Agile expert Bas Vodde to teach Scrum in Manila

Bas Vodde co-author of the book "Scaling Agile and Lean Development: Thinking and Organizational Tools for Large-Scale Scrum" and of "Practices for Large-Scale Agile and Lean Development" will be in Manila this April 14 and 15 to conduct the 1st Scrum Master Certification Course, organized by CodeLean Inc. and Agile Philippines.

Bas works for a small consulting company based in Singapore called Odd-e specializing in training and coaching related to Agile and Lean development in Asia. For several years he led the agile and Scrum enterprise-wide adoption initiative at Nokia Networks. He is also known as one of the authors of "CppUTest" unit test framework for C/C++.

Attendees who complete the course will receive an official certificate labeling them as Certified ScrumMasters (CSMs), and will be listed on the CSM registry of the Scrum Alliance, an organization of internationally recognized Scrum experts. The course will be conducted in the Boardroom of the Dusit Hotel in Makati City.

The Certified Scrum Master course covers the what, how, and whys of the Scrum framework for product development—from theory to practice. Structured around stories and discussions, the course is for anyone who wants a deep understanding of Scrum: team members, product owners, Scrum Masters and other stakeholders. The first part covers the concepts of Scrum: background, overview, roles, empirical process control, and the key differences between Scrum and other ways of developing new products. The second part covers the practical side: making a backlog, planning, estimating, scaling, initiating a daily Scrum, and more. At the end of the course, participants will have concrete knowledge on how to implement Scrum and an understanding of why it is done that way.

200 Million to Boost the E-Services Sector

One of the announcements made by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo during the E-Services Philippines 2009 event last February 9 & 10 at SMX Convention Center was the 200 million assistance by the government to help the growing e-services sector.

There are varying opinions on how this 200 million be better spent. Lauro Vives, CEO of XMG believes that this is better used to boost the quality of manpower resource in the country.


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Bayantel Managing Director Tunde Fafunwa believes this should be used to promote the Philippines and bring potential investors in the country.


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How about you? What do you think?

Legazpi City as Web Development & SEO Outsourcing Hub

I was in Legazpi City last February 6 and 7 for the Search Engine Marketing Conference Bicol event. After the event, we visited several places and one of them is Embarcadero IT Park being developed by Embarcadero Land Ventures Inc. (ELV). This is a spot intended to become an information technology and modern trading hub in a sea front environment (Legazpi Port Area).

The IT park is part of the 15,477 square meter Embarcadero de Legazpi. It is already recognized by the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) as an Economic Tourism Zone with IT component. It aims to host an estimated 8,000 seat call center on its 1st building.

Australian company BN Group Property Ltd. is the masterplanner of the project. It is conceptualized from the Fisherman's Wharf in California and Sydney Marina in Sydney Australia.

During the E-Services Philippines event, I also got the chance to catch up with Albay ICT Association president and Legazpi City ICT Council chairperson Rosemarie Quinto-Rey who also desires for the city to be known as a major outsourcing center for web development and search engine optimization projects. Companies such as Content Online Services Inc. and SLTCFI Business Solutions specializes in this area.

More information:

Embarcadero IT Park
Manila Office
+632-6373357
+632-6347790

Contact person:
Randolph Zuniga
Chief Operating Officer
318 Defedbac Building, Penaranda, Bonot, Legazpi City
+6352-480-7000

ALBAY ICT ASSOCIATION (AICTA), Inc.
Contact Person:
Ms. Rosemarie Quinto-Rey
President
Contact:
(052) 480-8939 / (052) 435-4770

Philippines transaction volume in oDesk reaches US$50,000 weekly in 2009

oDesk just released over the weekend its report showing the Philippines and Pakistan topping the value for money survey. The site also launched its Philippines oConomy page that shares data on the pricing, services, hours worked rendered by freelancers in oDesk. oDesk is a marketplace for outsourcing services buyers and providers.


More than 10,000 work hours are rendered by Filipino freelancers per week reaching transaction volume of almost fifty thousand dollars charges (US$50,000). There are more than 17,000 Filipino service providers registered in oDesk to date.

