Agile, Agile CT, Agile Connecticut, User Community

We are AGILE CONNECTICUT, the user group. Want to stay notified of meetings and events? GET ON OUR LIST.

Please consider our generous sponsors:

New Technology Solutions provides Agile training and coaching to Connecticut companies.

Cage Data provides DEVOPS hardware, software and services to Agile organizations in CT. Cage Data is your complete solution for DEVOPS, IT support, and systems development.

Interested in SPONSORING? Click here to learn more.

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NEXT MEETING: MONDAY MAY 23. From 0330PM to 0600PM

JOE TINDAL ON:
HOW I HAVE SCALED AGILE ACROSS TEN TEAMS INSIDE MY COMPANY

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REGISTER HERE

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: JOE TINDAL

Joe Tindal is the Enterprise Agile Champion at industry-leading MASTERCAM, located in nearby Tolland CT.

For the past 4++ years MASTERCAM has developed their Agile adoption to include not just software engineering but also Marketing, Sales and the Executive leadership team. Four years into their Agile adoption, we at MASTERCAM continue to learn, and have reached impressive levels of enterprise-wide Business Agility. MASTERCAM has used many coaches and consultants over the years to achieve their current level of enterprise-wide agility. Joe is a Connecticut-based expert on the stages of Agile adoption and Business Agility. Come and hear what he has to say as he tells the MASTERCAM story about the trials and tribulations of reaching enterprise-wide Business Agility.

Reference Link: www.MasterCam.com

JOE’s SESSION:

HERE IS HOW WE SCALED AGILE AT MY COMPANY

In this session I explain the TOOLS I have used and in some cases created, to scale Agile across a 200-person company.

In this session, you learn about tools, exit this session with the same tools I am using.

And you may decide to use some of them yourself, at YOUR company….

….Agile is about doing experiments to tailor and customize your implementation. One size (or one framework!) does not fit all. For Agile to actually work, you must tailor the practices to fit your business, your company, and your people. I have been at this now for over 5 years and I can tell you what works for me MAY OR MAY NOT work for you and your situation. That said, these are the practices I use, that have worked for me, in a situation with over 200 team members, stakeholders and executives:

Things that I’ve seen work well when scaling scrum with 10+ teams.

Removing Dependencies
- Component teams create dependencies while feature teams tend to reduce them. I explain how this actually works.
Product Ownership Teams
- When you scale, you need the Product Owners thinking as a team. I tell you my story and offer some specific techniques for getting all yoru Product Owner aligned on shared understandings.
Scrum Master Teams
- The Scrum Master job is a unique and challenging position. In this segment of the session, I explain how to develop a Scrum Master community of practice inside your organization.
Technical Teams
- Architecture is important, and it needs to be prepared ahead of the teams, so they can actually complete their work. In this part I offer some ideas on how to make sure there is a balnce of planned and emergent technical architecture.
Organization-wide ceremonies
- This one is the best practice I have found: periodically, you need and enterprise-wide “sync up” of at least one day. This needs to be a FACILITATED meeting. These org-wide, highly focused meeting build common knowledge. I’ll explain what this is, and why it is essential to scaling Agile up to 10, 12, even 20++ teams.

This is a “from the trenches” session based on real experience scaling Agile at MASTERCAM in Tolland CT. You can expect some lively discussion as I go through the process of describing how to use these methods and what I learned as I implemented them, by experimenting, inside my company.

REGISTER HERE

AGENDA & SCHEDULE FOR THIS MEETING:

0330PM Doors OPEN. Welcome & Networking (have a beer or a glass of wine)

0345PM Food & Socializing

0400PM MAIN EVENT:

JOE TINDAL on HERE’S HOW I SCALED AGILE AT MY COMPANY
- Removing Dependencies
- Product Ownership Teams
- Scrum Master Teams
- Technical Teams
- Organization-wide ceremonies

0550PM Summary and Close

0555PM Raffle

0600PM DONE

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS:

VENUE:

BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT- Downtown Hartford

187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888 (Google MAP)

There is ample parking very close to the BLACK BEAR restaurant on Allyn Street.

