We are Agile Boston. We meet the 4th Wednesday in BURLINGTON MA and the following Thursday DOWNTOWN to learn and have fun!! That’s two meetings a month for you!

We believe in “keeping it open.” Anyone can see our income… expenses… and current cash-balance… at any time. We do not keep seventy thousand in the bank, and then do absolutely nothing with it.  Instead… we spend it ALL on community events. And make everything a matter of public record. Curious? CLICK HERE TO TAKE A LOOK OUR CURRENT CASH BALANCE, INCOME, EXPENSES….etc

NEW AVAILABLE TRAINING IN BOSTON….

Upcoming Courses in BOSTON offered in September…

…by Agile Coach and Teacher BOB GALEN

Bob Galen is an Agile Methodologist, Practitioner & Coach based in Cary, NC. In this role he helps guide companies and teams in their pragmatic adoption and organizational shift towards Scrum and other agile methodologies and practices. He is a Principal Agile Evangelist at Velocity Partners, a leading agile nearshore development partner. He is also President and Agile Trainer & Coach at RGCG.

Bob regularly speaks at international conferences and professional groups on topics related to software development, project management, software testing and team leadership. He is a Certified Scrum Coach (CSC), Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO), and an active member of the Agile & Scrum Alliances.

He’s published two agile related books: Scrum Product Ownership, in 2009 – 2’nd Edition in 2013 and Agile Reflections in 2012. He’s also a prolific writer & blogger (at – www.rgalen.com ) and podcaster (at www.meta-cast.com )

Bob may be reached directly at: bob@rgalen.com or bgalen@velocitypartners.net or network via: http://www.linkedin.com/in/bobgalen

THE COURSES COMING UP:

Scrum Mastery 2.0- Skills for Developing High-Performance Teams

 

Where:
Forrester Research
60 Acorn Park Drive
Cambridge, MA 02140

When:
Thursday, September 23, 2015 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)

 

You’ve achieved a level of experience as a Scrum Master and you may have received a CSM or similar certification. But you’re beginning to realize that leading and facilitating agile teams is much harder in the real world. That creating an environment that empowers and fosters self-directed teams is a real challenge. And that inspiring teams to deliver on the promises (the results) of what agile can be is a moving target.

This 1-day immersion workshop goes beyond the fundamentals to focus on the situational aspects of agile coaching. We’ll explore real world scenarios and “mine” attendees for specific challenging situations.

We’ll explore those scenarios and discuss your options for handling the most crucial and delicate of situations you’ll experience as your team moves through Agile & Scrum adoption. We’ll also tackle organizational adoption challenges and how to effectively lead your team in regulated, enterprise, and other more “challenging” environments.

Expect to leave the workshop with the shared experiences, tools, and techniques to lead and inspire your agile teams to greater:

1. Quality & Predictability;
2. Collaboration & Transparency;
3. Business Value Delivery (Results);
4. More Engagement & Fun.

Audience

The course is primarily for Scrum Masters and Project Managers leading teams in existing agile organizations. It can also be a useful class for Agile Functional Managers & Directors, Product Owners, and Team Leads. Virtually anyone who is tasked with developing and leading an Agile / Scrum team, while struggling a bit to be an effective Servant Leader.

Cost: Less than you think !

REGISTER HERE

 

 

Scrum Product Ownership 2.0-

Beyond the CSPO,

beyond “the basics” and in the REAL WORLD

Where:
Forrester Research
60 Acorn Park Drive
Cambridge, MA 02140

When:
Thursday, September 24, 2015 from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM (EDT)

 

Congratulations!

You’ve just been selected by your boss for a Product Owner role, or you’re a newly minted Scrum Master trying to figure out how to play with your Product Owner, or you’re an experienced Product Owner who is struggling to balance between your stakeholders, customers and team, or you’ve just received your CSPO certification, but really don’t know how to be a REAL Product Owner.

Well fear not.

Join author and Product Owner coach Bob Galen in this fast paced, crash course in how to ROCK in your new role. In this workshop we’ll explore the dynamics of user stories, product backlogs, valuation and prioritization, establishing Minimal Marketable deliverables, and how to deliver high-impact sprint reviews.

But then we’ll raise the bar to talk about product ownership at scale, how to build quality into your products, and how to effectively communicate and negotiate within your organization. You’ll leave the workshop with the ideas, skills, and techniques to become the Product Owner your boss envisioned you to be.

Audience

The course is primarily for Product Owners, Business Analysts and Product Managers leading teams in existing agile organizations. It can also be a useful class for ScrumMasters and Team Leads. Virtually anyone who is tasked with developing a Product Backlog and driving their business vision with their Agile / Scrum team.

Cost: Less than you think !

REGISTER HERE

 

PREVIOUS EVENTS………..

 

======================================================

***NEXT  MEETING*** … ***NOTE VENUE CHANGE***…

WEDNESDAY JULY 22 2015:

in CAMBRIDGE (NEAR ALEWIFE “T” STATION)

AGILE COACH and CST, STUART TURNER, on…

REAL AGILE: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

 

=========================================================================================
NOTE VENUE CHANGE:
150 CAMBRIDGEPARK DRIVE, CAMBRIDGE MA.
Pull into parking lot, announce “AGILE MEETING” to the intercomm/attendant, park, and

…proceed to the office building at 150 CAMBRIDGEPARK DRIVE.
Meeting space is on the 1st floor, walk past elevators and then go left into the classroom.
Questions? Call 203 915 7248(MAP & DIRECTIONS)
=========================================================================================

 

 

About STUART TURNER

STUART TURNER is a Certified Scrum Trainer and Agile coach based in Singapore. He has trained thousands of Scrum students worldwide since 2009.

He is also a worldwide Agile community leader: Stuart is the designer and arranger of the multi-day Agile Singapore event. Stuart has coached Agile for over eight years, and constructed software professionally for over 25 years. You can learn more about Stuart from his video interview on INFOQ.

Stuart started in Agile on 2002. He was there when XP first appeared on the scene. He now works with Bas Vodde, teaching Scrum and coaching Agile throughout the Asia Pacific region of the world via the Agile consultancy and training firm  Odd-E.com.

REGISTER HERE for STUART TURNER

====================================================================

NOTE THE CHANGE IN VENUE

VENUE: OFFICE BUILDING, 150 CAMBRIDGEPARK DRIVE, CAMBRIDGE MA 02140

(MAP & DIRECTIONS)

====================================================================

===================================

REAL AGILE: QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

===================================

This session asks some provocative and “no-so-easy-to-answer” AGILE QUESTIONS.

Have you ever considered any of these questions? Let’s explore these:

• Why do we want software?
• Is it possible to do away with programme and portfolio management?
• What happens when software allows us to do more?
• What does Scrum have to do with a French bakery?

• Do projects nurture software?
• How can we create contracts for successful software?
• How can we move beyond budgeting?
• How is software similar to skyscrapers?

• How do fixed-length iterations aid learning?
• Is brainstorming as effective as most of us think?
• Did you know your organisation already hired Scrum Masters?
• How can seven people work on one task and be more effective than a single person?

• How can you complete UAT before you start development?
• Can synchronised tea-break times increase effectiveness?
• How can we improve outcomes by reducing efficiency?
• Can a robust definition of done improve predictability?

I’m Stuart Turner and I’ve been developing software for 25 years. I’ll share my current understanding and views on some of the above and how I use them to guide my own work and help others create a better world in which to live. I’m a software developer, agility consultant, Certified Scrum Trainer and Co-Active Coach based in Singapore. We’ll explore these real questions, and get to the bottom of the real answers. And the answers may surprise you…

SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0600PM-0830PM0600PM Doors Open
0630PM Agile Manifesto principles: examination & dialogue
0700PM Food & beverage break
0720PM MAIN EVENT
0820PM Raffle
0830PM DONE

 

=========================================================================================
NOTE VENUE CHANGE:
150 CAMBRIDGEPARK DRIVE, CAMBRIDGE MA.
Pull into parking lot, announce “AGILE MEETING” to the intercomm/attendant, park, and

…proceed to the office building at 150 CAMBRIDGEPARK DRIVE.
Meeting space is on the 1st floor, walk past elevators and then go left into the classroom.
Questions? Call 203 915 7248

(MAP & DIRECTIONS)
=========================================================================================

REGISTER HERE for STUART TURNER

 

The BUSINESS AGILITY BOSTON conference is June 30!!

This is the event for every kind of leader in every kind of organization who is responsible for ENTERPRISE AGILITY beyond software.

Do you have these questions? GET THEM ANSWERED at the BUSINESS AGILITY BOSTON event !

• How can we consistently stay ahead of nimble start-ups, and other relentless competition?
• How can we apply Agile more greatly, across our entire organization?
• What techniques have others used to get their entire enterprise on an Agile footing?
• What must executive leadership DO to foster Agile thinking across the enterprise, beyond software?
• How can we retain our most adaptive people…and recruit the best Agile talent?

