I joined the s/w industry as SME in Finance, and went on the ply the PO and BA roles in waterfall environment, for 10 years. The challenges of working in a traditional development environment were evident, but at time I was not exposed to modern methods (Agile, Lean etc.)

And then I joined Thouightworks, who are pioneers in modern s/w dev. methods. I could clearly see how these methods largely addressed the challenges arising out of the rigidity and big bang nature of development created. It got me wondering why these methods could not have been known and adopted earlier. This is what got me interested in these modern methods

I think the biggest challenge I see is that Business/Product and IT are sitting on 2 different sides of the table. Each has their own success criteria, and if they don't share common measure of success it creates a lot of friction.

I think the realization that that users are not seeking fulfilment of a functional need but also need a wonderful experience is a very heartening development. 

My experience in consulting and coaching has clearly brought out the fact there is very little awareness and appreciation of complexity. Most people think complicated and complex are synonyms, which they are clearly not. I see a common pattern that complicated approaches are being applied to complex situations, which is by default a guaranteed recipe for failure. 

My talk aims to create about how complexity can be leveraged to enhance agility

I want to highlight the fact of how interactions between 'agents' of a system create tremendous value, which goes beyond 'agents' value coming from their own work.

I have not yet studies the schedule in details, so don't have an opinion as of now.

Embrace VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) and have a bias for action. Every intervention is a complex system, which is what s/w dev teams are enterprises are, is a hypothesis and the only way to test it through taking action.