Agile Africa, an annual conference where African software professionals meet to uncover better ways of working and developing software, will take place on 22 – 23 August 2016 at Wanderers in Johannesburg, South Africa. In its fourth year, the conference promises to offer a comprehensive update and view of the Agile world, uncovering crucial fundamentals and discussing topics and approaches that will grow participants’ understanding and knowledge of an Agile approach.

“As the title sponsor, the Joburg Centre for Software Engineering (JCSE) at Wits University is excited to spend two days with leading international and local experts, learning and understanding what it takes to build good software in today’s digital world,” says Prof Barry Dwolatzky, director, JCSE.

With sponsors including ThoughtWorks, BBD, IQbusiness and nReality, Agile Africa is offering an impressive line up of speakers. The conference will comprise of three elements: the two-day programme, boasting three exceptional keynote addresses; the Indaba Tree, which is an interactive space where speakers and delegates can engage in an informal space and thirdly, the workshop sessions. These will take place during the conference and will enable attendees to delve deeper into ideas and agile practices.

“We are excited about the workshops this year as it will run alongside the main programme and includes a select few handpicked speaker presentations. Delegates will have an opportunity to actually apply what is being discussed and debated with leading mentors.  This gives them immense value as Agile supporters and learners,” says Dwolatzky.

Henrik Kniberg is one of the keynote speakers, he is an Agile/Lean coach at Crisp in Stockholm, where he works with Lego and Spotify. Kniberg has an impressive background with over 15 years’ experience as a CTO.  His passion lies in uncovering both the technical and human sides of software development.

The second keynote speaker is Neal Ford, director, software architect, and meme wrangler at ThoughtWorks. Author of “Presentation Patterns and Functional Thinking”, Ford focuses on designing and building large-scale enterprise applications. He is also an internationally acclaimed speaker, speaking at over 300 developer conferences worldwide, delivering more than 2000 presentations.

Agile enterprise coach and consultant at Nomad8, Sandy Mamoli, is the third keynote speaker.  With a focus on culture and leadership, Mamoli assists businesses to transform into fully functional Agile enterprises. She is also the author of “Creating Great Teams – How Self-Selection Lets People Excel”.

Agile Africa is part of the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation festival that runs from 18 August to 3 September in Braamfontein.  Fak’ugesi explores and celebrates technology and creativity by Africans for Africa. The 2016 festival has cast its central theme as ‘Afro Tech Riot’ as community, femininity, notions of the spiritual, and exploring African knowledge systems in the creative, innovative and technological space come to life.

For more information of Agile Africa email the JCSE at contact@agileafricaconf.com or visit www.agileafricaconf.com.