Why do so many organizations struggle to put in place mature Agile teams that can apply proper Agile principles and deliver awesome products? Some people will say, “Agile is hard” as an excuse to not do Agile or to become frAgile. Well we think we have developed the “Secret Sauce” to rebooting any Agile team that just doesn’t seem to be maturing and we want to share it with you!

If you are thinking of scaling Agile across a large organization, then this talk is a must to attend to help ensure your teams have the right foundation. Organizations wanting to scale Agile must have a solid foundation of mature Agile teams who embrace the Agile values and have the right Agile mindset.

Over the years, as we have done Agile transformations in different organizations, we have seen common patterns that keep repeating. The most common pattern we found in our experience is that teams are frAgile. Too many either pretend to be Agile or don’t even know Agile is not a methodology, so organizations question the value of using Agile. Very often the confusion and frustration that comes with thinking that a team is Agile when they are not Agile, brings people right back to their old habits of command and control. Creating successful mature Agile teams is not sorcery, you need to discover the secret sauce!

In this talk, we will reveal our secrets on how to create a successful Agile-Scrum team in 5 sprints. Attendees will learn how we applied our secret sauce as we experimented with more than 30 teams and we refined the know-how. This recipe has proven to be successful in different organizations and teams delivering different types of products. Our Creative-Destruction approach goes through a human change process we labeled The Intervention Plan. The 5 steps are:

• Step 1: Run in the rain
• Step 2: Thunderstruck
• Step 3: Cry over the M&M’s machine
• Step 4: Open-up and look at the sun
• Step 5: Removing the training wheels

And by using these 5 steps, attendees will discover the 5th Agile value!

The stereotype of technical professionals as inarticulate, socially inept geniuses inventing problems to solve is unkind and inaccurate. Yet the Dilbert image persists. So do jokes like the one about the engineer sentenced to death on the guillotine, who watches the instrument of death malfunction, then tells the operators how to fix it.

Why do people make fun of engineers and those with their mindset? Do people wired and trained to analyze and solve problems and focus on the mechanics of a situation frustrate those whose brains are wired differently? And how does the engineer’s way of dealing with individuals and interactions - that first value of the Agile Manifesto - sometimes get in the way of team collaboration and productivity?

In this interactive session, we'll show a little empathy for engineers and other analytical folk whose neurological wiring makes them seem different from the rest of humanity. We'll also explore how those with the engineering mindset can develop their own empathy and consciously adopt behaviours that amplify their value to their teams and organizations, make them more effective leaders - and make their own lives easier by positioning themselves for understanding.

Join Sue in a lively exploration of what can happen when engineers and technical professionals shift their mindset from solving problems to creating impact.
You will leave this session with an appreciation of:

• How to make your ideas meaningful to others by taking their perspective
• How shifting your language from "What?" to "So What?" helps people connect the dots
• Why giving up the need to be smart may be the smartest thing you ever do
• Techniques you can use to take someone else's perspective.

My experience report is based on many years of collaborating with PEOPLE....and learning how to really collaborate better.

Being authentic is a place I dial into when I am true to myself. It's about the choice to show up and be real. This allows vulnerability to be present and it's a choice we can make every day.

I call it being honest - with ourselves and with others.

This experience report will step beyond traditional Agile Values ... and share what I discovered with clients, global organizations and the United Nations - the presentation/experience report has (ups and downs)  - 

Let's explore useful learnings about agile and human techniques to help participants gain insight and develop important skills with the people and the teams you encounter - let's explore wellbeing!

I was at Agile2016 in Atlanta to present this year an experience report about Agile Marketing - the most important outcome from this conference for me - was the number of people who wanted to talk to me after my presentation about:
Vulnerability, happiness, trusting ourselves, wellbeing, speed to market and how to talk to clients, clients -clients!!

This talk is centered around client servicing, client solution making, relationship development stages and collaborative drivers.

Marie-Christine’s personal hands on client experience and project management will provide participants a unique outlook on process, and discover how to bridge the gap between PEOLE (client, executives, stakeholders, teams) and the business. It’s a fundamental shift in mindset. Instead of focusing on what you can sell or deliver, the focus is shifted to what are the needs while leveraging rapid iterations for maximum output and trust.

Few of us consciously choose vulnerability.

Why? The stakes are too high.

Agile is alive and well in the technical sphere, but why should we stop there?  At the root of it teams from every discipline are simply a group of people working together to reach their goals. Their subject matter is unique but the challenges are not.  We are all normal.

Rob Villeneuve is a software developer turned CEO, and who used Agile to empower a team of 50+ at rebel.com.  This first hand account will share the transition story of rebel.com from a few agile teams into an Agile Organization.  We will explore the rewards of thinking agile at every level, from leadership to the front line, and Rob will share experiences from each department at Rebel embarking on their own Agile journey.  If you wish others in your organization would simply try agile, or would improve their understanding of why you agile, then you may have something to learn from the cross-training experiences of introducing agile to non-technical teams.

 Rob has introduced agile to teams of many sizes, disciplines, and experience levels including: Board of Directors, Leadership Teams, Sales, Marketing, Finance & Accounting, Customer Service/Call Centre, Software Development, Network Operations, and Architects (Building Architects).

Just as MSWord16 doesn't work on a laptop with Windows XP, some new methods of working are failing to deliver on their promises because we're trying to install them in environments that need an upgrade.

Join Sue Johnston in a lively exploration of what happens when traditional thinking gets in the way of innovation and progress towards organizational goals. We can't create positive and lasting change through action, alone. We need to change the way we - and those around us - think about our teams and our work.

You'll leave with:

• an appreciation of the role of mindset on project success

• a fresh approach to influencing others to produce good outcomes

• techniques to shift from unilateral control to collaborative learning

Come and learn how to provide the operating system for highly productive teams. Warning: There will be hard thinking about soft skills.