ATTENDEES CAN EARN SEUs from SCRUM ALLIANCE and PDU’s from PMI

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER HERE

======================================================

***NEXT MEETING***

JUNE 24 2015 MEETING:

WEDNESDAY 6/24 with BETH MACY, on:

PERFECT AND IMPERFECT SCRUM

REGISTER HERE FOR BETH MACY

======================================================

======================================================

***PAST MEETING***

MAY 27 MEETING:

WEDNESDAY 05/27 with RICHARD KASPEROWSKI, on:

ELEVEN EASY RECIPES FOR A GREAT TEAM AND GREAT RESULTS

NOTE:

EVERYONE ATTENDING GETS A COPY OF RICHARDS BOOK:

REGISTER HERE FOR RICHARD KASPEROWSKI

======================================================

1. My projects are completed effortlessly on schedule and in budget every time.
2. Every team I’ve ever been on has shared a vision.
3. In meetings, we only ever do what will get results.
4. No one blames “management,” or anyone else, if they don’t get what they want.
5. Everybody shares their best ideas right away.
6. Ideas are immediately unanimously approved, improved, or rejected by the team.
7. Action on approved ideas begins immediately.
8. Conflict is always resolved swiftly and productively.

• Results-oriented behaviors,
• How to enter a state of shared vision with a team and stay there,
• How to create trust on a team
• How to stay rational and healthy
• How to make team decisions effectively, and
• How to move quickly and with high quality towards the team’s goals

======================================================

**PAST MEETING** in APRIL:

THURSDAY 04/30 with CTO-of-RALLY, RYAN MARTENS, on:

BUSINESS AGILITY: HOW TO GET IT. HOW TO USE IT

REGISTER HERE for RYAN MARTENS
======================================================

ABOUT RYAN MARTENS

I am the Chief Technology Officer at Rally Software. I founded the company in 2002. In my CTO role, I run a team that manages our innovation portfolio of new products and services. This team also leads Rally’s corporate steering process that brings 100+ Rallyers and customers together every quarter to retrospect and work openly on our most pressing improvements. At Rally we are moving beyond product teams to Agile portfolio management and helping customers achieve organization-wide business agility.

We are a “how” company and I am a “how” innovator, focusing on where the rubber meets the road. I am an expert in helping companies adopt Agile and Lean methodologies, loosely defined as methods for delivering small increments in quick cycles to speed feedback and innovation. I founded Rally to help move the industry from a slow, wasteful, and burdensome product model to a fast, sustainable, high-impacting service model. I hope this leads to the kinds of changes that Paul Hawken and the Lovins described in Natural Capitalism. The goal is to break the take-make-waste cycle and move society toward a regenerative service model – a model where work creates joy, diversity, social justice, and clean ecosystem services.

In addition to trying to change the technology industry, I integrate my work in capital markets with social impact. I am a founding board member with Entrepreneurs Foundation of Colorado, a member of the engineering entrepreneurship efforts at the University of Colorado, and a mentor at the Unreasonable Institute and Boulder TechStars. Salesforce.com and Marc Benioff’s 1/1/1 model led to Rally’s membership in EFCO, our certification as a B-Corp, and the creation of the Rally For Impact Foundation.

I live in Boulder, Colorado, with my wife, our son Gus, and a small collection of animals including horses, dogs, chickens, goats, burros, bees, and worms, who all work hard to make soil amendments and food in our permaculture gardens.

REGISTER HERE for RYAN MARTENS

BUSINESS AGILITY: HOW TO GET IT. HOW TO USE IT

“I just want to make an impact with my work !!” We hear this from team members and employees across organizations in all industries.

Organizations have realized 4x and 10x gains from agility and Lean Product Development.  They have scaled agile into the teams of 1,000’s of engineers.  You say, “What else is left, we must be there?”  And that thought passes quickly as your continuous improvement brain says, “We may be kicking ass AND we can always be better!”  Where is the bottleneck, what is slowing us down?

In my travels to highly agile customers around the world, the answer to the “What else is left?” question is typically “The Business.”

• What does it look like to match your engineering agility with overall business agility?
• How would you help the business to synchronize and learn about the market in cadence?
• Can’t we just send our Distinguished Engineers to help “them?”

Speaking as an engineer to engineers, I would like to share some design ideas on the nature of that system — including, how to transition to that system and your role in that transition.  This talk will leverage some geeky concepts & cartoons (and no pipe-cleaners will be harmed in this session).  It will be clear about the benefit to engineering in helping the business gain agility and it speaks to culture, community and craft directly.

REGISTER HERE for RYAN MARTENS

SCHEDULE:

6:00PM Agile Intro & QA

6:30PM Food and socializing

6:50PM Announcements

6:55PM MAIN EVENT

7:55PM DONE

8:00PM DONE-DONE

THE VENUE:

ONE BROADWAY, CAMBRIDGE MA

(Kendall Square area)

Directions:

http://www.vencaf.org/directions/

VENUE NOTES:

Our meeting is part of a larger event called VENTURE CAFE. You will be oriented to the correct room when you arrive.
NOTE: DO NOT REGISTER CASUALLY. PLEASE REGISTER WITH INTENT & COMMITMENT TO ATTEND

Please consider the generous sponsors of AGILE BOSTON

PREVIOUS MEETING:

======================================================

WEDNESDAY 04/22 with PAT ARCADY on: AGILE, NEUROSCIENCE & LEADERSHIP

REGISTER HERE
======================================================

ABOUT PAT ARCADY

PAT ARCADY is an Agile and Executive Coach with FreeStanding Agility. She coaches leaders and teams in strategies to increase employee engagement, team alignment, and collaboration.  Her work integrates core principles from three key knowledge areas: the agile movement, conflict resolution and mediation, and the new brain research.  Pat’s professional mission is to guide teams and leaders in creating dynamic work places where people are engaged, productive, and innovative.

Pat earned a doctorate in Higher Education Administration from the University of Memphis in Tennessee, an MS from Miami of Ohio, and a BA from Marian University in Indianapolis, IN.  She has completed three years of NVC Mediation training, in addition to the 33-hour Dispute Resolution training at the Community Dispute Resolution Center in Cambridge, MA.  Pat is also a licensed consultant for The Results Accelerator ™.

SESSION: AGILE, NEUROSCIENCE & LEADERSHIP

The 2013 Shift Report from the Deloitte Center for the Edge which studies productivity at work, documents the following:

• Only 1 in 5 employees is fully engaged
• 75% employees lack motivation and passion
• Only 15% of all teams are able to realize their full potential

Say whaaat??? Do you look forward to going to work each day? Are you a business leader or manager struggling with how to improve productivity?

David Rock’s SCARF model (Your Brain At Work) is based on the new brain research that seeks to understand what engages knowledge workers and serves productivity and happiness at work. The findings align with agile practices and speak to the “whys” behind many agile practices.  When I share this work with executives and managers, they get excited about their “aha’s” that emerge.  The SCARF models can help you, as a business leader, deepen your understanding for both why and how to rethink policies and company culture to better align with the core of business agility so as to deliver value to clients faster. If you want to understand more about why agile works and discover ways to apply agile to other departments as well as IT, this is an evening for you.

SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0600PM-0830PM

0600PM Doors Open
0630PM Agile Manifesto principles: examination & dialogue
0700PM Food & beverage break
0720PM MAIN EVENT
0820PM Raffle
0830PM DONE

REGISTER HERE

VENUE:

NUANCE CORPORATION, 1 Wayside Road Burlington, MA 01803

PREVIOUS MEETING:

======================================================

WEDNESDAY 03/25 with SALLY ELATTA on: HEALTHY TEAMS

======================================================

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.

Enterprise Agility Starts with Healthy Teams:

HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR AGILE TEAM?

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.

This is a hands-on workshop where you will experience and color-in the TeamHealth retrospective radar for your own team and collaborate with others to build a growth plan .

You’ll also get a first look at the powerful TeamHealth radar and AgilityHealth Agile assessment and growth model.

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

 REGISTER FOR 3/25/15 SALLY ELATTA (BURLINGTON) HERE

SCHEDULE & AGENDA 0600PM-0830PM

0600PM Doors Open
0630PM Agile Manifesto principles: examination & dialogue
0700PM Food & beverage break
0720PM MAIN EVENT
0820PM Raffle
0830PM DONE

VENUE:

NUANCE CORPORATION, 1 Wayside Road Burlington, MA 01803

PREVIOUS MEETING:

======================================================

WEDNESDAY 02/25 with GIL BROZA on: BEING AGILE

======================================================

0600PM Doors Open
0630PM Intro to Agile
0700PM Food
0720PM MAIN EVENT
0820PM DONE
0830PM DONE DONE

 REGISTER FOR 2/25 BURLINGTON HERE

PREVIOUS MEETING:

======================================================

THURSDAY 02/26 with JOE JUSTICE: AGILE TESTING

 REGISTER FOR 2/26 CAMBRIDGE HERE
======================================================

ABOUT JOE JUSTICE

About Joe Justice: Joe Justice is a consultant at Scrum Inc., a TEDx speaker, and coach for agile hardware and manufacturing teams around the world. He is the creator of the eXtreme Manufacturing method, and founder of Team WIKISPEED: an all Scrum volunteer based green automotive-prototyping company, with a goal to change the world for the better. Joe has been featured in Forbes, CNN Money, the Discovery Channel, and others. Joe consults and coaches teams and companies on implementing Scrum at all levels of their organization, in software and physical manufacturing.  Pictures and publications available at www.WIKISPEED.org/Press

2/26 CAMBRIDGE MA MEETING: AGILE TESTING

Testing is critical to release products. Yet the stories of catastrophic project failures due to inadequate testing are legion. Obamacare comes to mind as just one very public example. Traditionally, testing has been seen as separate from development, something that is done after the work is complete. Scrum highlights the sometimes painful reality that nothingis done unless it is tested and potentially shippable.

