In this talk, we’ll explore concepts such as trust-building and psychological safety and how they intertwine in the Virtuous Trust Cycle to provide a supportive context for individuals to practice and improve EQ. We will  describe how measurements of psychological safety can accurately predict whether your Agile transformation will be effective or challenged. In addition, we’ll practice an exercise on how to enable and measure conditions for psychological safety.

Come join us at ANE to explore how the Trust Virtuous Cycle framework can help leaders and team members increase trust levels that create conditions for psychological safety for shaping a culture of innovation.

About the Speaker:

Pepe Lopez is a longtime business coach and Agile strategist who specializes in building the trust-based relationships critical for development teams and projects that require high levels of collaboration. He’s the author of the Trust Virtuous Cycle, a light framework to build trust and measure psychological safety. Pepe has 20 plus years of experience in roles such as People Leader, PM, Portfolio Manager, and Change Manager. In these roles he’s developed expertise in relationship building, quality frameworks, product development, roadmap execution, and training and development. Most importantly, he’s gained hands-on experience helping organizational cultures in transition.

Agile New England’s Monthly Keynote Speaker is Virtual!

Please note our June 6, 2024, keynote will be fully virtual with no in-person meeting. The new timeline follows:

5:00 – 5:30 pm ET – Zoom meeting opens

5:30 – 6:30 pm ET – Agile 101 breakout with Garry Miller (or network in main Zoom session)

6:30 pm ET – Keynote Speaker, followed by announcements and free-form networking

Are you interested in UI design practices to make your interfaces more accessible? We’ll review topics like screen reader compatibility (ensuring that elements are properly labeled so screen readers provide accurate information to blind users), high contrast modes (to accommodate users with low vision or color blindness), and keyboard navigation (keyboard shortcuts and navigational aids for users who cannot rely on a mouse or touch input).

Are you involved in defining and prioritizing product features? We’ll help you navigate the complexities of requirements for diverse user populations, examining subjects such as multilingual support (language options to cater to users from diverse linguistic backgrounds), customizable interfaces (enabling users to personalize their experience based on individual preferences), and gesture-based interaction (gesture-based controls, voice commands, and other interaction methods for users with physical disabilities).

Whether you’re a UI designer, product owner, software engineer, application architect, or simply someone interested in enhancing accessibility and usability in design, this talk will offer valuable perspectives and actionable takeaways.

About the Speaker:

Weslyn Rawlins is a seasoned people and culture leader, adept at driving transformative initiatives and fostering inclusive workplaces. With a background in program and project management, she’s honed skills in strategic communication, operations management, and cross-functional team leadership. During her tenure at a top fortune 500 company, she orchestrated multimillion-dollar business transformations and enhanced sales enablement. She has trained tech enthusiasts with Black Girls Code. As a DEI advocate and leader, Weslyn has overseen programs, expanded membership, and influenced enterprise-wide strategies to foster diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Agile New England’s Monthly Keynote Speaker is Virtual!

Please note our May 2, 2024, keynote will be fully virtual with no in-person meeting. The new timeline follows:

5:00 – 5:30 pm ET – Zoom meeting opens

5:30 – 6:30 pm ET – Agile 101 breakout with Garry Miller (or network in main Zoom session)

6:30 pm ET – Keynote Speaker, followed by announcements and free-form networking

In this session, we’ll cover some of the important ideas that we used when creating Software Teaming. The 4 main points are:

• Make it easy for everyone to excel
• Turn Up The Good on things that are going well
• Deal with failures to communicate
• Lead from within so everyone can both lead and follow dynamically

About the Speaker:

Woody Zuill is an Agile and Lean Software Development guide who has been programming computers for 40+ years. He is an originator and pioneer of the Software Teaming (Mob Programming) approach to teamwork in software development and provides workshops, coaching, and training on team software development. He is also a founder of the “Beyond Estimates” discussion, and a frequent speaker at conferences and developer meet-ups all over the world. He has been a founder, Product Owner, and key facilitator of Agile New England’s Mob Programming and Software Teaming conferences.

