Traditional models of management and corporate governance are failing to keep up with the needs of the modern economy. Change, both technological and cultural, is occurring at faster rates than ever before. In this climate, modern enterprises will live or die on their ability to adapt. This is where Agile, and Agile Business Management, come in. Agile is change; changing how you think, changing how you work and changing the way you interact. This is important whether you are a software developer or a CEO.

In this presentation, Evan will provide engaging and enlightening case studies of Agile beyond IT; from lean startups to large enterprises. These will be reinforced with practical approaches for the leadership of teams, divisions and businesses. 

Taking the successful concepts and methods from the Agile movement and Evan's new book, Agile Business Management is a framework for the day-to-day management of organisations regardless of industry, size or location. We will discuss processes, techniques, and case studies for the 4 key domains from Agile Business Management;

1. You, the Agile Manager - What makes a good manager and how do their responsibilities change?
2. Integrated Customer Engagement - Collaboration and communication techniques to build trust and deliver Customer needs efficiently, with minimal waste, and to everyone's satisfaction.
3. The Structure of an Agile Organisation - Efficient, transparent and collaborative techniques to manage empowered staff.
4. Work, the Agile Way - Managing all types of business functions, from software, HR, finance to legal, by using Just-In-Time planning and Incremental or Continuous Delivery processes.

Ultimately, the goal of this presentation is to make you think about your role as a leader. 

Other talks and games will teach you how to run a successful Agile project. Only this one will teach you how to ruin an Agile project*. In this game we will break every Agile rule, disregard the manifesto and ignore common sense in the singular pursuit of failure (and fun).

Each of you will be part of an Agile team with a dis-engaged Customer and micro-managing boss. Being Agile, there will be daily stand-ups, planning sessions, retrospectives, and kanban boards but nothing will go as you expect.

* More importantly, this activity will teach you "how" Agile projects can fail and the reason behind many common Agile practices.

There are two ways to learn. From books and trainers; and by experiencing life. Life is a great teacher.

We are always pressed for time; that is a reality. But we can’t do anything till we have enough time; that is a myth. Because we can.

For learning skills and acquiring knowledge we need time. We can beg borrow or steal. Beg & borrow doesn’t work. Learn interesting ways to steal time.

Once we take care of time for skills & knowledge, we are ready to handle learning by experiencing. That doesn’t need extra time; if we know how. Through discussions and exercises, master innovative ways like maneuvering attention, watching exceptions and seeking interactions.

Being at conferences is fine, but we need something while at work where we belong. Use a few simple yet powerful tips to keep learning.

“Fixed price, fixed deliverables, and fixed schedule” contracts are just about the worst way to write contracts involving software, yet they are the most popular – so what are some techniques to use to fix that?

Organizations that perform professional services for software development or develop software on a work for hire basis are usually engaged bound by extensive contracts.  These contracts are typically characterized as “fixed price, fixed deliverables, and fixed schedule.”  These, of course, are the vertices of the “Iron Triangle of Software Development” and foreshadow a poor outcome due to issues that make the requirements gathering and project estimation phases that precede contract negotiation so prone to error.

Given this, the question becomes one of “how can I engage clients in a way that allows us each to achieve our goals?”  If Agile and Lean methods are the status quo for good development practices, how can I write contracts for development services that embrace this mindset and let each side achieve it’s goals better?  This lecture and roundtable explores the many facets of this question and provides the attendee answers that they can use going forward.

For many, the idea that you can transform an organization from the PMO outwards seems odd, if not impossible.  But my experience says that this is becoming a trend that more and more clients are asking advice for. 

We know that for an Agile transformation to work, we need to engage not just the Delivery Teams to approach work differently, but we need a change agent high in the organization to support that change in mindset.  I’ve always found it difficult to find that right person in an executive leadership role who is willing to have the courage to “bet the company” on a new and unproven approach such as Agile and Scrum.  As coaches, we tend to start “pilot” projects, and hope that traction will occur “once everyone sees the great results that we get.”  But I think that this approach is fraught with peril of not getting the right project to start with, not getting the right results immediately, and not motivating people by seeing results from a process that they are not comfortable with.

I think I’ve come upon a new approach that works better.  Instead of trying to “sell” Agile at an Enterprise level, embrace pure Lean principles high in the organization and work with the PMO leader at the organization.  Once they are comfortable with ideas such as “more leadership and less management”, “shorter concept to cash cycles”, “enabling Lean Startup mentality for disruptive product development”, “always looking for the elimination of waste”, “exploiting variability through appropriate cadence control and appropriate utilization rates”, “delegated authority”, “continuous improvement”, and “rolling planning”, the PMO becomes a terrific agent for instituting change, because they are usually already endowed with the right responsibilities and accountabilities that can push the organization forward.

Have you wondered what life is like as a product owner ? What kind of decisions are they faced with ? What puzzles them ?

 This 90 minute hands-on workshop is aimed at simulating product development in an uncertain environment. You will work in a team with other participants to shape roadmap for a product in a familiar domain. Each participant will be given a 

The  workshop is also being run at Innovation Games Summit in Amsterdam in September 2013 (http://www.igsummit.net/prashant-gandhi.html) . It has also been successfully delivered at a number of blue chip clients in the UK for an introduction to product management and lean startup concepts.

Have you ever thought why scrum works? That too from NeuroScience perspective?
We all acknowledge and understand that we have moved beyond and past machine age or service era and are living in what is called “Knowledge Era”. Focus of current times is shifting from behaviours to values. From people to brain. Yet, we know very little about people or brain or its working.
Through this talk, I will attempt to link hard neuroscience to scrum and its practices to see why it works or does not work. Also we would look at practices required beyond scrum to create an environment where scrum can flourish. Or even exists!