 

An Agile Testing environment requires a shift in mindset by managers, developers, and testers themselves.

 

This session the rigorous development and test practices used by the fastest Scrum teams today. Using real world examples gathered from years of research, Scrum Inc.’s Joe Justice and associate Lars Judge will explain how to implement the most practical, and the most powerful, Agile testing practices in use today.

 

The session will cover:

• Best practices for Test Driven Development, Test First Development, and DevTest
• The latest thinking on Unit Testing, Integration Testing, Regression Testing, and User Acceptance Testing.
• Gated Check-in and Rapid Role Back in hardware and software.
• Tooling to implement these new practices smoothly and quickly.
• How to implement and manage Agile testing.

0600PM Doors Open
0630PM Intro to Agile
0700PM Food
0720PM MAIN EVENT
0820PM DONE
0830PM DONE DONE

 REGISTER FOR 2/26 CAMBRIDGE HERE

================================================================
A N N O U N C E M E N T:

DAN LEFEBVRE IS THE OPERATIONAL LEADER OF AGILE BOSTON FOR 2015
================================================================


Dan LeFebvre of Freestanding Agility

Effective 1/1/2015, the Core (or general) circle of Agile Boston has elected DAN LEFEBVRE as the Operational Leader of the group.

Dan is well-known as a prominent Agile coach in the Boston area. He is in fact the 1st Certified Scrum Coach in all of New England!

Dan’s leadership of Agile Boston will impact every aspect of the group and how it operates. Please join us in congratulating Dan in formally taking up the role of Operational Leader of Agile Boston for the 2015 calendar year.

Dan LeFebvre on the PARTY BUS, circa 2010

Learn more about Dan LeFebvre here:
http://www.freestandingagility.com/about/

If you are interested in discussing some ideas with Dan about how to effectively  grow the entire Agile community of Greater Boston, consider attending the 1/29 Open Space event. Dan and others that guide Agile Boston will be gathered to discuss plans and programs for 2015 and beyond.
The AGILE BOSTON mission, vision and values guide the policies and practices of the group. LEARN MORE HERE

THURSDAY 1/29 in BURLINGTON MA (at NUANCE Corp)

AN INVITATION TO OPEN SPACE …..

Our January meeting is a special meeting.

It is an Open Space event where we will explore the theme:

Agile Boston: What’s the Next Chapter of The Story?

What’s next for Agile Boston? Participants in this January meeting will help determine the answer to that question. YOU are cordially invited to participate.

Do you want to influence the direction of the group? This is your chance.

Agile Boston began life in 2007. Since then we have arranged over 80 community gatherings in Boston, some with over 250 in attendance. All Agile Boston events since 2007 have attracted over 7000 participants!

Over the past 8 years, we have introduced unique events like GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM, and the agile Culture Conference.  We’ve also expanded our monthly meetings to now include downtown Boston and the 128 area.

And thanks to NUANCE, we now videotape all of our monthly meetings.

During 2013 and 2014, we’ve expanded our leadership team, and we are looking to do much more of that. To help with this, we have implemented a governance model called sociocracy. This dynamic governance model emphasizes equivalence and consent when decisions are made. Each circle in sociocracy functions as a self-contained unit, with specific decision-making authority.

And so: 2015 is here, and with it comes the question: “what’s next?”

You are cordially invited to answer this question.

The event starts at 530PM. You can expect some great discussion- and some great food too. You can also expect discussions about a wide range of possible plans and programs. We will discuss how Agile Boston handles membership, sponsors, events, speakers, social events, finances, growth, and publicity on a going-forward basis.

In the Open Space tradition, we will produce proceedings and every member will receive those proceedings ASAP: in this case, 48 hours or less. After that, the Core or leadership circle (Georgina Prager, Dan LeFebvre, Gary Lavine, Joe DeAngelis and Daniel Mezick) will examine them, and act on what those proceedings identify as opportunities.

If you have a sense of passion and responsibility around growing the Agile community of Boston, this meeting is also an opportunity to sign up as a Volunteer.

This is your opportunity to write the story, and be a character in the story of Agile Boston.  Do you want to influence the direction of the group? This is your chance.

It’s also your opportunity to connect with others in the Agile community of Greater Boston.

This is Open Space, so be prepared to be surprised. An experienced Open Space facilitator named Erik Blazynski will take us through the process.

NOTE: You may find this meeting format useful for your own planning in your own organization. Attend this meeting to learn how to do it!

Here are some related links:

About Open Space
http://www.openspaceworld.org/cgi/wiki.cgi?AboutOpenSpace

About Sociocracy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sociocracy

REGISTER FOR THIS EVENT

NUANCE
1 Wayside Way
Burlington MA (directions here)
530PM to 900PM

530PM Doors Open
600PM Open Space Opening Circle
630PM Open Space sessions (630PM to 830PM)
830PM Closing Circle
0900PM DONE
Food is provided throughout the entire event….
…see you there!!

=====================================

A big huge shout out of APPRECIATION to NUANCE Corporation of BURLINGTON for providing our 4the Wednesday monthly meeting venue!!

=====================================

========================================================================

UPCOMING TRAINING IN AUGUST AND BEYOND:

========================================================================

 

 

NEW CLASS: Lean & Kanban Fundamentals (click through for precise dates)

This one-day class is designed to provide you with a rapid foundation in the values, benefits, and practices of Lean and Kanban. After completing this class, you’ll have a solid understanding of what “being Lean” or “adopting Kanban” really means and be ready to start a Kaizen culture change in your organization. This workshop is taught using a combination of lecture, exercises, and interactive sessions. If you already do Kanban and need to spin up more teams or on-board new employees quickly, this is the class for you. Register today: http://FreeStandingAgility.com/services/lean-kanban-fundamentals/

 

 

TRAINING: Agile & Scrum Fundamentals (click through for precise dates)

 

This one-day class is designed to provide you with a rapid foundation in the values, benefits, and practices of Agile and Scrum. After completing this class, you’ll have a solid understanding of what “doing Agile” or “adopting Scrum” really means and be ready to move forward with Scrum in your organization. If you already do Scrum and need to spin up more teams or on-board new employees quickly, this is the class for you. Register today: http://FreeStandingAgility.com/services/agile-scrum-fundamentals-training/

 

 

TRAINING: Become An Awesome Scrum Master (click through for precise dates)

 

Fully engaged Scrum Masters are powerful agents of change and innovation. Not just on their teams, but across entire organizations. Unfortunately, many Scrum Masters take up the role without being fully equipped with the real skills they need to succeed. Skills like fostering self organization, driving collaboration, leading learning, and growing a culture of problem solvers. All this on top of being an internal champion and coach of the Scrum process. If you’re interested in truly owning the Scrum Master role, this class is for you. PMI credential holders, can earn 7.5 PDUs for attending this class. Register today: http://FreeStandingAgility.com/services/scrum-master-training/

 

 

TRAINING: Product Owner Skills (click through for precise dates)

 

Being an effective Product Owner is arguably one of the most challenging jobs in the world of software development. Especially if the Product Owner takes up the role without being fully equipped with the real skills they need to succeed. Skills like creating a product vision, aligning stakeholders, and delivering incremental value sustainably. All this on top of remaining available to the team and being ready for the start of each sprint. If you’re interested in mastering the Product Owner role, this class is for you. PMI credential holders, can earn 7.5 PDUs for attending this class. Register today.

http://FreeStandingAgility.com/services/product-owner-training/

 

 

 

 

 

 

RECENT MEETINGS:

The GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM event is Tuesday, 11/25

 

SELLING OUT on 11/24!!

REGISTRATION CLOSES AT 6PM on 11/24

REGISTER HERE

 

When: TUESDAY, November 25, 2014 from 09:30 to 04:30

Where: Microsoft NERD Center, Cambridge MA

Ticket prices are SUPER-LOW and range from $49 to $109…and…

……whoops…….

the $49, $59, $69, $79, $89, & $99 tickets are already GONE!

SO:

GO and GET your ticket NOW for the cheapest possible price.

If you’ve been to this event in prior years, you KNOW what to expect.

If you are new to this event, be prepared to be surprised!

REGISTER for GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM Here

More detail and news to follow shortly about speakers & schedule!!

A SPECIAL NOTE for PMI Members:

The SIX ANNUAL GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM event is good for 7 PDUs from PMI!! Here are the steps and directions to claim your PDUs:

Click HERE to claim your PDUs from PMI for this event

 

This year’s event promises to be a great one!

