I just got back from Agile2015 (http://agile2015.agilealliance.org/ ) . An awesome conference with more than 2,300 attendees including many key Agile personalities like Jeff Sutherland (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Sutherland). I attended many excellent presentations and workshops and had an opportunity to meet with many agile practitioners to discuss how they address common challenges within their respective work environments. Below is a selection of unconnected quotes, ideas and tidbits from the conference.

Agile is no longer limited to software development. Agile is moving into the entire business. A lot of the ‘Agile’ concepts are the same as new management concepts. The two most important ones in my opinion:

• Companies must work bottom up instead of top down. We need leaders not controllers.
• The problem is not what middle management is doing. Everyone has to have a clear line of sight of the customer. Total focus on delivering value to the customer

It is all about focus. We will achieve more if we do less (at one time). There is a growing consensus that keeping WIP (Work in Progress) low is the key to higher productivity. This not only applies to Kanban (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kanban ) but also to Scrum. Keeping a smooth flow is the priority, not keeping staff busy.

There were several sessions on how to use games to take serious decisions in a better way. In the first keynote session Luke Hohmann(https://twitter.com/lukehohmann) showed how San Jose uses their Budget Games to provide citizens with the ability to participate in their government’s budgeting process. The games resulted in unexpected and better budget decisions.

Want to really learn Kanban? Use the Getkanban game. Buy the game at http://getkanban.com/. Or get an older version for free at http://github.com/bsktcase/getKanbanVersion2.

Adopting agile is not easy. One presenter compared “driving change” with driving a herd (not the way to get buy-in) or driving on the highways (we all wish it would be that smooth). Change needs to be nurtured not driven. A lot has been said about change. I particularly like one comment: “Don’t emphasize all that is wrong. Point out what is right and how it can be augmented.”

 â€œEstimation is difficult. No one provided a silver bullet.”

 â€œYou are more likely to die from flesh eating bacteria than predicting when your project will be done.”

 â€œDon’t drive uncertainty by estimating to death.“

Helium balloon theory: There is no need to motivate good developers or employees. All we need to do is to stop de-motivating them and remove barriers.

Lean Coffee: a structured, but agenda-less meeting. Participants come together, agree on an agenda, and begin talking. Conversations are focused and productive because the agenda was democratically generated.

I will be delving into some of this ideas in future posts.  Have an Agile day!