Parking on Union Place (street where the train station is) is free parking after 6pm. Its a one way street so you can park on either side. Parking lots next to Black Bear and across the street are $6 to park until 4pm and I believe $10 after that.

NOTE: The parking lot guys are never out there and if you get a ticket its only through ProPark. Meaning: if you just throw the ticket out nothing will ever happen (Black Bear employees do it all the time) Keep in mind if there is something going on at the XL center the rate will go up and the parking guys will be out there.

See you there!!

REGISTER HERE

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PREVIOUS MEETINGS

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APRIL 18 2016

DEVOPS IN DETAIL

Everyone in the industry is at least aware of the new buzz-term “DevOps.” It’s clearly the Next Big Thing, but is it really much different than Agile? How does it fit? What does it mean for your job?

Agile is about increasing communication and collaboration between business people, developers and end-users.

DEVOPS is also about this. It’s about uniting development and operations. The reality is that “who is authorized to do what” changes when DEVOPS in introduced. So get ready for a big change in the way you operate when you bring DEVOPS into the picture!

Both Agile and DevOps seek to unite teams of people, reduce repetitive work through automation, and increase your overall release velocity and quality. None of this is going to happen until the “who is authorized to do what” changes. So GET READY for some big changes!

By attending this session you will learn:

The names and functions of major DevOps tools and platforms, and how they fit together
What DEVOPS means for your job
Step-by-step instructions for “getting to DEVOPS”
Three specific examples of what DEVOPS competency looks like
Source of more tools and resources for making DEVOPS decisions

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS

AARON ALDRICH

AARON ALDRICH is Director of Operations at Cage Data, a DevOps and IT services firm located in Wallingford CT. Aaron oversees IT operations for Cage Data’s clients.

Since a young age, Aaron has always been intrigued by how things work at least as much as the end results. Early on he began building his own personal computers and altering them for better form and function.

With a love of building relationships and building technical solutions, DevOps is what sparks Aaron’s interests the most. He integrates hardware and software to do the heavy lifting, in service to helping people collaborate and innovate together. Using his experience in software development and IT operations, he brings the start-up mindset of collaboration into the established corporate world.

DAVE LONG

DAVE LONG is Director of Software Engineering at CAGE DATA.

Dave’s industry experience includes designing and and building systems for recruiting, human resources, and managed services. He designs and builds software systems for Connecticut clients in industries that include defense, banking, brokerage, and insurance.

Outside of Cage Data, Dave spends his time with his wife and two kids working around their house in Wallingford. Torrie and Dave also work with a children’s center in Uganda, creating opportunities to go to school and learn technology, to some of the children who live in one of the poorest countries on the planet.

NEXT MEETING: MONDAY, MARCH 28 2016 in HARTFORD

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DANIEL MEZICK on: ENGAGING YOUR AGILE WORKFORCE

Attend this session if you are seeking ways to immediately get stronger results from your current Agile transformation program.

Successful Agile transformations run on ENGAGEMENT. Right? This is literally where all the gains come from. Employee engagement.

It is kind of hard to imagine a successful Agile adoption where the employee engagement levels are very low.

GALLUP says that employees are about 25% engaged at work. Question: How can we improve these numbers in our Agile adoptions?

Attend this session to learn 5 specific facilitation techniques and 3 specific meeting formats that do exactly that. Each of these specific methods will improve the levels of engagement in your Agile transformation program without adding any additional cost whatsoever.

This is a lively experiential session where you do a series of fast-paced activities with the others at your table, in a learn-by-doing format.

We’ll work in small groups and engage in several experiential exercises.

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REGISTER HERE

Click HERE for guidance on how to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

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In this session, you will actively learn about

FIVE “meeting hacks” you can implement tomorrow to improve every one of your meetings
FOUR specific ways to immediately increase the engagement levels of your existing Agile teams
THREE meeting formats you can use after every iteration, and at the end of every each quarter on the calendar
TWO very specific ways to manage and measure team engagement
ONE reason why most Agile adoption programs do not measure engagement levels, and how to start– immediately.