Learn more about GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM 2014

 

=====================================

UPCOMING MONTHLY MEETINGS

=====================================

 

TUESDAY  DEC 02  in BURLINGTON MA

(NOTE: this is an off-schedule meeting!)

 

===================================================

DR. DANIELLE KENNEDY from WORKLAB, on: THE SECRET LIFE OF GROUPS

===================================================

REGISTER HERE

ABOUT DR. DANNIELLE  KENNEDY

WORKLAB leadership coach and advisor Dannielle Kennedy, Ph.D., is passionate about getting her clients the information and support they need to deepen awareness, drive success, and develop and inspire their teams.

Dannie is a former president of the Board of Directors of the Boston Center of the A.K. Rice Institute and has directed conferences on authority and leadership in the Tavistock tradition. She is on the faculty of the Executive Coaching Program at the Massachusetts School of Professional Psychology and has served on the Case Series Editorial Board of the Family Firm Institute. As an adjunct faculty member at Simmons College and guest lecturer at Harvard University and Smith College, she has taught courses on leadership, executive coaching, organizational theory and consultation, post-merger integration, applied research methods, and group dynamics. Prior to joining WorkLab (formerly Nautilus Consulting Group), Dannie worked as a senior consultant at KRW International, an executive development boutique.

Dannie holds a Ph.D. from Simmons College and is a graduate of the Advanced Studies in Organizational Development Program at the Boston Institute of Psychotherapy. Her clients include Fortune 500 corporations and institutions in electronic information, financial services, advertising, publishing, testing and assessment services, human resources and university administration.

Drawing on her background in psychology and group dynamics, Dannie helps executives to understand and leverage their talents, identify and address limitations, personal and organizational, and to read and influence organizational forces that shape outcomes. Through an holistic, systems-oriented approach that often uses verbatim 360° feedback, she asks clients to locate themselves, their roles, and their goals in the surrounding mix of values, work processes, and competing agendas. Her method enables leaders and teams to surface hidden obstacles and develop personal and organizational strategies that create forward motion and growth.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn the how groups seek leadership in 4 basic flavors: dependency, fight/flight, unity and pairing
• Learn to identify how teams authorize and de-authorize team members, often without conscious consent
• Learn to identify patterns of unconscious (and often wasteful) group behaviors
• Learn to identify your role in the conscious & unconscious life of your team

NOTE: This promises to be one of most useful meetings of the year, and of strong interest to internal coaches, external coaches, team members and especially executives in organizations. Dr. Kennedy will offer a new set of tools for understanding the often baffling group behavior we routinely encounter in the workplace. You exit this event with new tools for effectively bringing Agile thinking into your organization. Those who like to do homework might want to watch this video and/or examine this open letter.

 

REGISTER HERE

 

REGARDING THE UPCOMING GROUP RELATIONS CONFERENCE IN DOVER MA:

NOTE: Those interested in the session from Dr. Dannielle Kennedy on 12/2 are likely to also be interested in attending a GROUP RELATIONS conference. There is a great one coming up in Greater Boston (Dover, MA) January 14-18. Agile Boston has arranged a discount of 34 percent off of the cost of attendance. To qualify for this discount, just follow these instructions:

• Go to the conference web site and register….
• Click here to explore the LEADERSHIP2015 Conference.
• Click the REGISTRATION tab.
• Use the button [Contact Allison] to arrange registration & payment at the discount price.

 

 

 

 

 

WEDNESDAY  OCT 22  in BURLINGTON MA

 

===================================================

DAMON POOLE on:

Five Agile Coaching Techniques for Agile Change Agents

===================================================

 

ABOUT DAMON POOLE

 

Damon Poole  is Chief Agilist in Eliassen Group’s Agile practice. His 24 years of software experience spans from small co-located teams all the way up to global development organizations with hundreds of teams. Damon is a past President and Vice President of Agile New England. He writes frequently on the topic of Agile development, is the author of the web book “Do It Yourself Agile,” and a pioneer in the area of Multistage Continuous Integration and mixing Scrum and Kanban. Damon has spoken at numerous conferences including Agile and Beyond 2010-2012, Agile DC 2012-2013, Q-Con, Agile 2008-2013, and Agile Development Practices and has trained thousands of people on Agile techniques. He is also a founder and past CEO and CTO of AccuRev where he created multiple Jolt Award winning products including AccuRev and AccuWorkflow.

 

 

REGISTER FOR DAMON POOLE in BURLINGTON

 

 

Five Agile Coaching Techniques for Agile Change Agents

 

 

If you are one of the people in your organization that is helping to increase the Agility of people, teams, or the organization overall, then you are an Agile change agent. You don’t have to be an Agile Coach to be an Agile change agent. This session will interactively introduce five Agile Coaching techniques that anybody can apply to help teach and sustain Agility.

 

 

Agile Self-Diagnostic. What is Agile? This exercise helps participants quickly and visually understand their level of alignment with the Agile Manifesto. Good for self-discovery and uncovering Agile misunderstandings. Individual activity.

 

 

Process Agreement. When individuals, teams, and organizations say they are “doing Agile” or “doing Scrum” or “doing SAFe”, they often mean different things. Rather than using a one-size-fits-all label, consider creating a process agreement. A process agreement lays out exactly what is meant and extends the concept of a working agreement. Group activity.

 

 

Sustainable Pace Agreement. The Agile Manifesto refers to a “Sustainable Pace,” but what does that really mean? Is it 35 hours per week? But what if it is 35 hours of nail-biting stress every week? Is that truly sustainable? Group activity.

 

 

The “Locked Room”. This is a thought experiment which gives participants an opportunity to see their organization’s culture in a new light, imagine a more Agile culture, and consider the changes required to move to that more Agile culture. Group activity.

 

 

Agile Transformation Backlog. When going Agile, there is always a long list of objections, perceived risks, obstacles, and ways in which Agile must be adapted within an organization. Many of these are seen as “the way things are and will always be.” This exercise helps to show that this list is actually the real work of going Agile and serves as the initial material for your Agile Transformation Backlog. Whole room activity.

 

 

REGISTER FOR DAMON POOLE in BURLINGTON

 

 

WEDNESDAY  SEPT 24  in BURLINGTON MA: 

===================================================

DABNEY HAILEY on: VISUAL THINKING STRATEGIES and AGILE TEAM PRINCIPLES

===================================================

REGISTER HERE for Dabney Hailey on Sept 24 in BURLINGTON

ABOUT DABNEY HAILEY:

Dabney Hailey is a management consultant, curator, and educator. She is a pioneer in the innovative use of the art-based facilitation method, Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), as managerial and team-building tool within commercial enterprises and nonprofit organizations.She leads VTS discussions and trained facilitators in a range of contexts (businesses, museums, universities, and the medical world) , doing so since 2001. The founder and principal of Hailey Consulting Group, her client list includes well-known organizations actively pursuing higher levels of agility : Harvard Business School, Fidelity Investments, Omgeo, and many smaller businesses and nonprofits.Hailey is also an established curator, writer, and educator specializing in modern and contemporary art with over 15 years’ experience in museums and education. Learn more and contact Dabney at www.haileygroup.com.

 

 

DABNEY HAILEY on: VISUAL THINKING STRATEGIES and AGILE TEAM PRINCIPLES

 

 

Successful agile environments must foster innovative mindsets, open communication and emergent leadership skills across team members. In other words, a healthy, productive agile workplace is one in which people are organized to learn and grow, not merely to execute.How, specifically, can such an environment be cultivated? In this session, you’ll experience being part of an authentic learning culture as we look together at a work of art, then reflect on the methodology structuring our dialogue.We will experience Visual Thinking Strategies (VTS), a discussion technique that models and teaches key features of teams that are organized to learn. Rooted in research from cognitive psychology and art education, VTS was originally developed to empower viewers of art through open-ended, evidence-based discussion, yet its impact has been far broader.

Studies on VTS show that it:

• Enhances skills in observation, critical thinking, and collaboration,
• Increases the value team members place on communication, and
• Increases comfort with ambiguity, which is key to preventing premature decisions in the face of complex problems.

VTS cultivates capacities vital to successful agile environments, within which everyone is accountable and focused, adaptable and creative, secure and open.

VTS is a dynamic, stimulating process. During this introduction, you will experience specific techniques that

• Create a psychologically safe yet rigorous discussion environment;
• Use carefully phrased, open-ended questions to steward conversation;
• Enable everyone to speak and listen, to hear and feel heard;
• Test ideas through evidence-based reasoning and respectful disagreement;
• Encourage participants to hold multiple perspectives and recognize biases; and
• Foster experimentation and the integration of failure into working processes.

We will connect these actions and the learning mindset they embody to core agile principles and your own, ongoing work. We’ll also consider applications of the VTS method and core techniques within agile software development and team organization. And we’ll do all this while analyzing powerful, beautiful works of art!

To learn more about Visual Thinking Strategies workshops in the business world, see www.haileygroup.com

 

To learn more about the origins and practice of Visual Thinking Strategies within education and museums, see the book, Philip Yenawine, Visual Thinking Strategies: Using Art to Deepen Learning Across School Disciplines (Harvard, 2013).

