April 27, 2011 – Chuck Cobb on Making Sense of Agile Project Management

About the Session:

The PMI just announced a forthcoming new credential: the “Agile Certification” credential. What does this mean? How does this change things, or not? What is “Agile Project Management” ?

What about the apparently widening gulf between the “command and control” PMI world, and the “self organizing emergence” of the Agile world?

Join Chuck Cobb, author of the book MAKING SENSE OF AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT, and the Agile Boston user group, on April 27 at 630PM, to explore these issues.

 

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This is a FREE event of Agile Boston. When you register, you are committing to attendance. REGISTER HERE.
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Chuck says:

There is a significant perceived gap between the principles and practices of the Agile Community and the PMI Project Management Community. 

On the surface, it may appear that these two approaches are competitive with each other rather than complementary.  However, if we look beyond the way these ideologies have been commonly implemented in actual practice and look past many of the stereotypes and misconceptions that have helped to amplify the differences between them; there’s a lot that can be learned from gaining a deeper understanding of how these two approaches can be blended together.
To better understand how these two approaches can be integrated, we need to breakdown the language barriers and polarizing terms that exist between these two communities and better understand the reasoning and logic behind these two different approaches.

The key point of perceived conflict is over the need for agility versus control – the key thing to understand is the decision to be agile or not is not an” all or nothing” decision – there are many ways to blend an appropriate level of control and agility to find the “requisite agility” that is appropriate for that project and environment.

The most common mistake many people make is to try to force-fit a project to a pre-defined methodology (either agile or non-agile) – the right approach is the other way around – to fit the methodology (or combination of methodologies, principles, and practices) to the project and business environment.  In some cases, this may require creating a customized approach rather than using a canned, “text book” approach (either agile or non-agile).

This meeting is based on a new book called “Making Sense of Agile Project Management” by Chuck Cobb that is designed to help people see these two ideologies in a very different light as complementary to each other rather than competitive. 

Chuck plan to do a presentation on content from his book that is intended to stimulate some very positive dialog between the agile community and the PMI project management community to develop the mutual understanding that is needed to close this perceived gap.

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This is a FREE event of Agile Boston. When you register, you are committing to attendance. REGISTER HERE.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKER: CHUCK COBB

[ChuckCobb Pix]

Chuck Cobb bio is a Product Development Technical Lead at Sikorsky Aircraft. Ralph provides technical direction and development expertise for ground-based information systems. In January 2010, Ralph initiated and led the adoption of Scrum. The Scrum Team consists of 10 people with the following product development disciplines: customer relations, requirements, design, test, integration, and technical support. Ralph is a

 

NOTE THE DATE AND LOCATION:

Date: Wednesday April 27 2011 6:30PM

Location: Microsoft Waltham. DIRECTIONS TO MICROSOFT WALTHAM.

 

MEETING AGENDA:

630PM Agile intro:fundamentals of Scrum

700PM Socialization break….food and beverages throughout

715PM MAIN EVENT: CHECK COBB on: MAKING SENSE OF AGILE

820PM CONCLUDE and WRAP UP

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This is a FREE event of Agile Boston. When you register, you are committing to attendance. REGISTER HERE.
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March 14, 2011 – The Profession of Agile Coaching: How do we develop, grow and acknowledge great Agile Coaches?

March 14 Meeting, 630PM: The Profession of Agile Coaching: How do we develop, grow and acknowledge great Agile Coaches?

This is a SPECIAL MEETING of Agile Boston for anyone in the community who is passionately interested about Agile Coaching and the development of genuine and GREAT AGILE COACHING IN BOSTON.

Facilitators: Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd of the AGILE COACHING INSTITUTE

NOTE: Michael and Lyssa are in Boston delivering their amazing 2-day COACHING AGILE TEAMS class on March 14 and 15. LEARN MORE HERE.

 

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This is a FREE, special event of Agile Boston. REGISTER HERE.
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NOTE THE DATE AND LOCATION:

Date: Monday, March 14 6:30PM

Location: 150 Cambridge Park Drive, Cambridge MA (Google Map)

Facilitators: Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd

The intent of this meeting is to discuss professional standards for Agile coaching, and to intentionally assist in the development of GREAT AGILE COACHING IN BOSTON.

Facilitators: Lyssa Adkins and Michael Spayd of the Agile Coaching Institute

Is Agile Coaching a real profession? Would we like it to be?

The Profession of Agile Coaching: How do we develop, grow and acknowledge great Agile Coaches?