Agile New England’s Monthly Keynote Speaker is Virtual!

Please note our April 4, 2024, keynote will be fully virtual with no in-person meeting. The new timeline follows:

5:00 – 5:30 pm ET – Zoom meeting opens

5:30 – 6:30 pm ET – Agile 101 breakout with Garry Miller (or network in main Zoom session)

6:30 pm ET – Keynote Speaker, followed by announcements and free-form networking

To achieve meaningful and sustainable improvement, you must work across the entire value delivery system, from idea to production.

Based on work with over 100 client organizations, Gil Broza has identified 10 strategies that optimize a system’s fitness for purpose (how well it helps the company achieve its mission and objectives). In this session, you’ll use a quick, process-agnostic way to determine your value delivery system’s fitness level. You’ll learn about the strategies and which to apply in your current situation. You will walk away with a practical model that respects human systems’ tolerance for change without being philosophical, touchy-feely, or prescriptive.

About the Speaker:

Gil Broza helps tech leaders deliver far better results by upgrading their organizations’ Agile ways of working. He also provides guidance to non-software managers on how to create real business agility in their teams. Gil has helped over 100 organizations achieve real, sustainable improvements by focusing on mindset, culture, and leadership in each enterprise’s unique value delivery context. He is the author of four highly acclaimed books: Deliver Better Results, The Agile Mind-Set, The Human Side of Agile, and Agile for Non-Software Teams.

Brock Argue and Erkan Kadir will examine the complexities of mixed-methods environments, and the reshaping of agility. They will tackle navigating the hybrid Agile landscape, balancing the benefits of agility with the inclusion of other methodologies.

The session introduces a revolutionary framework based on Polarity Thinking, aimed at harmonizing Agile with other approaches. Attendees will gain practical insights and strategies to enhance organizational agility and resilience in this changing industry.

About the Speakers:

Erkan Kadir

Erkan Kadir is at his best when he is working with teams and talking about big ideas. He draws on many years of experience building products, managing teams and leading organizations to catalyze growth. He excels at coaching teams into a greater understanding of themselves. Erkan’s work has benefited many companies including: Digital Oilfield, ADP, Enverus and Suncor. He is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach℠ (CEC), Certified Team Coach℠ (CTC), Certified Organization and Relationship Systems Coach (ORSCC), ICF Professional Certified Coach (ICF-PCC), Certified Leadership Maturity Coach and an ICAgile Certified Coach (IC-ACC).

Brock Argue

Brock Argue takes a holistic approach to agility – recognizing that all aspects of the business benefit from the application of agile values and principles. His style of facilitation creates an environment in which high-performing organizations can emerge. Brock’s work includes agile transformations at Digital Oilfield, ADP, Benevity and Suncor. Brock is a Certified Enterprise Coach℠ (CEC) and Certified Team Coach℠ (CTC) through the Scrum Alliance, a Certified Leadership Maturity Coach through the Vertical Development Academy, an Organization and Relationship Systems Coach, and holds his ICF-PCC.

Both Erkan and Brock are co-founders of Superheroes Academy and have been regulars on the international conference and meetup circuit. They’ve spoken several times at Global Scrum Gatherings and Agile Alliance conferences. Full list of talks available on their website: https://www.superheroes.academy/events

Each game represents a different scenario with multiple challenges to overcome in order to produce a successful result. For this session, you “puppetmaster” two Agilists, an Enterprise Agile Coach and a team based Agile working with a large organization with many teams.

At the start of each game you’ll be presented with a description of the scenario and a choice of 3-5 actions you can take such as “Work with the team to figure out what they would like to do next” or “Present your recommended changes to the CTO.” Each action has the potential to uncover additional information and/or actions that you can take. There are many branching paths, and it will feel just like working with real people: determining what approach is appropriate in each situation: powerful questions, teaching, facilitation, or providing expertise. Along the way you’ll interact with teams, team members, stakeholders, and leaders in the organization.