Attend this session to more fully ENGAGE your Agile workforce, so you can reach for, and actually obtain, these benefits:

More Value Creation Per Unit of Cost
Higher Customer and Stakeholder Satisfaction
More Reliable Software
Fewer Code Defects/Higher Quality Code
Increased Capacity to Plan
Higher Certainty and Agreement About Those Plans

You exit the session with some very specific techniques, some very useful takeaway materials, and the know-how to actually implement what you learned during this session, at work, the very next day.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER
Coaching Agile teams since 2007, DANIEL MEZICK is an author, enterprise Agile coach, and keynote speaker.

He is the primary author of the OPEN SPACE AGILITY HANDBOOK and the formulator of OpenSpace Agility, a technique for creating a rapid and lasting Agile adoption using any framework that suits your organization.

In his pioneering book, THE CULTURE GAME, he describes sixteen specific patterns of group behavior that help make any team smarter. That book provides A-B-C guidance on how to quickly implement these patterns by employing game mechanics. THE CULTURE GAME is based on five years of experience coaching 119 Agile teams across 25 different organizations.

Coaching organizations in culture change since 2007, Daniel’s client list includes Capital One, INTUIT, CIGNA, SIEMENS Healthcare, Pitney Bowes, Harvard University, and many smaller enterprises. Learn more and contact Daniel at www.DanielMezick.com.

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REGISTER HERE

Click HERE for guidance on how to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

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AGENDA & SCHEDULE FOR THIS MEETING:

0330PM Welcome & Networking (have a beer or a glass of wine)

0345PM Food & Socializing

0400PM MAIN EVENT:

DANIEL MEZICK on ENGAGING YOUR AGILE WORKFORCE
- Handouts and instructions
- Learn by doing exercises, in small groups, at each table
- Questions and answers
- Sources of more information

0550PM Summary and Close

0555PM Raffle

0600PM DONE

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS:

VENUE:

BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT- Downtown Hartford

187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888 (Google MAP)

There is ample parking very close to the BLACK BEAR restaurant on Allyn Street.

See you there!!

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PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

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February 29th, 330PM to 600PM:

The Scaled Agile (SAFe) Framework, Part 1:

Introduction to SAFe (link)

SAFe – A dangerous weapon: Techniques for implementing a lasting adoption of the Scaled Agile Framework

The Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a powerful and popular framework for implementing agile at large scale across the enterprise. In this talk we will examine some dangerous implementation anti-patterns as well as healthier alternatives. You will learn some concrete techniques that help live up to the Lean/SAFe principles of respecting and engaging people. We will discuss field-proven ideas such as pull-based crossing the chasm approach to implementation, use of Open Space as part of the different SAFe ceremonies, and how OpenSpace Agility can combine with SAFe.

About the presenter: YUVAL YERET

Yuval Yeret is a senior enterprise agility coach at AgileSparks, an international lean agile consulting company with offices in Boston, Israel, India. He is leading several strategic long-term scaled lean/agile initiatives in large enterprises such as Siemens, HP, Amdocs, Informatica, Intel, CyberArk among others. Yuval is a big believer in pragmatic, best-of-breed solution design, taking the best from each approach. He is a recipient of the Brickell Key Award for Lean Kanban community excellence. He is the author of “Holy Land Kanban” based on his thinking and writing at yuvalyeret.com. Yuval is also a SAFe Program Consultant, CSPO, CSM, CSP.

ABOUT the AGILE-AFTER-HOURS events:

Join us in HARTFORD!!

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford, and get some training too !

The meeting includes some light food. Beer, wine and a cash bar are available during the entire event.

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 02/29/16

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford…and get some training !

A SPECIAL NOTE for PMI Members:

The ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** event is good for 2.5 PDUs from PMI!! Here are the steps and directions to claim your PDUs:

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS AGILE SOCIAL EVENT IN DOWNTOWN HARTFORD:

Team Members
Managers
Architects
Executives
Project Managers and PMPs

VENUE:

BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT- Downtown Hartford

187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888 (Google MAP)

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 02/29/16

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SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0330PM-0600PM
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0330PM Doors Open: Welcome!

0345PM Intro & Welcome: Daniel Mezick, The State of Agile in Connecticut

0415PM Break. Food & beverages.

0445PM Main Event: Our honored GUEST SPEAKER

0545PM Raffle

0600PM Done

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Interested in SPONSORING? Click here to learn more.