WorkPerformedOn	Hours
12-31-2006	$3,874.06
01-07-2007	$4,545.07
01-14-2007	$4,832.27
01-21-2007	$5,321.37
01-28-2007	$3,568.01
02-04-2007	$4,594.22
02-11-2007	$4,612.06
02-18-2007	$5,525.30
02-25-2007	$5,651.27
03-04-2007	$3,680.10
03-11-2007	$3,881.72
03-18-2007	$3,315.72
03-25-2007	$5,253.20
04-01-2007	$4,726.77
04-08-2007	$5,549.89
04-15-2007	$6,355.90
04-22-2007	$6,177.47
04-29-2007	$5,472.63
05-06-2007	$5,980.95
05-13-2007	$6,702.97
05-20-2007	$6,335.83
05-27-2007	$7,458.24
06-03-2007	$6,792.93
06-10-2007	$7,353.37
06-17-2007	$7,988.66
06-24-2007	$8,069.14
07-01-2007	$7,732.15
07-08-2007	$9,257.27
07-15-2007	$8,089.33
07-22-2007	$9,375.35
07-29-2007	$10,365.91
08-05-2007	$9,729.77
08-12-2007	$7,889.39
08-19-2007	$9,233.08
08-26-2007	$10,597.59
09-02-2007	$7,906.68
09-09-2007	$6,702.20
09-16-2007	$10,349.25
09-23-2007	$10,638.54
09-30-2007	$11,146.94
10-07-2007	$10,915.78
10-14-2007	$10,149.00
10-21-2007	$11,653.36
10-28-2007	$11,014.42
11-04-2007	$11,311.71
11-11-2007	$13,982.61
11-18-2007	$13,908.95
11-25-2007	$12,087.07
12-02-2007	$13,556.29
12-09-2007	$12,331.53
12-16-2007	$10,617.82
12-23-2007	$8,385.48
12-30-2007	$12,514.58
01-06-2008	$13,627.94
01-13-2008	$12,609.32
01-20-2008	$14,716.96
01-27-2008	$13,361.80
02-03-2008	$15,039.30
02-10-2008	$16,153.11
02-17-2008	$15,692.27
02-24-2008	$14,888.62
03-02-2008	$15,040.47
03-09-2008	$16,953.67
03-16-2008	$16,777.57
03-23-2008	$18,908.40
03-30-2008	$19,169.05
04-06-2008	$21,467.23
04-13-2008	$22,004.16
04-20-2008	$20,816.74
04-27-2008	$21,692.89
05-04-2008	$26,078.47
05-11-2008	$23,725.89
05-18-2008	$26,897.53
05-25-2008	$26,679.93
06-01-2008	$29,235.06
06-08-2008	$29,320.11
06-15-2008	$30,963.88
06-22-2008	$30,760.29
06-29-2008	$30,631.00
07-06-2008	$33,255.84
07-13-2008	$35,164.94
07-20-2008	$37,631.48
07-27-2008	$38,844.41
08-03-2008	$41,209.12
08-10-2008	$40,010.36
08-17-2008	$40,028.74
08-24-2008	$41,317.20
08-31-2008	$40,859.78
09-07-2008	$42,074.32
09-14-2008	$44,500.80
09-21-2008	$42,918.35
09-28-2008	$47,857.51
10-05-2008	$48,021.90
10-12-2008	$49,027.49
10-19-2008	$48,030.80
10-26-2008	$48,781.15
11-02-2008	$51,017.71
11-09-2008	$51,393.19
11-16-2008	$52,452.87
11-23-2008	$46,771.24
11-30-2008	$47,516.78
12-07-2008	$52,669.59
12-14-2008	$50,628.27
12-21-2008	$35,724.05
12-28-2008	$37,178.80
01-04-2009	$53,978.45
01-11-2009	$45,862.09

Services like data entry, programming, writing, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, among others are some of the offerings by Filipino freelancers in oDesk.