REGISTER HERE for Dabney Hailey on Sept 24 in BURLINGTON

 

 

WEDNESDAY  AUGUST 27  in BURLINGTON MA: 

===================================================

FRANK SAUCIER on: CHASING PREDICTABILITY

===================================================

Chasing Predictability with Scrum, Kanban, and Lean

Predictability is a powerful force. It can trump ambiguity. It can wrestle with inefficiency. It can emerge large quantities of learning. How? By looking at things through a predictability lens, we can actually help ourselves start to see the complexity of the systems in which we do work. When we start to see the complexity, we become much more effective at being able to do work within the system and at tuning the system.

 

 

REGISTER FOR FRANK SAUCIER HERE

 

 

Join us as Agile Coach Frank Saucier from FreeStanding Agility will show us how to use the mindset of predictability to look at how we receive work, how we do work, and how we deliver work. He will highlight how practices like Scrum, Kanban, and Lean all have their own approaches to chasing predictability.

At this session you’ll learn:

• How Scrum, Kanban, and Lean chase predictability
• Where teams struggle with predictability
• How to use the belief-behavior cycle to chase predictability
• Why seeking the system is more important than designing the system
• How making work visible accelerates predictability
• What can we do tomorrow to chase predictability

ABOUT FRANK SAUCIER

Frank Saucier is an Executive and Agile coach, trainer, and change facilitator at FreeStanding Agility. By inviting participation and building collaboration, Frank’s able to empower teams and leaders to realize their goals to adopt Agile, implement culture change, and enhance Business Agility. You can reach Frank by email at FrankS@FreeStandingAgility.com or on LinkedIn at http://LinkedIn.com/in/FrankSaucier

 

 

 

 

SCHEDULE:

6:30PM Agile Intro & QA

7:00PM Food and socializing

7:20PM MAIN EVENT

8:40PM DONE

8:45PM DONE-DONE

 

VENUE:

NUANCE CORPORATION, 1 Wayside Road Burlington, MA 01803

Driving Directions and Map Here

 

REGISTER FOR FRANK SAUCIER HERE

 

PLEASE REGISTER WITH INTENT TO ATTEND

Tickets (for all events, regardless of ticket price) are transferable; if you cannot make it to the event you can send a friend in your place. NOTE: Registering is an explicit commitment to attend. PLEASE do not register casually. Doing so prevents others who sincerely want to attend from doing so, and also overstates food & beverage counts. Registering casually does everyone a serious disservice. Your registration is an explicit commitment to attend.

 

 

 

 

 

THURSDAY  AUGUST 28  in CAMBRIDGE MA: 

===================================================

Dr. JEFF SUTHERLAND on: SCRUM at SCALE

===================================================

Jeff Sutherland presented Scrum at Scale at Agile 2014 with Alex Brown, COO of Scrum Inc. – an object-oriented model for scaling Scrum across the business.

The modular approach allows for the overall system to work together even if individuals module aren’t agile. This allows the framework to support many different contexts verses other more “tightly coupled” scaling systems.

They discussed:

• the full case for a modular vs. deterministic model of scaled Scrum
• the overall vision for a modular scaled Scrum that spans the team, program/product/business unit, and enterprise levels
• specific examples of different successful practices

This is not a cookie-cutter answer for large-scale Scrum implementations. Instead, it will fundamentally change the way you think about agile processes within your organization and equip you to lead a thoughtful exploration of what the organization really needs from scaling Scrum.

 

REGISTER HERE FOR JEFF SUTHERLAND in CAMBRIDGE MA

 

ABOUT JEFF SUTHERLAND

 

JEFF SUTHERLAND (on the right side of the picture) is an Agile industry pioneer who formulated the Scrum framework with Ken Schwaber in the 1990’s in Greater Boston. He is most recently the author of THE ART OF DOING TWICE THE WORK IN HALF THE TIME.

SCHEDULE:

6:00PM Agile Intro & QA

6:30PM Food and socializing

6:50PM Announcements

6:55PM MAIN EVENT

7:55PM DONE

8:00PM DONE-DONE

 

THE VENUE:

ONE BROADWAY, CAMBRIDGE MA

(Kendall Square area)

Directions:

http://www.vencaf.org/directions/

VENUE NOTES:

Our meeting is part of a larger event called VENTURE CAFE. You will be oriented to the correct room when you arrive.

NOTE: PLEASE REGISTER WITH INTENT TO ATTEND

PLEASE REGISTER WITH INTENT TO ATTEND

Tickets (for all events, regardless of ticket price) are transferable; if you cannot make it to the event you can send a friend in your place. NOTE: Registering is an explicit commitment to attend. PLEASE do not register casually. Doing so prevents others who sincerely want to attend from doing so, and also overstates food & beverage counts. Registering casually does everyone a serious disservice. Your registration is an explicit commitment to attend.

REGISTER HERE FOR JEFF SUTHERLAND in CAMBRIDGE MA

 

 

 

 

WE HAD QUITE A TIME AT THE CULTURECON EVENT JUNE 26 & 27 !!

We had over 100 in attendance, most local, and many from far away: Canada. Brazil. France!

Conference Link

Thanks to each and every AgileBoston Volunteer that made it happen!

Ann Brea

Ari Davidow

Dan LeFebvre

Gary Lavine

Georgina Prager

Gloria Shepardson

Jhalak Shah

Joseph DeAngelis

Karen Spencer

Lee Menegoni

Mike Beaton

Mike Medaglia

Stephen Daukas

 

Special thanks to all 14 speakers and facilitators !!

Daniel Gullo

Daniel Mezick

Dan LeFebvre

Deborah Hartmann-Preus

Doug Kirkpatrick

Esther Matte

Harold Shinsato

Jean Russell

Jim McCarthy

John Buck

Michele McCarthy

Michelle Holliday

Oana Juncu

Robert Richman

Tricia Chirumbole

=====================================

THURSDAY JULY 24 in CAMBRIDGE: 

===================================================

VALERIE SANTILLO on: AGILE LEARNING FOR ORG LEADERS

===================================================

About VALERIE SANTILLO

 

Valerie started her Agile journey as a Project Manager turned Scrum Master almost ten years ago.  As a coach she has worked with teams, individuals and leadership on their Agile journeys with a particular focus on creating the environments teams need to deliver amazing results.  Her work has led her to develop training and coaching specifically for leaders (and potential leaders) of Agile organizations.

Valerie is a certified Scrum Professional and a SAFe Program Consultant.  Her blog, agileyammering.com, serves as a resource for Agilists with contributions from members in the Agile community as well as her own.  She currently resides in Richmond, Virginia with her husband and children.

REGISTER HERE for VALERIE SANTILLO

AGILE LEARNING FOR ORG LEADERS

Meeting Agenda:

3:30 pm Quick intro to Agile and Scrum

4:00 pm Food, beverages, and socializing

4:15 pm Announcements

4:20 pm Main Event (VALERIE SANTILLO)

5:20 pm Done (raffle)

5:30 pm Done Done

MA 02139

ABOUT AJAY REDDY

Ajay Reddy has been helping IT teams and organizations improve their operations for many years as a consultant / coach and through his contributions as chief product architect for ScrumDo.com (a cloud-based project management tool for Scrum teams).

REGISTER for AJAY REDDY

SCRUMBAN: SCRUM + KANBAN

SCHEDULE:

6:30PM Agile Intro & QA

7:00PM Food, and socializing-type behaviors

7:20PM MAIN EVENT

8:40PM DONE

8:45PM DONE-DONE

VENUE NOTES:

There are several buildings at 130 Turner Street…

The venue is Building #3 of 130 Turner Street.

This is the same building that TIAA-Cref is in.

We are using the café which is located in the basement level of the building.

Stonybrook Office Park

130 Turner Street Building #3

Waltham MA 02453

REGISTER for AJAY REDDY

PLEASE REGISTER WITH INTENT TO ATTEND

Tickets (for all events, regardless of ticket price) are transferable; if you cannot make it to the event you can send a friend in your place. NOTE: Registering is an explicit commitment to attend. PLEASE do not register casually. Doing so prevents others who sincerely want to attend from doing so, and also overstates food & beverage counts. Registering casually does everyone a serious disservice. Your registration is an explicit commitment to attend.

WEDNESDAY APRIL 23 in WALTHAM: 

=============================================

KEN SCHWABER  on EVIDENCE-BASED MANAGEMENT

=============================================

REGISTER FOR KEN SCHWABER on 4/23 HERE

Starting in healthcare, evidence is being used more and more to guide decision making, replacing opinons, beliefs, fads, latest-technology available purchases, and less empirical management. Ken will explore how this might relate to software development organizations.

About Ken Schwaber

Ken Schwaber is the CEO of Scrum.org and with Jeff Sutherland the steward of THE SCRUM GUIDE, the definitive rule book of the Scrum framework. Ken continues to improve the profession of software development with training and certifications for developers, Scrum Masters and Product Owners.

