Facilitating distributed team meetings can feel like having one arm tied behind your back and one eye covered, but you can free yourself of these virtual constraints using other agile practices. We struggle with meeting tools and keeping people engaged online, but what if we collaborate with our teams to get the most value out of their meetings? If we leverage pairing, mobbing and other practices, we can co-facilitate successful outcomes with our teams.

One of the foundational principles of the Agile Manifesto is that the best solutions “emerge from self-organizing teams,” yet most of us are still locked in hierarchical organizational structures better suited for the factory floors where they originated. What should become of the role of people manager in the age of digital transformation?

In this session, we'll explore different ways that managers can become the catalysts that their teams need, as well as some things Agile practitioners can do to cultivate these important behaviors in the teams they work with. Come ready to learn practical tips for how to navigate the tricky space between ensuring that business needs are met and that the individuals on your team reach their full potential.

The majority of Agile and Dev Ops deployments FAIL and yet we continuously do not stop to understand Why. We consistently fall into the trap of looking at the Golden Circle (outside to inside) of What, How, Why vs, looking at the Why to lead us to the How, and What. We are very good at the What, and How which is exactly WHY agile and DevOps will FAIL in your organization. It's time to have a real chat about the WHY.

We are also here to challenge that most organizations that claim they are good at Agile and DevOps are too naïve to understand that they are HORRIBLE at it.

In our 60 minute divergent talk about AGILE (We are warning you, we are divergent agile leaders so don't expect us to support agile like a coffee addiction). We are going to cover off on the FIVE reasons you and your org is FAILING. We are also going to ask you to read the following 30 page booklet ('Preventing Derailment: What to do before it's too late' - Technical Report Series: No 138G). Why do you need to read this? We are being sold an agile bill of goods of that is FLAWED. Agile will always fail and nobody wants to acknowledge it.

Bobby and I run HIGH Performing Agile teams, yet we aren't that Agile as leaders. In fact, we are so NOT agile that we are PROUD of it. We will shout it from the rooftops till people start listening to us. Why you might ask? Failure is not a good thing if you keep failing. Stop embracing Agile; and start embracing Success. In our brief 60 minute divergent chat (bc yes you won't like what we have to say) we will cover off on the following:

FIVE REASONS YOU ARE AN AGILE FAILURE

• Agile is geared for millennials. 1/3 of the workforce is not millennial.
• People need to be parented.
• Agile is a mindset not a toolset.
• Fail Fast - Are you serious? Stop Failing.
• Politeness is weakness. We are at war. Start acting like it.

Join us for 60 minutes. You never know. We might change your life. We are certainly going to challenge what you believe about agile and why you believe it.

Check us out.

Bobby & David (The not so Agile Leaders)

Many organizations are using Scaled Agile Frameworks to coordinate work across organizations. Eric walks through different scaled frameworks, and demonstrates how you can use Azure DevOps as the tool behind your Scaled Agile implementation. Using Interactive activities and demos, Eric shows concepts from SAFe, Nexus and other frameworks.

When coaches encounter resistance, we often treat it as a phenomenon to be overcome, confronted, or defeated. But resistance arises from emotional reactions to difficult change. Emotions can’t be argued away or dispelled with psychological force. Instead of meeting resistance head-on, clever coaches will build healthy, trust relationships with the people they are coaching.

That requires coaches to understand the nature of existing relationships and work to strengthen them. Those relationships then become safe places for people to let down their guard and embrace change.

Relationships are best built and deepened through a technique pioneered by Edgar Schein called “humble inquiry.” Humble inquiry places the focus not on what help coaches have to offer, but on the help that clients want and need.

Alignment to a shared vision is necessary to achieve the outcomes you desire in your business. On top of this, engaged autonomous teams must be able to execute. In a scaled agile organization, this is crucial for success. In this interactive talk, I help you understand this in more detail and we walk through some fun exercises and discussions to learn how to create alignment across teams at multiple levels in your organization using OKRs.