Is Agile Coaching a real profession? Would we like it to be? Most professions have clear training requirements, a code of ethics or professional conduct, and ways to verify if someone has achieved a certain level of expertise and is living up to professional standards.

Agile coaching thought leaders Michael Spayd & Lyssa Adkins offer this “fireside chat” about the profession of Agile Coaching — an informal talk to explore alternative models from the world of professional coaching, where clear ethics and training standards, as well as a developmental certification process, creates and sustains really great professionals.

Lyssa & Michael will recollect their own extensive coach training and certification process, and the models underlying them. Topics addressed will include individual & group supervision, skill drills, etc. Audience discussion and interaction will be welcomed throughout to explore what it would mean (and whether it is desirable) to develop Agile Coaching into a distinct and sustainable profession.

 

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This is a FREE, special event of Agile Boston. REGISTER HERE.
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Who Might Choose to Attend:

Any person in the greater Boston Agile community who wants to more fully understand Agile coaching;

Project sponsors, executives and Agile-oriented managers and directors who are considering engaging an Agile coach, or are currently doing so;

Those who are offering Agile coaching services in the Boston area. NOTE: Be prepared to be surprised at this meeting. Expect to answers direct questions and engage in genuine dialogue about your current practices;

Project management professionals, IT professionals and others who are considering Agile coaching as a vocation within their organizations or in a consulting capacity;

Owners of consulting companies that offer Agile coaching.This is especially important since the policies of these organizations determines how coaches behave in client organizations….

Professional Agile coaches who want to be part of a larger conversation in Boston about coaching as a profession.

 

Come to this session to explore these facets with Lyssa, Michael and your peers:

* Entertain new models for thinking about professional development altogether

* Learn about the world of professional coaching and how it applies to the world of Agile coaching

* Explore ideas for developing Agile coaching as a professional discipline

* Learn about a positive model of professional certification

 

ABOUT THE FACILITATORS

 

Lyssa Adkins

Lyssa Adkins is certified as a Scrum Trainer and is an Agile Coach. She came to Agile as a project leader with over 15 years’ project management success. Even with all that experience, nothing prepared her for the power and simplicity of Agile done well. Lyssa’s Agile experience, along with her professional coaching and training abilities, gives her the perspective needed to guide teams and Agile leaders to harness Agile as the competitive advantage weapon it was meant to be. She knows the transformation path is rocky. As a large-scale program manager and director of Project Management Offices turned Agile Coach and Trainer, she has lived it herself. This makes her uniquely able to help others change their existing world to the Agile world. Lyssa holds triple certifications: Certified Scrum Trainer (CST), Project Management Professional (PMP) and Six Sigma Green Belt (SSGB). She is also a professional co-active coach. She is the author of the forthcoming book from Addison-Wesley’s Mike Cohn Signature Series, Coaching Agile Teams.Learn more about Lyssa Adkins here.


MICHAEL SPAYD

Michael Spayd helps clients change, facilitating dramatic improvement in results and satisfaction through cutting edge coaching and organization development technologies.

An organizational change coach and consultant for 20 years, Michael has worked with Fortune 500, small businesses and non-profits. For 10 years he has specialized in technology-oriented teams and associated enterprise transformation efforts, working with over 50 teams in that time.

Michael is trained as a Team and Organizational Coach, holds a Masters degree in psychology, has training in Co-Active leadership, executive coaching, and organizational behavior. He is a Certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach (ORSCC), Certified Professional Facilitator (CPF), and a Certified Scrum Master (CSM).

DAN SAYS:

Come to this session to be part of the conversation about Agile coaching as a genuine profession. I think it is safe to say we have a long way to go in Boston in terms of developing truly great Agile coaches. Yes, we have some genuine coaches doing a good job in Boston. That said, let’s all admit that if we want to be great, coaching in Boston can always use more improvement.

This meeting and conversationis an important next step in that direction of greatness in Boston.

Please attend this meeting to be part of the larger conversation around coach competency, ethical standards and a code of conduct for those who aspire to be– or purport to be– authentic and professional Agile coaches.

Lyssa and Michael plan to discuss the dynamics of the Agile coaching profession in several important dimensions.

You do not want to miss this meeting.

 

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This is a FREE, special event of Agile Boston. REGISTER HERE.
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NOTE: Michael and Lyssa are in Boston delivering the class COACHING AGILE TEAMS on March 14 and 15. LEARN MORE HERE.

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