Everyone wants to know which Agile metrics really count, and why. But a lot comes down to context: who's asking, what decisions are on the horizon, how you communicate, and so forth. Add scale, and you've got a major challenge.

David Bujard, Dante Vilardi and Nate Conroy have spent the last few years trying to figure how to make agility measurement effective at a big federal program. In this talk they will discuss lessons learned from numerous experiments -- those that produced results, and those that didn't.

David and Dante are Agile coaches who support a transformation program at USCIS.

Unfortunately, it’s often an organization’s “real managers” – those with ongoing accountability for people and outcomes – who get caught in the middle of today’s Agile transformations. This can disrupt their teams’ commitments, push hard-earned experience to the sidelines or – what’s worse – make real managers a scapegoat for the transformation errors of others.

This program offers an alternative: becoming indispensable, by using the tools uniquely available to today’s development, testing, business analysis, release, program and infrastructure managers to help fix Agile implementation problems. Surprisingly, this is not especially difficult or risky; it’s simply a matter of recognizing the signs of stalling agility, and using some simple but powerful organizational levers to move everyone – teams, coaches, even executives – closer to a solution.

Contrary to widely held belief, most teams cannot be merely coached or directed to lasting transformation. Success depends, just as much, on the Agile routines these real managers put in place. This can be a key to taking control of your career in the new Agile workplace.

If you see Agile teams struggling, coaches complaining, or believe your current contributions to Agile success are in question, this program is for you. We will review some unique sources of Agile leverage – advantages which you – but no coach or senior executive – possess: a wide-angle view of functional performance, knowledge of hidden barriers, and the authority to ask real people for improvement.