Along with shared goals, tools, and boundaries, psychological safety is a pre-requisite for a truly self-organizing team. Research shows that if you can create psychological safety for your teams, they will be more creative, willing to take risks, and speak their mind — just the types of behavior that lead to market breakthroughs and reduce project risk.

But how do you cultivate psychological safety on a team? Is conflict ever ok? This workshop will give participants the chance to practice exercises for building safety in a fun setting. We'll focus on what safety is and isn’t, how agile leaders can support it using a learning mindset, and learn several team exercises for cultivating safety. We’ll also introduce one method for measuring psychological safety over time.

Strong cultures help people support one another, share their passions, and achieve big goals. And such communities aren’t just happy accidents - they can be purposefully cultivated, whether they’re in a company, a faith institution, or among friends and enthusiasts.

But what makes a belonging culture? How is community changing in America? Author and executive consultant Charles Vogl discusses these questions and introduces fundamental ideas from his book, “The Art of Community”. With wisdom distilled from 3,000 years of spiritual tradition, Vogl will help leaders build loyalty, strengthen identity, and create meaning within their culture.

We will discuss

• 7 elements to create belonging
• How to make culture meaningful
• How to attract the right members

It's inevitable, and almost unavoidable, that Professionals of all skill-sets and experience will encounter "coaching up" situations. In this session, I will review three coaching techniques that can be used in Sr Leader and "coaching up" scenarios. These techniques will provide participants with new/alternative ways to prepare for, engage, follow up, and reflect with Sr Leaders. These techniques are heavily based in the core values of openness, courage, and respect and rooted in the fundamentals of cultural and human interaction.

Our understanding of how humans learn has grown tremendously in the last 20 years. Providing an environment in which people have room to think, and the safety to experiment and adapt is key. We will review fundamental concepts of neuroscience and how they intersect with organizational behavior. We will also review how the agile mindset takes advantage of these concepts. From there, we can begin to envision the conditions that will provide the greatest opportunity for learning and continuous improvement. Together, we will share ideas on how we can start to transform our environments into safe spaces where teams can grow and thrive.

THE CHALLENGE: Every year we may attend numerous presentations and meetings - filled with the typical dense and disorganized Power Point decks. We may leave that session thinking: "there's an hour of my life I’ll never get back."

For years I've worked with IT and HR leaders and project managers to improve their presentations. A key part of their job is to influence key decision makers - but more often than not we just don't know how to design a compelling presentation. We overwhelm our audience with too much information and we ignore what brain science teaches us. The result: too much random information delivered in a confusing way. So, our presentations fail to influence our audience and get us the results we want.

THE SOLUTION: Then, when we least expect it, we hear a presentation that rises above the noise. One that persuades us to take action. What makes that one so compelling?

Science shows that our brains work beautifully when we can focus on a few key ideas. So, what do good presenters do? We powerfully land a small number of BIG ideas. I will teach participants how to follow this simple and powerful method using the PRESENTATION PYRAMID.

We all know that features in a backlog should be prioritized, as should projects in a portfolio, but how can we optimize the ordering to get the best outcome? In this session you’ll learn about and compare seven different techniques, from basic to advanced, for setting priorities: multi-voting, risk analysis, business value game, ROI, Buy a Feature, Cost of Delay profiles, and Weighted Shortest Job First. Participants will work in small groups to practice a few of the techniques on a hypothetical application.

What is the IT guy doing in the Marketing Department and what does Agile have to do with marketing strategy? Originally proposed as a simple Kanban roll out, the effort to bring Agility into a Marketing Strategy team became the start of transformational effort to define value streams, push through organizational boundaries, implemented CI/CD pipelines for Marketing Products, and bring an Agile Mindset to a team at the nexus of multiple value streams and central to the transformation of a revolutionary view of client experience.

This talk focuses on the application of Agile/Lean foundations in a Marketing Organization to unlock hidden potential, detailing how the foundations of an Agile transformation in technical delivery teams -- team Agility, CI/CD pipelines, and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) -- are integral to Marketing Products in a digital media age. Critical to success is the definition of value streams in order to re-align teams from functional organizations to the flow of continuous customer value.

Beyond Marketing, Agile professionals can apply the lessons learned from this coaching engagement to any enterprise services team concurrently supporting multiple lines of business through multiple business channels: HR, Legal, Finance, etc.

This session is not only for current and aspiring Scrum Masters but also for People Managers, Development Team Members, Product Owners, Project Managers, and Leaders.