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PARKING AND DIRECTIONS:

There is ample parking very close to the BLACK BEAR restaurant on Allyn Street.

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 02/29/16

See you there!!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS FOR 2016:

This year is the year of frameworks and DEVOPS. We plan to cover DEVOPS all of the popular Agile frameworks in some detail. Here is the Schedule of Events for 2016:

Coming up March 28:

Engaging the Agile Workforce, Part 1:

Ways of Increasing Engagement in Agile Adoptions

Presented by:

Coming up April 18 2016:

DEVOPS Fundamentals, Part 1: Concepts, Platforms & Tools

Presented by:

Coming up in May:

The Scaled Agile (SAFe) Framework, Part 2:

Implementing SAFe (experience reports) (link)

June:

OpenSpace Agility, Part 1:

OSA concepts & implementing OSA: the experience reports (link)

July:

The Large-Scale Scrum (LeSS) Framework, Part 1:

ADVANCED TOPICS (link)

August:

The Scaled Agile (SAFe) Framework, Part 3:

ADVANCED TOPICS in SAFe (link)

September:

OpenSpace Agility, Part 2:

Advanced Topics (link)

….more announcements to follow soon!

Want to stay notified of meetings and events? GET ON OUR LIST.

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PREVIOUS MEETINGS

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JOIN US for “AGILE AFTER HOURS” WITH GUEST SPEAKER TOBIAS MAYER

TOBIAS MAYER is an Agile practitioner, workshop facilitator, author and blogger. He describes his work with organizations, executives, directors, managers and teams as “compassionate confrontation”. Tobias has been an active and vocal member of the Agile and Scrum communities for over 10 years.

“Of all the people I know I think that Tobias best embodies Agile thinking and Agile spirit. Not only is he knowledgable and skilled in all things Agile, he is able to support other people to think outside the box and exceed their own limitations.” —David Chilcott, Co-Active coach

Tobias Mayer is the author of THE PEOPLE’S SCRUM:

THE SESSION:

Thought Citizen

To become a thought leader, first learn how to be a thoughtful citizen.

Our modern organizations are concerned with improving management and leadership. This is to be welcomed, but tends to result in a focus only on the few. What about the many? It is not enough to be managed, to be led. We all need to participate. As grass-roots workers, what skills do we need to ensure we create a culture of collaboration, trust and engagement?

This short talk will focus on how we each show up for work, what our expectations are, what our fears are, and how we might take the responsibility to reset these to generate our own power, in line with organizational goals.

Further reading: Business Craftsmanship

ABOUT the AGILE-AFTER-HOURS events:

Join us in HARTFORD!!

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford, and get some training too !

COMPLIMENTARY beer, wine, mixed drinks and light food!

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 4/23/15

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford…and get some training !

A SPECIAL NOTE for PMI Members:

The ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** event is good for 2.5 PDUs from PMI!! Here are the steps and directions to claim your PDUs:

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS AGILE SOCIAL EVENT IN DOWNTOWN HARTFORD:

* Team Members
* Managers
* Architects
* Executives
* Project Managers and PMPs

VENUE:

BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT- Downtown Hartford

187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888 (Google MAP)

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 4/23/15

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SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0330PM-0600PM
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0330PM Doors Open: Food, beverages, networking, socializing, music

0415PM MAIN EVENT: Presentation by honored guest speaker

0515PM More Food, beverages, networking, socializing, music

0545PM AGILE RAFFLE: Great Agile books and other Agile goodies

0600PM DONE

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS:

There is ample parking very close to the BLACK BEAR restaurant on Allyn Street.

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 4/23/15

See you there!!

AGILE-CT presents ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** with noted Agile expert & guest speaker SALLY ELATTA 3/27/15

Join us in HARTFORD!!

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford, and get some training too !

COMPLIMENTARY beer, wine, mixed drinks and light food!

ONLY 100 tickets are available, so ACT NOW to REGISTER!

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 3/27/15

MEET AND NETWORK with Hartford-area Agile professionals after work, in downtown Hartford…and get some training !