REGISTER FOR KEN SCHWABER on 4/23 HERE

THURSDAY APRIL 24 in BOSTON: 

=====================================

RICHARD KASPEROWSKI on POWER IN ORGANIZATIONS

=====================================

REGISTER for RICHARD on 4/24 HERE

Summary

Power: it’s everywhere. What are your organization’s power structures? How does it feel to be at the top or at the bottom? Explore Power

Description

Power: it’s everywhere. Power is an important cultural dimension, defining how we relate to and interact with each other. What are your organization’s power structures? How does it feel to be at the top or at the bottom? We’ll explore power relationships using games drawn from Augusto Boal’s  Theater of the Oppressed and Games for Actors and Non-Actors. A series of warm-up activities de-mechanizes participants and opens them up to explore freely. We proceed to a game called Colombian Hypnosis (details below); Colombian Hypnosis lets us explore using power over each other to force someone to act in a manner he didn’t anticipate. We culminate with a multitiered variation of Colombian Hypnosis that simulates the power hierarchy of a typical workplace: a CEO at the top hypnotizing (exerting power over) two EVPs, exerting power over four VPs, exerting power over eight directors, exerting power over 16 managers, exerting power over 32 workers, etc., until everyone in the room is engaged in the power structure. After each activity, we discuss how it felt to exert power, how it felt to be powerless, how the activity is similar to your work situation, etc.

Colombian Hypnosis: One actor holds her hand palm forward, fingers upright, anything between 20 and 40 centimeters away from the face of another, who is then as if hypnotized and must keep his face constantly the same distance from the hand of the hypnotiser, hairline level with her fingertips, chin more or less level with the base of her palm [her wrist]. The hypnotiser starts a series of movements with her hand, up and down, right and left, backwards and forwards, her hand vertical in relation to the ground, then horizontal, then diagonal, etc. – the partner must contort his body in every way possible to maintain the same distance between face and hand, so that the face and hand remain parallel. If necessary, the hypnotic hand can be swapped; for instance, to force the hypnotized to go between the legs of the hypnotiser. The hand must never do movements too rapid to be followed, nor must it ever come to a complete halt. The hypnotiser must force her partner into all sorts of ridiculous, grotesque, uncomfortable positions. Her partner will this put in motion a series of muscle structures which are never, or only rarely, activated. He will use certain ‘forgotten; muscles in his body. After a few minutes, the two actors change, the follower and the leader. After some more time, both can extend a hypnotising right hand, becoming leaders and followers at one and the same time.Learning Objectives

We will – Define Power as an element of culture. – Learn about the role of Power as a cultural dimension amongst people of any size organization. – Experience and internalize the feeling of Power from various levels in the power hierarchy. – Understand how Power presents itself in our work organizations.

Presentation History

The activity is well tested, the context is new. Colombian Hypnosis is a well respected game in the Theater of the Oppressed canon. Using it as a means to explore Power in work organizations is a fresh idea; Scrum Gathering would be the world debut of Power Games.

About RICHARD KASPEROWSKI

Richard is a cool dude and Agile coach based in Boston. He’s spoken at national and international Agile conferences and facilitated Open Space events all over the world. He is perhaps best known in the Agile community for the SIX WEEK OPEN SPACE, which is the longest Open Space meeting ever attempted in the history of the world.

REGISTER for RICHARD on 4/24 HERE

Wednesday MARCH 26 in Waltham:

It’s a phrase that’s often tossed about when we talk about companies having to put their trust in the power of emergence and self organizing teams. In truth, it’s much more powerful than a phrase. It’s actually a mindset change that plays a key and continuous role in successful Agile transitions. A mindset change that we can actively practice. Tonight we give you the chance to “Take It To The Team.”

Agile Coach Frank Saucier from FreeStanding Agility has invited an cast of seasoned Scrum and Kanban professionals to answer your questions. They’ll provide insight into their successes, their challenges, and the approaches that they used to keep moving the needle. The list of invitees includes a collection of Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Developers, stakeholders, work flow experts, and facilitators from well known organizations and institutions in our Boston community. Frank just can’t name the organizations or he’d have to wrestle with all sorts of red tape to make this night of knowledge sharing a reality.

At this session you’ll learn:

– How understanding the nature of our work leads to a predictable system

– Why road trips are valuable for communities of practice

– How wall space grabs are a sign of a tipping organization

– What blogging does to accelerate cultural change

– Why visual project management makes for a great experiment

– The long-lasting impacts of effective learning design

Just so you know, this will be a “Slide Free” session. The focus will be on the team, the community, and great conversations. Come join the fun.

ABOUT FRANK SAUCIER

Frank Saucier is an Agile coach and trainer at FreeStanding Agility. He delivers training, coaching, and custom sessions designed to help teams and companies adopt Agile, implement culture change, and enhance Business Agility. Frank helps empower teams, managers, and company leaders to take ownership of their learning and take control of the change they want to create. You can reach Frank by email at FrankS@FreeStandingAgility.com

REGISTER for 3/27/2014 in BOSTON

 

 

NEW CLASS COMING UP FOR COACHES, SCRUM MASTERS AND FACILITATORS

SAVE THE DATE: WHEN…MARCH 25 2014. WHERE…CAMBRIDGE MA

CERTIFIED PRACTITIONER COURSE: MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS (“MBI”) with HEANG LE

NOTE:

Each student receives a certification as a

CERTIFIED MBI PRACTITIONER (Level 1 certification)

COST: From $300 to $450 for this ONE DAY class.

What you pay depends on WHEN you register. Register now!

REGISTER HERE

Are your Agile teams ALIVE? Or are they dull and kind of lifeless ?!?

Interactive activities can help. They are often used at the START of a meeting.

YET: When used consistently and strategically they turn into something MUCH more powerful. The Moving Beyond Icebreakers model has been developed and tested for over twenty years in the fields of teams, businesses, and education.

In this training, participants will explore:

• The depth and richness of interactive activitiees, and
• Their ability to increase positive participation, create and maintain relationships, and
• Discuss challenging problems and design solutions.
• Participants will learn the foundation of choosing and designing the right exercises that make meetings more engaging, purposeful, and meaningful.
• Finally, participants will gain a better understanding of how to effectively facilitate interactive meetings.

MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS (“MBI”)  is a complete SYSTEM—  another set of skills that works to help disengaged teams come back to life.

With MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS you  will gain:

• An understanding of how “icebreakers” and other interactive activities are powerful tools for building relationships, addressing various group dynamics, and achieving work goals

• The ability to choose and design the right activities to build an effective agenda for any setting and to achieve any goal

• New techniques to effectively facilitate “icebreakers”, dialogue, and other components of any meeting

About HEANG LY

Heang Ly has over Thirteen years of experience leading both youth and adult groups in a variety of settings. As Director of Consulting and Training at The Center for Teen Empowerment, Heang provides trainings as well as short term and long term technical support to any organization or company interested in using Teen Empowerment’s MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS methodology to leading meetings, facilitating, and managing groups.

For more information on the interactive model, visit www.movingbeyondicebreakers.org. Ms. Ly has been with the Center for Teen Empowerment for seven years. She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, in Psychology and Education as well as a Master’s degree from Harvard’s Graduate School of Education in Administration, Planning, and Social Policy

REGISTER HERE FOR THE 1-DAY MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS MARCH 25 2014

(get address & directions on the REG page)

==========================================================

UPCOMING MEETINGS: FEBRUARY AND BEYOND

==========================================================

WEDNESDAY 2/26: DANIEL MEZICK of NEWTECH on: AGILE COACHING VALUES

REGISTER HERE for DANIEL MEZICK on 2/26 at NUANCE (Burlington MA)

The Agile revolution: what’s changed?

It’s obvious that the Agile movement is not producing the kind of transformative results that are entirely possible. If current approaches actually worked well, then by now, thousands of organizations would have reached a state of self-sustaining, “freestanding” agility.

Clearly, that is not the case.

Stories abound about typical failure patterns.  Organizations that seem to start well eventually slide back to waterfall practices. Organizations employing coaches spend millions to obtain a mere 25 to 30% improvement in whatever they are measuring! And they seem happy with that! Meanwhile, the Agile-obtainable multiples of 2X, 3X, even 4X improvement in those same measures is not even discussed. It’s just left on the table.

Coaches in some cases are setting up camp for years in large client organizations. Organizations never actually realize the benefits of rapid learning and adaptation that the Agile approach purports to deliver. Clearly current coaching methods are not delivering lasting agility. If they were, we’d be celebrating hundreds– even thousands– of successful and sustained Agile transformations.

The time has come to begin a new story…a new dialogue…a conversation that assumes nothing…and questions everything. A conversation that stops asking “why”…and starts asking “how“. A conversation that focuses on how to minimize coaching days…not increase them.

We might start with a set of guiding value for internal and external coaches. In this session we will explore what a set of core Agile Coaching values can do to help your organization get a rapid and lasting Agile adoption.

What you will learn:

• What are the Statistics on Success With Agile? The Surprising Answer
• Core Values: Why do You Care?
• What Do the Agile Manifesto Signatories Have To Say?
• What would a set of Core Values for Agile Coaches LOOK LIKE?
• How can you use these values to select a great Agile coach in service to getting a rapid and LASTING Agile Adoption?

About DANIEL MEZICK

DANIEL MEZICK is a management consultant, author and keynote speaker. He 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.

