 Consultant/Director, Indigo Tangerine (Software) Services Ltd
Set up a software Consultancy and Training company that advised local business on both hardware
and software solutions.
Oct 1991 - Sep 1992 Software Engineer, Advanced Robotics Research Ltd
Developed software in C for the performance testing of robotic manipulators using real-time
measurements from 2 LASER tracking units. Information modelling for System Requirements of
mobile robot system. System administrator of a large research network of SUN workstations.
Mar 1990 - Oct 1991 Analyst Programmer, Mentor Business Systems Ltd
Design, code and test for modules of an Accounting and Administration product for the Alarms
and Security industry, using the 4GL DataFlex running under Concurrent DOS.
Jun 1989 - Mar 1990 Software Engineer, UNIBIT (Holdings) plc
Development of C/C++ code for a Project Management tool - which supported Critical Path
Analysis, Gantt charts and allowed the construction of rules using expert system techniques.
Jan 1988 - Jun 1989 Programmer, SD-Scicon plc, System Designers (Scientific) Ltd
Software design and development in Ada language for Mobile Packet Radio real-time system,
responsible for channel access and routing packages using multi-tasking. Provided utility modules
to projects on other sites using Ada.
Degree
BA (Hons) PHILOSOPHY II (ii) University of York, 1986
Post-Graduate
Computer Technology and Electronics diploma in
SOFTWARE ENGINEERING AND COMPUTER GRAPHICS Middlesex Polytechnic 1987
Interests
In my spare time I enjoy spending time with my two daughters, also gardening and organization of
agile conferences and events.
Conferences and Talks
SPA2006/7 - Conference Chair
Agile Sussex, 2005 – talk on “XP Stories”
XPDay Germany, 2004 – presenting tutorial on “Refactoring”
XPDay Benelux, 2004 – presenting workshops on “Project Mapping” and “XP Stories”
OOPSLA 2004, USA – presenting workshop “Gumption Traps”
Scrum Gathering 2004, USA – contributing to “Change through Facilitation”
JAOO, Denmark, 2004 – presenting “DSDM Explained” and speaking on “Agile Panel”
Thames Valley Agile SIG, 2004 – talk on “XP Stories”
Agile Development 2004, USA – Tutorial chair
XP2004, Germany – Tutorial chair
Retrospective Facilitators Gathering, Vienna, 2004 – Open Space participant
OT2004, UK - presented tutorial on XP Stories
ACCU2004, UK - presented Test Driven Development workshop
XPDay3, UK – presented “Scrum + XP” tutorial
XPDay Benelux 2003, Belgium - facilitated conference retrospective, gave plenary talk and
workshop “Gumption Traps”
OOPSLA 2003, USA – Panel: “eXtreme Programming and Agile Coaching” and
Panel:“Innovate!”
Oct, 2003 - Certified as ScrumMaster for SCRUM method
http://www.controlchaos.com/certifiedscrum
Sept, 2003 - Elected to international board of directors for Agile Alliance
http://www.agilealliance.com/membership/directors and voted by board to office of
Secretary to serve until August 2005.
Agile Scotland, 2003 – talk “XP @ Connextra”
Member of DSDM consortium task group that produced DSDM v4.2
Organised programme for Extreme Tuesday Club XP/agile conferences (2001-2003) in
London, http://www.xpday.org
Agile Development 2003, USA - presented “Retrospectives” and “Exploring Motivation”
technical exchange workshops
XP Agile Universe 2003, USA - “eXtreme Support” paper accepted
XP2003, Italy - presented “Extreme Support” practitioners report and “eXtreme Hour”
workshop with Tim Mackinnon in Educators Symposium
OT2003, UK - presented “Retrospectives” tutorial
ACCU 2003, UK - presented “eXtreme Hour” workshop
Lecture for Birmingham University School of Computer Science in “Commercial
Programming” module 2002-3
XPDay2, UK - presented “Management Perspective on Agile Development” with Dave
Putman
XP2002, Italy - “Exposed Tracking” practitioners report/poster presentation
OT2002, UK - presented “First-Order Project Management” workshop
XPDay1, UK - presented “Tuning XP” with Tim Mackinnon
XP2001, Italy - “The Power of Stories” practitioners report/poster presentation
“Introduction to XP” delivered to audiences of 50+ at British Computer Society groups
(Leicester, Coventry and Birmingham).