A SPECIAL NOTE for PMI Members:

The ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** event is good for 2.5 PDUs from PMI!! Here are the steps and directions to claim your PDUs:

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

WHO SHOULD ATTEND THIS AGILE SOCIAL EVENT IN DOWNTOWN HARTFORD:

* Team Members
* Managers
* Architects
* Executives
* Project Managers and PMPs

DATE: Friday March 27 at the BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT
187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888

OUR GUEST SPEAKER:
Agile Expert and Executive Coach SALLY ELATTA

ABOUT SALLY ELATTA:

Sally Elatta is the president of Agile Transformation Inc. and an Enterprise Transformation Coach. Her company’s purpose is to help leaders transform their culture and build healthy high performing teams. She is a dynamic and engaging speaker who is a thought leader in the Agile Transformation space and is passionate about the ‘cultural’ and Enterprise Agility side of the transformation journey.

Her organization, Agile Transformation is a global leader in providing the most comprehensive transformations services from initial transformation strategy planning through successful quarterly execution. Their enablement philosophy is to teach companies how to transform themselves and build internal capacity to sustain the transformation. Sally publishes several popular videos on AgileVideos.com.

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 3/27/15

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Enterprise Agility Starts with Healthy Teams, How Healthy is YOUR Agile Team?
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Everyone wants metrics, but which ones really matter? Which metrics can help you ‘actually’ get better and give you visibility into the health of your teams? What if your scaling Agile and have tens or hundreds of teams and need a consistent way to measure Team Health?

Take a deeper dive and hands on journey with our dynamic agilist, Sally Elatta, as she walks you through the top 5 health metrics you need to be looking at and how you can create a continuous growth process where teams are getting better quarter after quarter.

Learning Objectives:

* Learn the top 5 measures for TeamHealth,
* Assess your own Agile team’s health and build a growth plan.
* Understand how to create a scalable health assessment and continuous growth model

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SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0330PM-0600PM
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0330PM Doors Open: Food, beverages, networking, socializing, music

0445PM Presentation by honored guest speaker & expert Agile coach SALLY ELATTA

0515PM More Food, beverages, networking, socializing, music

0545PM AGILE RAFFLE: Great Agile books and other Agile goodies

0600PM DONE

VENUE:

BLACK BEAR RESTAURANT- Downtown Hartford

187 Allyn Street, Hartford, CT 06103 860.524.8888 (Google MAP)

PARKING AND DIRECTIONS:

There is ample parking very close to the BLACK BEAR restaurant on Allyn Street.

REGISTER HERE FOR ***AGILE AFTER HOURS*** 3/27/15

See you there!!

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Tuesday, Feb 17th: in HARTFORD

“AGILE IN CONNECTICUT: WHAT’S ACTUALLY WORKING?”

REGISTER HERE
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Connecticut is LOADED with brokerage firms, insurance companies, government contractors, and thousands of smaller businesses of all kinds. Do you work for one of them? Are they using Agile? If so, here is the question:

“AGILE IN CONNECTICUT: WHAT’S ACTUALLY WORKING?”

This is the event to meet other Agile folks in Connecticut and find out how they are ACTUALLY doing with Agile. Is your Agile adoption going great? Bring your success story. Maybe no so great? Bring your experience, share it with others and learn what others are doing. Exit the meeting with actionable ideas and learning.

This meeting will use the Open Space meeting format. In this format you can initiate and lead a session on YOUR topic of interest.

The Open Space meeting format can be used to improve your Agile adoption results. In addition to the content of this meeting, you will also learn how to arrange Open Space meetings in your own organization to improve the results you are getting with Agile.

Enjoy food and beverages throughout the event as we meet in small groups explore the theme of the meeting:

“AGILE IN CONNECTICUT: WHAT’S ACTUALLY WORKING?”

During this session, you will learn:

What others are experiencing in their own organizations
How to use Open Space in your own Agile work.
Which patterns of Agile adoption are actually working, and which are not
How to improve the results you are getting with Agile in your company

Attend this event to:

Meet people and connect with them
Learn from others
Teach what you know
Learn about the extremely useful and productive Open Space meeting format

People in the following roles will benefit most from participation in this event:

Company leaders
Managers
Software architects, UX designers, BA’s, and documentation professionals
Software developers

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

SCHEDULE:

START TIME: 600PM

END TIME: 830PM

LOCATION:

THE HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY

ONE HARTFORD PLAZA 06115-1707

REGISTER HERE

DRIVING DIRECTIONS, PARKING AND BUILDING ACCESS: SECURITY….