You’ll have a chance to practice many coaching skills including: powerful questions, emotional intelligence, rapport building, acting as a mirror, encouraging and supporting learning and growth, and pivoting between coaching and providing expertise. The game is meant to be played in small groups of 2-4 people to encourage discussion and to provide an opportunity to learn from each other. Think “escape the room” style fun and collaboration.

To get an idea of what these games are like, you can try the ones we have online which are focused on individuals: (https://facilitivity.com/online-games/). In this session we’ll mostly be playing the game, but it is perfectly ok to be a spectator.

About the Speaker:

Damon Poole is an Enterprise Agile Coach and the co-author of Professional Coaching for Agilists (Addison-Wesley). In addition he offers ICAgile and ICF accredited coach training programs. He has coached and trained thousands of people at companies such as Capital One, Oanda, Ford, Perforce, and Fidelity. As a coach of coaches at Eliassen, Damon led the Agile Delivery team which grew to hundreds of Agile Coaches and other Agilists in the field. He is an International Coaching Federation Associate Certified Coach, International Coach Academy Certified Professional Coach, and ICAgile Certified Professional in Agile Coaching. Damon frequently presents at local and international Agile meetups and conferences such as the Agile Alliance Conference, Play4Agile, and Agile and Beyond. He has also co-created a series of popular Agile games such as User Story Games, Agile Coaching Games, Heroes of Agility, and a small collection of online games. Learning through play is a consistent element of his work.

In order to think differently and explore new ideas, it’s critical for high performing teams to develop their creativity and diversify their problem-solving and innovative approaches. Songwriting provides a unique and powerful new way to think about complicated issues and achieve improved solutions.

About the Speaker:

Cliff Goldmacher is a GRAMMY-recognized, #1 hit songwriter, keynote speaker and author who, for the past eight years, has been helping business teams and organizations innovate, enhance their creativity and solve problems by teaching them to write songs. Cliff’s book, The Reason For The Rhymes: Mastering The Seven Essential Skills of Innovation by Learning to Write Songs, encapsulates the principles of his workshops. His current and former clients include Deloitte, Bank of America, IDEO and Vanderbilt’s Owen Graduate School of Management.

About the Speaker:

Eric Tucker is a big believer in learning by doing. He believes that immersive experiences where you can get your hands dirty and see for yourself how things work is learning you’ll actually remember. His classes are designed to make learning fun and impactful. Moreover, the class will help you hit the ground running when you go back to work. Not only will you know what all the terms and theories mean, but you’ll understand why they matter, while simultaneously getting a chance to practice it all for yourself.

Nancy Van Schooenderwoert will present highlights from several case studies that illustrate how Agile companies have found ingenious ways to maximize both quality and flexibility. These lessons apply to other industries where the presence of risk too often leads to paralysis. This presentation is based on the book Agile Methods for Safety-Critical Systems: Case Studies of Medical Product Companies by Nancy Van Schooenderwoert and Brian Shoemaker.

About the Speaker:

Nancy is President and Principal Coach at Lean-Agile Partners. She was among the first to apply Agile methods to embedded systems development. As an engineer, manager, and consultant, she has led Agile change initiatives for software and hardware projects in safety-critical, highly regulated industries, including aerospace, factory automation, medical devices, defense systems, and financial services.

Nancy teaches modern Agile approaches like Mob Programming (now called Software Teaming), Agile Hardware, and Lean development methods, in addition to Scrum. She is past president of Agile New England (ANE) and has led numerous ANE events, including the Agile for Executives event series, Deep Agile and Mob Programming conferences. Nancy is a regular presenter at Agile-related conferences worldwide, and is co-author of the book Agile Methods for Safety-Critical Systems: Case Studies of Medical Product Companies, published in 2021.
Agile_Med_Dev_Case_Studies_v2