“We’re all quite mad here. You’ll fit right in.” - Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland

In 2017, ANZ, a 180+ year old bank made an official announcement that it will embark an organisation-wide change program to adopt Agile and transition 13,000 of its employees to this new ways of working. Like many others I found this interesting, commendable and quite frankly a bit crazy.

January 2019 this year I find myself joining the tea party and going a bit "mad" myself.

What is it like down the rabbit hole? Who are the interesting characters I've met so far? The queen of spades, a cheshire cat? Are they allies or foes? What lessons have I learned so far in this adventure?

“Curiouser and curiouser.” - Alice, Alice in Wonderland

Curiouser and curiouser you must be..

If you're curious about coaching at scale, the challenges of breaking down silos and bureaucracy in the bank and a preview of how it is to work with 60 coaches in one division this talk is for you.

There will be storytelling, there will be sharing of tools and techniques but more importantly there will be lessons learned.

"Before you can kill the monster you have to say its name"

As coaches and practitioners of Agile we see role anti-patterns everywhere lurking, sometimes quietly sleeping and waiting to kill (the momentum!) of our teams.

Have you met the "Night King" a.ka. the Frozen Middle Manager? The "Busy Bee-ast" so deep in her hero culture she has become a bottleneck and a crutch for the team. What about Hydra, the 9-headed PO, who can't make up his mind on his 10000 requirements. He comes with an extra technical head that takes joy on the fact he still has code access. The head occasionally makes code changes to "help" the team with the backlog without their permission.

This talk is about these monsters. The monsters around us and potentially within us.

We will know them, discuss them and identify how we can equip ourselves and the teams we work with to battle their evil rather questionable forces. More importantly in this talk, whether living around us or living within us, we will uncover how we can help guide the monsters to the right path.

"Before you can kill the monster you have to say its name"

As coaches and practitioners of Agile we see role anti-patterns everywhere lurking, sometimes quietly sleeping and waiting to kill (the momentum!) of our teams.

Have you met the "Night Kight" a.ka. the Frozen Middle Manager? The "Busy Bee-ast" so deep in her hero culture she has become a bottleneck and a crutch for the team. What about Hydra, the 9-headed PO, who can't make up his mind on his 10000 requirements. He comes with an extra technical head that takes joy on the fact he still has code access. The head occasionally makes code changes to "help" the team with the backlog without their permission.

This talk is about these monsters. The monsters around us and potentially within us.

We will know them, discuss them and identify how we can equip ourselves and the teams we work with to battle their evil rather questionable forces. More importantly in this talk, whether living around us or living within us, we will uncover how we can help guide the monsters to the right path.

Picture a tiger in front of you at this very minute. A ferocious feline looking for its next prey. Chances are you'd bolt for the door without even thinking. Your body would flip its flight or fight response switch and in this case run for safety. This is called heuristics, mental shortcuts that help us make decisions without spending a lot of time.

Now, ferocious felines in offices are most likely unlikely (and potentially questionable --someone call PETA!), however high pressure situations are not uncommon in Agile Teams. Situations that at times unconsciously flips our flight or fight switch in our brains and lead us to jump into conclusions about our work, our colleagues and lead us to make poor decisions. This the brain suffering from cognitive biases.

This talk provides an introduction to cognitive biases and how they sneakily find their way in our teams and affect our team dynamics and productivity.

I'll cover 3 aspects of teams that could be impacted by these cognitive biases - team dynamics, communication and productivity.

I'll discuss the symptoms of these biases and show you how to proactively control and reduce its effects for more effective teams.

“We’re all quite mad here. You’ll fit right in.” - Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland

In 2017, ANZ, a 180+ year old bank made an official announcement that it will embark an organisation-wide change program to adopt Agile and transition 13,000 of its employees to this new ways of working. Like many others I found this interesting, commendable and quite frankly a bit crazy.

January 2019 this year I find myself joining the tea party and going a bit "mad" myself.

What is it like down the rabbit hole? Who are the interesting characters I've met so far? The queen of spades, a cheshire cat? Are they allies or foes? What lessons have I learned so far in this adventure?

“Curiouser and curiouser.” - Alice, Alice in Wonderland

Curiouser and curiouser you must be..

If you're curious about coaching at scale, the challenges of breaking down silos and bureaucracy in the bank and a preview of how it is to work with 60 coaches in one division this talk is for you.

There will be storytelling, there will be sharing of tools and techniques but more importantly there will be lessons learned.

"Before you can kill the monster you have to say its name"

As coaches and practitioners of Agile we see role anti-patterns everywhere lurking, sometimes quietly sleeping and waiting to kill (the momentum!) of our teams.

Have you met the Mr.Frost a.ka. the Frozen Middle Manager? The "Busy Bee-ast" so deep in her hero culture she has become a bottleneck and a crutch for the team. What about Hydra, the 9-headed PO, who can't make up his mind on his 10000 requirements. He comes with an extra technical head that takes joy on the fact he still has code access. The head occasionally makes code changes to "help" the team with the backlog without their permission.

This talk is about these monsters. The monsters around us and potentially within us.

We will know them, discuss them and identify how we can equip ourselves and the teams we work with to battle their evil rather questionable forces. More importantly in this talk, whether living around us or living within us, we will uncover how we can help guide the monsters to the right path.