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707

To parking and enter the building, see the map below.

Park in the Ramp Garage, and come in the Tower B West entrance. Check in with the security guard and the door and wait to be escorted by a Hartford employee to the room (it’s just across the lobby).

Key Guidance on driving, parking and entering:

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707
Park in the RAMP GARAGE
Come in the Tower B West entrance
Download MAP as PDF and PRINT here: (Special Events Map HIG)

See you there!!!

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LAST MEETING: Thursday, December 4th: in HARTFORD

SESSION:

HOW TO IMMEDIATELY IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS WITH AGILE

REGISTER HERE
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER

DANIEL MEZICK is a management consultant, author and keynote speaker. Coaching Agile since 2007, Daniel is the formulator of Open Agile Adoption, a technique for creating rapid and lasting enterprise agility. He is the author of THE CULTURE GAME, a book describing sixteen patterns of group behavior that help make any team smarter. Daniel is a keynote speaker, most recently at Agile Maine’s Agile Day event, the Agile Tour Quebec City, and the Global Scrum Gathering in Paris France. Learn more and contact Daniel at www.DanielMezick.com.

(Note: The session described below is the content of the keynote for the Global Scrum Gathering convened in Paris France in September of 2013.)

DANIEL MEZICK on:

HOW TO IMMEDIATELY IMPROVE YOUR RESULTS WITH AGILE

Most Agile adoptions are implemented as “push”. Teams typically “must do” Scrum and other specific practices as prescribed by well-meaning management.

Ken Blanchard, one of the most influential management consultants in the world today, has this to say about the purely “top-down” approach to change in organizations:

“…top-down change (“push”) is bound to fail due to low involvement on the part of each individual involved.”

“…If you don’t get buy-in, workers might comply at the beginning but will revert back to old behaviors at the end.”

“…To succeed with a change: increase the amount of influence of the people being asked to change.”

During this session, you will learn:

How to DOUBLE the results you are getting with your Agile adoption
How others in Connecticut are immediately improving their Agile results using a very simple process
How to use this process, by actually experiencing it in this session
How to implement this process immediately in your own organization to immediately and dramatically improve the results you are getting

People in the following roles will benefit most from participation in this event:

Company leaders
Managers
Software architects, UX designers, BA’s, and documentation professionals
Software developers

In this session we will learn about Open Agile Adoption and exit the event with tools you can tomorrow to improve the results you are getting with your Agile adoption program…

Open Agile Adoption (OAA) is a repeatable technique for getting a rapid and lasting Agile adoption. It works with what you are currently doing, and can be added at any time. Open Agile Adoption helps your Agile program succeed. A hypothesis of Open Agile Adoption is that increases in engagement drives increases in productivity, after a brief delay. The purpose of Open Agile Adoption is to increase levels of engagement on the part of everyone involved.

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

SCHEDULE:

START TIME: 600PM

END TIME: 830PM

LOCATION:

THE HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY

ONE HARTFORD PLAZA 06115-1707

REGISTER HERE

DRIVING DIRECTIONS, PARKING AND BUILDING ACCESS: SECURITY….

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707

To parking and enter the building, see the map below.

Key Guidance on driving, parking and entering:

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707
Park in the RAMP GARAGE
Come in the Tower B West entrance
Download MAP as PDF and PRINT here: (Special Events Map HIG)

See you there!!!

Are you seeking Agile lifecycle management tools? Please consider : RALLY SOFTWARE !!

Are you seeking Agile consultants? Please consider: ELIASSEN GROUP!

Are you seeking TRAINING in Agile and Scrum? Please consider: NEW TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

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PREVIOUS MEETING: Wednesday November 5th in HARTFORD

SESSION: OUR AGILE ADOPTION: THRIVING OR DIVING?

