Did you know that your brain tells you stories all day long, and that if they are good stories, you believe them? Come to this entertaining interactive session to experience some "cognitive illusions" for yourself, and learn what they demonstrate about how our brains' work. Cognitive science and behavioral psychology offer important insights for agilists, insights that can help us work more effectively with our co-workers and clients. You will learn how awareness of our brains' tendencies is a powerful tool to overcome our own innate cognitive bias, and the cognitive bias of others. This newfound awareness can open you to more varied perspectives in order to tell yourself a story that is both richer and more nuanced -- and closer to being "a true story."

In this interactive and informal session, you will hear a story about how Agile led to the successful delivery of a large training program (in a non-IT environment) where Agile was completely unknown and unwelcome. You will learn how the Agile values and principles guided my decisions and behavior and contributed to success. We will discuss what I call "stealth Agile" which is applying the techniques and mindset without using the odd and intimidating vocabulary. You will hear how I implemented Scrum with my own team, but lightweight Agile with a soft touch for my management. Eventually I was able to influence the wider environment, gradually coaching them and teaching them Agile, resulting in a self-sustaining Agile team functioning reasonably well as a pod surrounded by waterfall approaches.

During this conversational session, you will have the opportunity to ask questions and share your own stories.