“We’re all quite mad here! You’ll fit right in.” - Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland

In 2017, ANZ, a 180+ year old bank made an official announcement that it will embark an organisation-wide change program to adopt Agile and transition 13,000 of its employees to this new ways of working. Like many others I found this interesting, commendable and quite frankly a bit crazy.

Fast forward to January 2019, we find ourselves joining the Mad Hatter's tea party and frankly going mad ourselves.

What is it like down the rabbit hole? Who are the interesting characters we have met so far, are they allies or foes? The Queen of spades? the Cheshire cat? What lessons have we learned so far in this adventure?

“Curiouser and curiouser.” - Alice, Alice in Wonderland

Curiouser and curiouser you must be..

If you're curious about coaching at scale, the challenges of breaking down silos and bureaucracy in the bank and a preview of how it is to work with 60+ coaches in one division, this talk is for you.

There will be storytelling, laughter and the rolling of eyes not heads. We will share tools and techniques but more importantly there will be lessons learned.

Here is to ANZ, the rabbit hole and Alice!

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

While this quote is probably an exaggeration, it holds true for all of us at some point or another. Indeed there is something about videogames and gaming that just draws people in and keeps them enticed and addicted.

It is no surprise that concepts of gamification in many industries continue to proliferate. But what really is gamification? Where did it all begin? Is it just a buzzword or is there real scientific proof behind it? And perhaps most importantly, how can you leverage it in improving your teams?

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

While this quote is probably an exaggeration, it holds true for all of us at some point or another. Indeed there is something about videogames and gaming that just draws people in and keeps them enticed and addicted.

It is no surprise that concepts of gamification in many industries continue to proliferate. But what really is gamification? Where did it all begin? Is it just a buzzword or is there real scientific proof behind it? And perhaps most importantly, how can you leverage it in improving your teams?

Cognitive biases often results to poor decisions that could affect your teams. This talk provides an introduction to cognitive biases and how they impact team performance and effectivity.

I'll cover 3 aspects of teams that could be impacted by these cognitive biases - team dynamics, communication and productivity.

I'll discuss the symptoms of these biases and show you how to proactively control and reduce its effects for more effective teams.

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

Picture a tiger in front of you at this very minute. A ferocious feline looking for its next prey. Chances are you'd bolt for the door without even thinking. Your body would flip its flight or fight response switch and in this case run for safety. This is called heuristics, mental shortcuts that help us make decisions without spending a lot of time.

Now, ferocious felines in offices are most likely unlikely (and potentially questionable --someone call PETA!), however high pressure situations are not uncommon in Agile Teams. Situations that at times unconsciously flips our flight or fight switch in our brains and lead us to jump into conclusions about our work, our colleagues and lead us to make poor decisions. This the brain suffering from cognitive biases.

This talk provides an introduction to cognitive biases and how they sneakily find their way in our teams and affect our team dynamics and productivity.

I'll cover 3 aspects of teams that could be impacted by these cognitive biases - team dynamics, communication and productivity.

I'll discuss the symptoms of these biases and show you how to proactively control and reduce its effects for more effective teams.

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

While this quote is probably an exaggeration, it holds true for all of us at some point or another. Indeed there is something about videogames and gaming that just draws people in and keeps them enticed and addicted.

It is no surprise that concepts of gamification in many industries continue to proliferate. But what really is gamification? Where did it all begin? Is it just a buzzword or is there real scientific proof behind it? And perhaps most importantly, how can you leverage it in improving your teams?

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

If there is an option to do a 60 minute workshop, I would prefer to this as a 60 minute workshop.

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

If there is an option to do a 60 minute workshop, I would prefer to this as a 60 minute workshop.

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

While this quote is probably an exaggeration, it holds true for all of us at some point or another. Indeed there is something about videogames and gaming that just draws people in and keeps them enticed and addicted.

It is no surprise that concepts of gamification in many industries continue to proliferate. But what really is gamification? Where did it all begin? Is it just a buzzword or is there real scientific proof behind it? And perhaps most importantly, how can you leverage it in improving your teams?

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

The Medici Effect was a coined term by Frans Johansson to describe innovation that happens when disciplines and ideas intersect. Take for example the idea of using something very technically challenging such as blockchain, and an internet favourite such as cats and you have the CryptoCats and the Crypto Kitties! Indeed the most interesting ideas are borne out of collaboration & diverse thinking.

This hands-on workshop will provide an introduction to the Medici effect using the Mashup ideation method by IDEO.

The workshop aims to guide the participants on the steps detailed on the Mashup ideation method of IDEO.

Participants will work in groups and will be guided on IDEO's 4 step Mashup process and will end with a Cereal Box design activity and sharing of the created ideas.

“Being human totally sucks most of the time. Videogames are the only thing that make life bearable.” ― Ernest Cline, Ready Player One

While this quote is probably an exaggeration, it holds true for all of us at some point or another. Indeed there is something about videogames and gaming that just draws people in and keeps them enticed and addicted.

It is no surprise that concepts of gamification in many industries continue to proliferate. But what really is gamification? Where did it all begin? Is it just a buzzword or is there real scientific proof behind it? And perhaps most importantly, how can you leverage it in improving your teams?