REGISTER HERE
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER

DANIEL MEZICK is a management consultant, author and keynote speaker. Coaching Agile since 2007, Daniel is the formulator of Open Agile Adoption, a technique for creating rapid and lasting enterprise agility. He is the author of THE CULTURE GAME, a book describing sixteen patterns of group behavior that help make any team smarter. The book is based on five years of experience coaching 119 Agile teams across 25 different organizations. Daniel’s client list includes Zappos Insights, CIGNA, SEIMENS Healthcare, Harvard University and many smaller enterprises. Learn more and contact Daniel at www.DanielMezick.com.

DANIEL MEZICK on: THE AGILE ADOPTION: Thriving or Diving?

Is your Agile adoption thriving…or diving?

This is an experiential session where you will learn a new way to sustain a lasting Agile adoption inside your business unit.

Are you asking these questions?

I am a business unit leader. Why isn’t Agile creating more predictability about date & cost?
If I wait this out, will it just GO AWAY… like those other process-change programs in the 90’s?
I’m a Team Lead. Are Team Leads and Architects still leaders inside our Agile teams?
I’m a Business Analyst. What do Business Analysts actually do inside Agile teams? Outside of Agile teams?
I’m a Manager. Do managers still manage? I thought Agile teams were self-managed…
I’m a Project Manager…does that make me a Manager too? Or am I a Scrum Master now…?
I used to understand my job. Now I definitely don’t, and I also have a kid in college. Do I still have my job?

This stuff is hard. In the typical Agile adoption, people who have spent years doing very good work are suddenly expected to completely change how that work is performed.

And usually, someone else is making that decision. Sometimes, people are told to leave one team and join another.

All these changes to the way we work can create substantial worry…

Meanwhile, as we figure all of this out, there is the very real pressure of very real work to do. And deliver.

And so: how do we learn a new way of working even as we are expected to consistently deliver big, on budget and on time?

In this session, Agile coach Daniel Mezick shows you how. He will lead you through a very simple process that can help your Agile adoption thrive. After a very brief introduction to the core concepts, we will immediately move into a group exercise that engages everyone…. in a way that surfaces the best ideas…and puts them to work. This is an experiential session where you will learn a new way to sustain a lasting Agile adoption inside your business unit.

When our group exercise is complete, we will debrief. You exit the session with direct experience, and with real tools you can use tomorrow to help your ongoing Agile adoption process thrive. You also exit this session with a printed handout of reference web links… for diving deeper into the material.

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

SCHEDULE:

START TIME: 600PM

END TIME: 830PM

LOCATION:

THE HARTFORD INSURANCE COMPANY

ONE HARTFORD PLAZA 06115-1707

REGISTER HERE

DRIVING DIRECTIONS, PARKING AND BUILDING ACCESS: SECURITY….

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707

To parking and enter the building, see the map below.

Key Guidance:

The address is: 1 HARTFORD PLAZA HARTFORD, CT 06115-1707
Park in the RAMP GARAGE
Come in the Tower B West entrance
Download MAP as PDF and PRINT here: (Special Events Map HIG)

See you there!!!

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Are you seeking Agile consultants? Please consider: ELIASSEN GROUP!

Are you seeking TRAINING in Agile and Scrum? Please consider: NEW TECHNOLOGY SOLUTIONS

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NEXT MEETING in STAMFORD: Monday DECEMBER 09 2013, 0300PM-0530PM. Location: STAMFORD INNOVATION CENTER

DANIEL MEZICK on: USER STORY WORKSHOP: Building a Backlog

Most Agile projects suffer from the lack of a “READY” Product Backlog. This is a completely avoidable problem. In this session, we will use a technique called Persona Mapping to rapidly create at least one user story per minute, using a meeting format that is productive and fun. You’ll learn this technique and take it back to your organization, where you can use it the next day. Be ready to “learn while doing” while you interact with others.

NOTE: This is the first part of a 3-part series on creating a Product Backlog for Sprint Planning. You can attend 1 or all 3 of these workshop-style sessions to get a grip on your Product Backlog creation and preparing it to be READY for Sprint Planning.

