As agile practitioners, we are well aware that we need to delegate decision-making and responsibility to members of the team, but it's often easier in principle than it is in practice. Frequently, delegating triggers some angst in most of us, usually revolving around our biggest fear: "What if they fail miserably?"

Fortunately, there are better questions to ask before we delegate, including:

• How can I determine whether the person is capable of handling the responsibility delegated?
• If they're not ready, how do I help them to acquire that ability?

In this combination tutorial and workshop, we'll answer both these questions so you can be more successful when you delegate. We'll also give you an opportunity to apply your newly acquired knowledge via in-class simulation and provide information to help you coach others in effective delegation.

The best way to learn Scrum is by doing, but it can be difficult to simulate Scrum and see how well Scrum helps team overcome technical hurdles without actually building something technically challenging. Lego's have always been a fun option for introducing Scrum, but it's difficult to recreate technical impediments, the need for spikes and managing technical debt with our tried and true friend, the box of Lego's.

Arguably, a better alternative might be Snap Circuits, a toy designed to introduce children to electronics in a fun and easy-to-understand format. Like Lego's, adults gravitate toward Snap Circuits because they are colorful, quickly understood and snap together with ease.

But, Snap Circuits have the added advantage of requiring a small amount of technical learning during the simulation that make it a closer match to the technical obstacles faced by a typical Scrum team.

In this workshop, you'll learn one "Scrum in a Snap" simulation exercise. In addition, we'll provide you with a few other "Scrum in a Snap" ideas and encourage you to experiment on your own. Four lucky attendees will also win their own Snap Circuits kit so they can develop their own Scrum games.

Past participants in "Scrum in a Snap" have said "The best Scrum exercise I've ever done", "I can't believe how much it's like coding - without actually coding", "What a blast - I'll never forget this activity!" and "Where can I buy one?"

Attend this workshop to see why.

Many organizations struggle with failure and turn to Agile as a game-changer. But how do the dynamics of government magnify the challenge of Agile adoption? Through this 45-minute case study of the "SBA Certify" program, the start of the US Small Business Administration's Agile journey, we'll

• Describe what triggered SBA's transition to Agile from waterfall software development
• Explain how key players from the SBA, USDS and 8(a) contractors Telesis & Enquizit led the transition to Agile
• Review the combination of tools, technologies and practices that led to the successful launch of certify.sba.gov in just seven months
• Cover how the SBA has built upon the success of certify.SBA.gov to become a leader in Agile adoption among small government agencies

In addition, co-presenters Aditi Dussault (former SBA Deputy Chief of Staff), Phil Jones (Telesis) and Donald Patti (Cedar Point Consulting) will propose a framework for understanding government inaction, helping others to make radical, transformative change in government possible.

(And, of course, we'll also explain Button Bear).

As more of us go the route of Agile, it's becoming increasingly common to deal with vendors and external teams who still follow phase-based approaches to delivering work, like Waterfall. Or, they follow a bastardized version of Agile that looks a lot like the old SDLC.  In this session, I'll describe some common and not-so-common approaches that have been applied to dealing with Vendorfall, explain which are more successful; and then hand control over to attendees as they grapple with their own Vendorfall scenario.

Sprint retrospecives are a key part of Agile, but are you getting enough out of your retrospectives? Are they taking too long?

In this session, you will learn how to

1. Gather input from "the quiet types" who may be hesitant to speak out in groups;
2. Separate the positive feedback from he negative feedback easily;
3. Quickly determine the level of support for each feedback item;
4. Increase the amount of team input as much as five-fold; and,
5. Synthesize and organize the input you receive so that you can act.

In doing so, you will increase team satisfaction with retrospectives and improve team productivity.

About the Speaker

Donald Patti is a Director of Applications for the AAMC, a non-profit organization that serves medical schools and students by providing services that enable members to improve the health of all. He also teaches courses in software development, web design, e-business and project management for the University of Phoenix. Prior speaking engagements have included presentations on risk management to PMI Washington DC, on Agile to PMI Washington DC, on release planning to Global Scrum Gathering and Agile 2014; and, on Lean Principles, Tools and Techniques to AAMC constituents.