The Scrum Guide defines what is expected of a Scrum Master. When you read it, I bet you react like "that's a piece of cake!" But when you actually do it, many of us come to a realization that it's really, really hard. (That's what happened to me!) The Scrum Master job is hard because much of it has to do with humans, one of the most complex beings in the universe. Humans are intelligent; humans have emotions; and humans are unpredictable. Just going through the motions does not cut it. Even if you approach with the best of your intention, matters could backfire on you anytime. Borrowing "You might be a redneck if..." from a comedian, Jeff Foxworthy, Tomo will present behaviors of a great Scrum Master and those of a "not so good" Scrum Master. Then, he will take you through why the great Scrum Master's behaviors make her great and how they contribute to building a high performing team and helping the organization be more effective and productive. Finally, he will share tips and tricks that help Scrum Masters grow into greatness (for example, powerful questions, 3 levels of listening, facilitation tools & techniques, etc.)!

This session will give current and aspiring Scrum Masters what to focus on for career development and people in other roles a concrete idea on what qualities to look for in a Scrum Master.

There will be a handout for participants to take home with.

A common question - "How do we even begin to change our traditional waterfall approach to Agile?" – may invoke responses such as, "we just need training", "create self-organizing teams", "setup a transition team", “SAFe”, etc. But those don’t get to the heart of the question. We need to get leaders to understand the “Why” and the "How" in order to help insure a successful transition and provide the proper support for their teams.

This session directly answers both the “Why?” and "How?" questions, by focusing on 2 key concepts and concrete practices, that leaders/managers need to learn and apply.

To do this, we start by helping them understand the context for agility and equipping them with new "agile glasses" that change the way they see and think about Agile. We equip them with 2 new "lenses" through which they can:

1. Visualize the problem domain(s) that exist in their environment and understand the relative level of complexity and uncertainty represented in their projects or product delivery efforts, using the Cynefin framework and VUCA modeling. Understanding these can help to provide better context for decision-making and mitigate the risk of taking a "one size fits all" approach to product or project delivery.
2. Visualize a multi-dimensional planning model, often referred to as the "5 Levels of Planning", that breaks the pattern of big up-front planning and wasteful change control processes, common to waterfall, by reinforcing the practice of continuous planning. This centers on getting them comfortable with key techniques associated with an adaptive approach, rather than a predictive approach to planning.

Many leaders view Agile as simply something that their teams need to learn and/or something that training alone will solve. The reality is that most agile initiatives fail due to a lack of leadership engagement (connection) because leaders aren't given the knowledge or tools to help them adapt.

If this describes you or your managers/leaders, then this session will help answer the question of “how do we get started…?”

Agile transformations have been key for speeding up software development via agile "projects". With projects, development is still often segregated from the business and work is often prioritized based on making the project successful and not what can bring the most value to the business and end users. A new approach is needed. During this session, Wendy Flowers will discuss why the gap between modern technical practices and the business is causing organizations to fail and how managing work via product and not projects will optimize value creation across the entire organization.

Your Organization is Agile…YAY! You are working in a prescribed framework (Scrum, Kanban, etc.)…YAY! You are a part of a Dynamic team…YAY! You are all set and running as a defined High Performing team…NO! So, what is in the way? I can help answer that, it isn't just a team problem.

Through my experience in Agile environments, organizations check all the boxes for implementing agile, but forget the most important which are the behaviors. Over the years, I have started to focus on the behaviors needed in an agile environment. In this session you will look at what gets you excited? What makes you frustrated? What motivates you? How are you showing up? Are you owning your day or renting it? And why reflecting on these matters!

I will provide tools that we will use to identify personal behaviors and statements that you will be able to use not only within your profession, your team, your organization, but also in your daily life outside of the office.

Are you ready to show up to be your best?

Most organizations want to build cohesive, aligned teams who remain engaged over time and in turn, deliver excellent results for the organization. Unfortunately, many are still buying ping pong tables and beer coolers as an attempt to develop cohesion among their workforce. What science tells us is that true team cohesion is derived from alignment, shared values and the right blend of personalities and skills.

As experts in psychology and organizational culture, we use scientifically validated tools to assess culture, personality and team dynamics. Assessment is the first step. Taking action to (re)build your team is next and unfortunately, often mishandled. Join us to learn how teams can align and define themselves, as well as select for fit.

What can you learn about professional success from Chris Rock, Joan Rivers, and Charlie Chaplin? Just ask a behavioral scientist who teaches MBAs by day and decodes comedy by night.

Dr. Peter McGraw—a business school professor, co-author of The Humor Code, and founder of the Humor Research Lab (aka HuRL)—translates the perspectives and practices of the world’s funniest people into powerful prescriptions for professional success.

Drawing on real-world case studies from his global travels to crack the humor code, cutting-edge behavioral economics research, and his own comedy successes (and failures), McGraw reveals how the perspectives and practices of stand-ups, improvisers, writers, directors, clowns, and other comedy misfits can help you live a more successful professional life.