REGISTER HERE for DANIEL MEZICK on 2/26 at NUANCE (Burlington MA)

THURSDAY 2/27: ALEX BROWN of SCRUM INC on: WHY VALUE STREAM MAPPING IS ESSENTIAL: Concepts and Facilities

REGISTER HERE for ALEX BROWN on 2/27 at PAYPAL

Value stream mapping (VSM) is an often overlooked tool that should be in every Scrum team’s toolbox. The Value Stream Map allows your team to visually highlight and align around systematic process impediments. It takes some time to do right, but once the value stream is mapped your team can quickly prioritize the most valuable improvements to customer visible value, while reducing cost and complexity.

The session will focus on getting started using VSMs. Alex will walk you through an eight-step process for creating a VSM, and how to leverage it to improve value delivery.   We will review examples of VSMs in different contexts, and will have time to answer the audience’s specific process and value stream mapping questions.

About Alex Brown

Alex Brown is the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Product Owner of Scrum Inc. In addition to ordering and maintaining the company’s enterprise backlog, Alex specializes in helping executive leadership and working teams collaborate more effectively through common goals, visualization tools and metrics. Over the years, he has developed deep experience in linking Agile/Lean management techniques to business strategy. He is actively involved in adapting the Scrum methodology beyond its traditional home in software development into other creative team environments.

Prior to joining Scrum Inc. Alex was a Principal at The Boston Consulting Group, where he led more than twenty projects to increase productivity, improve competitive positioning and transform fortune 100 companies to leaner and more agile operations. His experience includes cases in the retail/consumer, IT manufacturing, healthcare, finance, and government sectors.

REGISTER HERE for ALEX BROWN on 2/27 at PAYPAL

…RECENT HISTORY OF AGILE BOSTON EVENTS follows….

INNOVATION GAMES COURSE COMES TO BOSTON

Certified Innovation Game® for Customer Understanding: 2-Day Course

When:   January 21 & 22, 2014 from 9 to 5PM

Where: Hilton Garden Inn, Waltham, MA. (Directions)

Registration: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/510087

Join us on January 21 & 22 for our Innovation Games® Certification Course, “Innovation Games® for Customer Understanding,” in Waltham MA Completion of the course designates you as a Innovation Games Certified Collaboration Architect (CCA), Orange Belt Level.

AM coffee and your lunch is included.

Course Description

Long before gamification, gamestorming and serious games became the latest buzz words, Luke Hohmann and his team were using a variety of serious games, Innovation Games®, to help companies like SAP, Qualcomm, Cisco, Reed Elsevier and Yahoo! build breakthrough products & services. These games (originally outlined in Luke’s groundbreaking book, Innovation Games: Creating Breakthrough Products through Collaborative Play) enable you to work directly with your customers, eliciting unique insight into what they truly want from your product or service.

This two-day certification course will teach you how to use a variety of games with your customers to:

• Uncover unspoken needs & breakthrough opportunities
• Understand where your offerings fit into your customers’ operations
• Clarify exactly how & when customers will use your product or service
• Deliver the right new features & make better strategy decisions
• Increase empathy for the customers’ experience within your organization
• Improve the effectiveness of the sales & service organizations
• Identify your most effective marketing messages and sellable features
• Discover what customers don’t like about your offerings

The course covers both in-person and online games, including our online sales enablement game Knowsy, and includes sections on facilitation and presentation skills.

Content Outline

• Discussion of Innovation Games® and market research
• High-level planning, playing and post-processing of Innovation Games
• Detailed planning, playing and post-processing the results of several case studies that enable participants to experience all phases of Innovation Games
• Review and shared discussion; helping participants plan their adoption of these techniques
• Facilitation and presentation skills

Who should attend?

• Product Managers/Directors
• Portfolio/Product Management Professionals
• Marketing Professionals
• Market Research Professionals
• Software Engineers/Developers/Architects
• Executive Management
• Agile Coaches/Team Leads

Theory of Instruction

The course is guided by a “learning by doing” model of education:

• What participants will know after taking the class.
• What participants will do during the seminar to reinforce key concepts.
• What participants will have after the seminar to promote further practice and study.

Prerequisites

Although not strictly required, it is helpful if participants read the book Innovation Games®: Creating Breakthrough Products Through Collaborative Play before the course.

Materials

• Course Presentation
• A variety of handouts used to stimulate thinking and apply the materials
• Case studies

The results from the Prune the Product Tree exercise

Pricing & Payment

Course pricing for the two-day course is as follows:

$895 until January 3

$1195 after January 3

Registration: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/510087

Cancellation Policy

For information on our cancellation policy please visit the registration link.

Instructor Bio

Jason Tanner is the president of Enthiosys, an agile product management consulting firm, and an Innovation Games Qualified Instructor. He joined Enthiosys in 2008 and has 18+ years of professional experience with software companies, a telecommunications company and the Marine Corps. His expertise spans agile software product management, product marketing, business planning, partner management, project management and leadership. Jason is an active member of the Agile User Group in Research Triangle Park, the Triangle Product Management Association in Raleigh, NC, and the North Carolina Council for Entrepreneurial Development. He holds a BS degree in mechanical and aeronautical engineering from Cornell University and a MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship from Duke University.

==========================================================

THE 5TH ANNUAL GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM EVENT

Date: Tuesday, 11/26/2013

Location:

NOTE VENUE ADDRESS CHANGE!!

posted 11/25/2013

================================================================

THANKS TO THE 170 FOLKS WHO ATTENDED the GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM EVENT!

================================================================

Each year we gather as THE Scrum community of New England to GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM in November! This is the 5th ANNUAL event in 2013. Jeff & Ken give keynotes, and answer your hardest Scrum questions.

You can LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE:

Just 20 seats left! Unless we get more space!

Clip: GIVE THANK FOR SCRUM 2012. This year it’s Tuesday, 11/26 in Woburn MA!!

Scroll down to see more GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM pics.

Not many seats left!

You can LEARN MORE & REGISTER HERE

==========================================================

 UPCOMING CLASSES IN DECEMBER & JANUARY:

2-DAY INNOVATION GAMES COURSE 1/21-22 in WALTHAM

Join us on January 21 & 22 for our Innovation Games® Certification Course, “Innovation Games® for Customer Understanding,” in Waltham MA Completion of the course designates you as a Innovation Games Certified Collaboration Architect (CCA), Orange Belt Level.

AM coffee and your lunch is included.

When:   January 21 & 22, 2014 from 9 to 5PM

Where: Hilton Garden Inn, Waltham, MA. (Directions)

Cost: $895 before 12/21 (this is 2-day class with coffee & lunch each day)

Registration: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/510087

LEARN MORE HERE…

===========================================================

===========================================================

SOME OF WHAT WE DID TOGETHER IN NOVEMBER 2013….

You know GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM. The Boston event: Jeff. Ken. Scrum. Live music. Games. Socializing. Book signings. Food!

This event is a BOSTON TRADITION.

Only 120 total seats are available, get them HERE:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/500813

Jeff and Ken, 1st annual GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM, 2009. That’s Jeff trying to pass a tough Scrum question to Ken there.

It promises to be a great event. Here’s some pictures from prior years:

At GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM, we do A LOT of socializing!

Scrum was BORN IN BOSTON.

Boston has a big story to tell and GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM is big part that story.

Each year at GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM, the questions from the Participants are extremely interesting.

Jeff Sutherland answers your hardest questions at this event.

Sometimes it gets very quiet, after Jeff tells it like it is….

The GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM event is THE place for meeting people in the Boston lean/agile/Scrum community…

One big reason to attend: There is only ONE Ken Schwaber, and we got him !

Bring your hardest Scrum questions, Ken will answer them for you.

Right from the horses mouth!

Have you noticed? Scrum is not exactly simple. At this event you connect with others….and discuss you solutions. This is THE event for connecting with others in the lean/agile/Scrum community in Boston

That’s Daniel Mezick in the middle there. It’s safe to say you already know the other two gentlemen in black.

The event has some activities this year…this is a picture of some folks doing an exercise, from the 2011 event

GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM always has a session by Ken, and a session by Jeff.

It also has a moderated panel at the end, when both of them take your hardest questions for a full hour. Anything can and does happen during this part of the event.

Bring your absolutely HARDEST questions.

Scrum was BORN IN BOSTON and there is no other place on the planet you can get Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber in the same room for a whole day.

This is it !!

Other cities cannot make this claim. Come and bring your most difficult Scrum questions.

This year we have some surprises for you– and some live music!!

SAVE THE DATE: NOVEMBER 26 2013

TICKETS RANGE FROM $49 to $109!! The tickets at $49, $59, and $69 are ALREADY GONE, so act fast to get in cheap:

There are only 120 seats. Once these tickets are gone, there’s NO MORE.

You can REGISTER here and get in for $69 if you act FAST

Bring your hardest Scrum questions, Ken will answer them for you.

Right from the horses mouth!

REGISTER FOR GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM HERE:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/500813

GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM: 9:30AM to 5:00PM on Tuesday, 11/26/2013 in Woburn, MA

Agenda:

09:30 Arrive, relax. Get some coffee. Announcements.