0300PM Welcome

0315PM Intro to Agility: Scrum Overview

0345PM Food & Socialize

0410PM MAIN EVENT

0510PM Q&A

0515PM Raffle: THE CULTURE GAME book by Daniel Mezick

0530PM DONE

WHERE:

STAMFORD INNOVATION CENTER (directions link)

175 Atlantic St Stamford, CT 06901

NEXT MEETING (HARTFORD AREA): Thursday NOVEMBER 21 2013, 630PM-830PM. Location: FARMINGTON CT

DANIEL MEZICK on: THE USER STORY WORKSHOP Part **TWO**

Most Agile projects suffer from the lack of a “READY” Product Backlog. This is a completely avoidable problem.

In this 2nd session, we will generate very large (epic) user stories and break them down. We will also estimate them into small, medium, large and XL . You’ll learn-by-doing in small groups (like last time) and you’ll bring the techniques back to your organization, where you can use them the next day. Be ready to “learn while doing” while you interact with others.

We’ll also have some food and beverages and time to socialize.

6:30 Short presentation on Agile overview

7:00 Food and Socializing

7:20 MAIN EVENT

8:20 Done & Raffle

8:30 DONE DONE

NOTE: This is the SECOND part of a 3-part series on creating a Product Backlog for Sprint Planning. You can attend 1 or all 3 of these workshop-style sessions to get a grip on your Product Backlog creation and preparing it to be READY for Sprint Planning. Just show up!

ABOUT THE PRESENTER:

DANIEL MEZICK is a management consultant, author and community organizer. He is the founder of the Agile Boston community of practice. He is the formulator of Open Agile Adoption, a technique for creating rapid and lasting enterprise agility. Daniel is the author of THE CULTURE GAME, a book describing sixteen patterns of group behavior that help make any team smarter. The book is based on five years of experience coaching 119 Agile teams across 25 different organizations. Daniel’s list of clients includes Zappos Insights, CIGNA, SEIMENS Healthcare, Harvard University and many smaller enterprises. Learn more and contact Daniel by at www.DanielMezick.com.

(no cost) REGISTER NOW

NEXT MEETING: Wednesday OCTOBER 16 2013, 630PM-830PM. Location: FARMINGTON CT

DANIEL MEZICK on: USER STORY WORKSHOP Part 1

Previous Meeting:

DAMON POOLE on: “PANNING FOR USER STORY GOLD”

Putting User Stories into business value order is a key tenet of Agile, but that’s just the first step. There’s much more value to be extracted from your user stories using specific story splitting techniques combined with reducing cycle time. By splitting user stories you can separate the gold from the dirt as well as reduce the cost of implementation.

This session will cover a variety of methods for splitting user stories including the split by “create/read/update/delete” method, the split by acceptance test method, and the split by value method. These techniques can produce even more value when combined with frequent grooming and Kanban flow which will also be covered.

Meeting Link

Previous Meeting:

MARCH 05 2013 (Tuesday) Meeting: 630PM to 830PM:

AGILE COACH RICHARD KASPEROWSKI on: “COACHING IN AN OPEN SPACE”

Richard set a record when he facilitated a six-week-long Open Space with his software development team. This is unique: they are the only people in the world to have held Open Space for such a long time. They pushed the limits of Open Space Technology, discovering both what it’s great at and its limitations. Richard will share the highlights of what they learned: what worked, what didn’t work, and the surprising results.

At this session you will learn:

Open Space Technology: what it is, how to facilitate it
The importance of a real problem for a great Open Space, and how Open Space is exactly the right tool for organizing a group of people to solve it
How to prepare for Open Space
A radical use of Open Space: use it to manage your team for extended periods of time
How to facilitate Open Space well
As a facilitator, which seductive shortcuts should you avoid?
Unexpected positive and negative outcomes

LEARN MORE HERE:

Meeting Link

Previous Meeting:

Agile Coach FRANK SAUCIER on: EFFECTIVE PRODUCT OWNERSHIP

The Product Owner role is essential in Scrum. Get this right, and your product delights end-users and customers. Play this role ineffectively and you have a failed Scrum implementation.

This month’s meeting is about work with Product Owners and how to be effective in the role of Product Owner. Agile Coach Frank Saucier from FreeStandingAgility brings a tutorial presentation and a set of group activities that convey an understanding of the Product Owner role.

Learn more here and scoop the presentation slides from this meeting