And you will never have to tell a joke.

McGraw pulls back the curtain on the craft of comedy to give you a glimpse into a mysterious world that will surprise you. Lessons include:

• How a simple “101” comedy trick can help you overcome biases, improve your brand, and identify new business opportunities.
• Why Nike and other innovative brands are behaving like Sarah Silverman, Andy Kaufman, and Joan Rivers in order to stand apart from the competition.
• How the habits of Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, and other great comedy writers can be used to improve productivity—and well-being.
• What Bill Murray’s 1-800 number illustrates about how saying “no” can be more important than saying “yes.”
• And why $50 is not too much to pay for a notebook…if you actually write in it.

Coaching stances are a self-charter, a guide for agile coaches and practitioners as they work with individuals and teams. They serve as a way for agile coaches to keep themselves on course and to navigate the choppy waters they undoubtedly encounter. So, how do you go about building that charter, that stance, so that you can show up authentically and as your best self? And, how do you best convey your stance to your team and in your organization?

In this workshop, Kari and Erin will lead activities designed to help you identify the values and behaviors that define your coaching stance. Through facilitated peak experience and mundane experience exercises, you will uncover and explore your values in ways that are personal and meaningful. In small groups, you will share what is important about these values in the work they do as agile coaches and how you can demonstrate these values in their work within the organization, whether that’s with teams, management, senior leadership, or other agile coaches. You will also choose an image that resonates with the way you would like to illustrate your coaching stance--or design one of your own. Erin and Kari will leave you with inquiries to further develop your charter once you return home from the conference.

With the tools and exploration in this workshop, you can return to your teams and organizations, better prepared to serve as agile champions and thoughtful agile-coaching practitioners. It is our hope that you will be inspired to help other agilists in your organizations to create their own values-driven coaching stances.

You know agile, have been on teams as a scrum master or product manager/owner or even a program manager, but now you are an agile coach and need help “jumping in feet first.” While there’s a lot involved in “coaching,” like emotional intelligence, experience, background, emotional intelligence, communication skills, confidence etc. but sometimes you need a little “mentorship” and how/where to get started in a coaching role.

This is a beginner to level session for new coaches in an agile transformation role.

This session will help you get started on an agile transformation assignment with a coaching backlog and will inform new coaches on “where to start” as an Agile Coach.

The session will begin agile transformation challenges followed by common agile impediments, conditions for success, an agile readiness checklist and a coaching backlog including Epics, Features and “where to start.”

Peer coaching can make a huge difference in reaching your work and personal goals, but how do you get started and and make it stick? We’d love to share our informal peer coaching method that combines personal responsibility, agile, and goal setting in a way that is guaranteed to be successful. We call it “Thing Three.” In this interactive session, we will teach you the basic format we follow, along with the research to back up why it works. We will also demonstrate how it has helped even the busiest colleagues stay accountable consistently, over years, and continue to reach every goal they set. You’ll get to exercise these skills too and immediately see the value of peer coaching!

When we are on the floor & wearing the coaching hat - we are dealing with 3 things -

1. Ourself (Coach himself)
2. Person (Coachee)
3. Problem

According to Chad W. Hall, there are also three levels of coaching which he describes in Coach The Person Not The Problem.

1. Beginner: Coach the Problem
2. Better: Coach the Problem through the Person
3. Transformational: Coach the Person for Internal Change

It is very important to understand the 3 levels of coaching. Many of us we operate at level 1.

We will share some recent practical & experential examples/learnings which emphasizes more on coaching at level 2 & 3.

Note - Inspired from the book "Coach the Person Not the Problem: A Simple Guide to Coaching for Transformation - By Chad Hall"

Portfolio Management is quickly evolving away from annual planning, traditional project intake and subsequent status reporting to rapid ideation and innovation with better decision making. The highest performing organizations are focused on hypothesis driven development with a focus on low-cost, incremental learnings to deliver against better business outcomes. Join Tina as she shares how organizations have successfully made the shift to Lean Portfolio Management while driving transparency and visibility at scale. Learn how the principles of Value Engineering will increase alignment across IT, Engineering and the overall Enterprise.

Agile is a set of values and a mindset. As such, it can be hard to answer questions that leadership often asks. These questions include: How agile are we? Are we getting more agile? What are the growth opportunities for our team?

Many organizations use assessments to determine their level of agility. This session will introduce several assessment approaches and tools. Like medicine, when used incorrectly, the results can be toxic. We will explore the merits, potential uses, and possible downsides of each approach.

You will leave this session understanding more about your options, as well as insights for framing an assessment that fit your needs best when trying to measure your organization's culture and teams.