10:00 Opening Remarks

10:30 Jeff Sutherland’s session

11:30 BREAK

11:45 10-minute experience reports and testimonials from THREE Boston Scrum community members

12:30 LUNCH. Live music from Jamie Gaull. Socializing. Some structured fun and games. Opt-in participation. Do whatever you want

01:30 10-minute experience reports and testimonials from THREE Boston Scrum community members

02:15 Jeff Sutherland

03:15 BREAK

03:30 Ken Schwaber and Jeff Sutherland Authority Panel: Anything-goes Q&A on your hardest Scrum questions

04:30 RAFFLE & DONE

04:45 AFTER-EVENT social

===========================================

RECENT EVENTS OF AGILE BOSTON: WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT….

===========================================

USING NVC FOR MANAGING CONFLICT (Framingham  on Wednesday 10/23 630PM)

If you work with people, conflict is inevitable. Even the most dynamic, productive teams experience conflict; disagreements arise, ideas collide, and passions about principles can be tested. This could possibly describe your relationship with a customer or two. A key question is: does conflict on your team or with a customer lead to resentment, rivalry or hostility? Whether you answer yes or no, what is the outcome you want and how can you achieve that?

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER HERE

OPEN AGILE ADOPTION

(In BOSTON at PAYPAL on 10/24 600PM)

Note: This was the KEYNOTE session of the Global Scrum Gathering in Paris, France on 9/24/2013.

Most Agile adoptions are struggles, and often miss the opportunity to really make a big cultural change. The fact that typical Agile adoptions are mandated in the command-control style might be a factor. Another factor correlated with difficult adoptions might be the fact that the people who do the work have no say at all the selection of Agile practices. Another factor might be the fact that imposing Agile practices on a team is contrary to Agile principles and has been from the very beginning, according to Martin Fowler. We can do better.

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. It incorporates the power of invitation, Open Space, passage rites, game mechanics, storytelling and more, so your Agile adoption can take root. 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.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER HERE

===========================================

Agile Boston Monthly Meetings: LAST MONTH

===========================================

Wednesday Sept 25: 630PM to 845PM

FRAMINGHAM, MA (STAPLES)

BRIAN SUMMERS & JOE TINDAL of MASTERCAM on:

THE MASTERCAM AGILE ADOPTION

In late 2010, MASTERCAM leadership under Brian Summers decided to implement Agile throughout the company. They started with some experiments and a pilot team or two. Led by Joe Tindal as the change agent inside the company, MASTERCAM experimented with various forms of training and coaching. In 2011 New Technology Solutions provided training for over 90 employees. Shortly after that, all teams began working in an Agile way. Scrum was rolled out to all software teams. LEARN MORE AND REGISTER for 9/25 FRAMINGHAM

“This meeting is a waste of my time.” When was the last time you had that thought? Was it because the conversation wasn’t focused, or people couldn’t agree, or maybe they were in violent agreement, but couldn’t see it? How easily do you think you can get this meeting back on track? In this session, you will learn a skill that you can apply on the spot that will help you focus the conversation and drive to consensus. Everything you need is probably already in the room.

LEARN MORE AND REGISTER FOR SEPT 26 BOSTON

I’m an Agile Fellow with Rally Software in Boulder, CO. I love coaching others about Agile software development. My passion in this realm has led me to concentrate on practices in collaboration and leadership. I’m also now reaching into systems thinking, Lean, and Kanban (you can read blog posts I’ve written about these topics). I see a strong interdependency among these various processes and practices. This has led me to also look outside of software and IT to our larger community about sustainable and restorative practices within our physical world. I graduated Magna Cum Laude and as a University Scholar from the University of Missouri. I hold a Masters in French Literature from Michigan State University and a Masters in Computer Science from Johns Hopkins University.  I’m a a Certified ScrumMaster and Practitioner, a Certified Scrum Trainer, and a Certified Professional Facilitator. JEAN TABAKA: The Agile Art Gallery (meeting description)

KEN SCHWABER holding court at the 4/25 downtown Boston meeting. Almost 110 people registered for this meeting and we had 140 registered for the Waltham event on 4/24.

=================================================

The Agile CULTURE Conference: Managing in the 21st Century

Thanks to all the attendees, speakers, sponsors, and volunteers that made our 9/14 event great. Here are the links to pictures, blog posts and other artifacts from the event, including proceedings from the Open Space.

If you weren’t able to attend, here’s  a quick run down of what the conference was about. CULTURE is the gating factor in your Agile implementation. Agile practices implement Agile principles. The Agile principles strong encourage A LOT OF LEARNING. Self-organizing teams. Self-management. Scrum as a culture design for teams. The conference kicked off a wider conversation about culture analysis, design, implementation, and hacking. For more info, view the Culture Conference program info.

Picture: Open Space in the afternoon, at the CULTUREcon event convened 09/14/2012. Over 200 in attendance. Keynote: DAVE LOGAN author of NYT bestseller TRIBAL LEADERSHIP

=================================================

Are you an AGILE practitioner?

If so, BUY THIS AMAZING BOOK. Authored in BOSTON !!

Learn more: MOVING BEYOND ICEBREAKERS

===========================================

AGILE BOSTON: PICTURES OF A CURIOUS, FUN-LOVING PEOPLE:

First Agile Boston Open Space, Spring 2009

Agile Boston Open Space, September 2010

Agile Boston Open Space, Sept 2010, Even MORE Agile afterwards

Agile Boston Open Space, Sept 201, even MORE pictures

Utterly Awesome Pictures of Agile Day 2011, Sept 2011, held in Norwood MA. PARTY BUS PIX !!

THE STORY OF THE PARTY BUS: Sept 2010

We co-produced an event called AGILE DAY in NYC and BOSTON. On September 25 2011 we attended the AgileNYC event and the next day we shipped out for Boston with the speakers, sponsors and organizers on a big honking PARTY BUS. The bus had a huge TV, a bathroom, coolers for beer and wine, and the alll-important BATHROOM ON BOARD.  We stopped for lunch in New Haven CT on the waterfront. Everyone who was “on the bus” had an incredible time of dialogue and bonding.

====================================================

Artifacts from the 4th Annual GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM Event, (Nov. 20, 2012) Honoring Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber

Jeff Sutherland’s presentation “Scrum: The Future of Work”

Mario Moreira’s presentation: “Getting the Most from the Sprint Review”

Learn more about GIVE THANK FOR SCRUM 2012.

Picture: GIVE THANKS FOR SCRUM convened 11/20/2012. Over 100 in total attendance. Keynotes: Jeff Sutherland and Ken Schwaber.

=======================================================

AGILE DAY IN BOSTON

We had quite a time on September 29: Over 248++ of us, learning and teaching Agile all day…then the Happy Hour Party!

AGILE DAY IN BOSTON on 09/29/2011 is depicted below.

===================================================

Learn more about Agile Day 2011, see pictures and grab the proceedings  by clicking here.

Thanks to everyone who makes this happen:

All those attending, the Sponsors, Speakers and Volunteers !

Special thanks to: Karen Spencer, Don Blair, Dan LeFebvre, Jim Lindenthal, Bernadette St. John, Jason Tanner, Luke Hohmann, Larry Coates, Frank Saucier, Gloria Shepardson, Kriss Aho, Richard Kasperowski, Ralph Fink. You are the best !

Learn more about Agile Day 2011, see pictures and grab the proceedings  by clicking here.

======================================================

Let’s be clear: Agile Boston’s mission is to encourage & help the Greater Boston Agile community to become the most active, most innovative & most vibrant Agile learning community on the planet, by any measure that can be named.

We work from a set of core values; examine these values here. Serving you with great social learning events is at the top of our list.

Get on Our List to stay informed. You can  subscribe or unsubscribe to the Agile Boston mailing list here to get notified of meetings and Agile community news in Boston.

Ellen Gottesdiener, Founder and Principal with EBG Consulting, is an internationally recognized leader in the collaborative convergence of requirements + product management + project management. Ellen coaches and trains individuals and teams, and she facilitates discovery and planning workshops across diverse industries including energy, financial services, pharmaceutical, software, telecommunications and consumer products.

DISCOVER YOUR QUALITY ATTRIBUTES

Quality attributes, such as performance, usability, robustness, and more, are essential for customer satisfaction and can often have a significant impact on technology selection and design. However, quality attributes are challenging for customers to articulate and are notoriously difficult to elicit. They lurk below the level of user consciousness, as unspoken expectations or sometimes, as unanticipated delighters.

User stories, the most common way for agile teams to identify user requirements, don’t directly accommodate quality attributes.  Consequently quality attributes are often forgotten or ignored until they waylay teams in later delivery cycles, causing user dissatisfaction, deferred value and unnecessary rework.

Quality attributes can be discovered—if you know how and where to look. In this session, we explore techniques that engage customers and technical people alike in proactively uncovering and specifying these crucial requirements. Learn how to promote quality attributes from afterthought to first-class citizens in the world of agile requirements.

Join Ellen in a fast-paced survey of key practices to help you elicit and specify quality attributes on your agile project so you can holistically determine and specify product needs.