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 Reflecting on our Agile Journey - How do we reach Mastery?

Host: Deborah Hartmann

Facilitator: Diana Larsen, co-author of Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great

Agile software methodologies are maturing.
The "innovator" questions of first-time implementation are giving way to more sophisticated, thoughtful conversations as we grapple with local constraints, and sometimes with the organization itself. To help us examine these issues, this track combines Open Space with lectures to create a day rich in collaboration and expert input. It's a chance to share stories of failure and success, and to deepen our knowledge of what makes organizations and teams healthy and responsive to customer needs. Participants are free to move between lectures and Open Space - something our lecturers will also be doing.

Leaders in our field are spending more time teaching, leaving less time for peer-review... and yet feedback may be our most important tool for professional development! Open Space brings participants together to wrestle with the topics we are passionate about. Participants from all tracks, including novices, are welcome to join our experts in Open Space. Different levels of experience and diverse opinions will make our sessions more meaningful, so skeptics are welcome, too! This is the perfect venue for serious face-to-face debate, as we strive to develop a more mature community of practice. Participants will include: Jeff Sutherland, Rachel Davies, Dave Thomas, and other experts in the field.

Lectures: As you can see at the right, we've also invited some leading-edge speakers to present their ideas and help us move forward into new territory.
Schedule,
Friday		 Open Space Lectures
09:00 - 9:45 Opening the Space
Deborah Hartmann and Diana Larsen
9:45 - 10:45 Open Space
Session 1 		When Agile Hits the Wall - Organizational Aspects
Joseph Pelrine
10:45 - 11:00 break
11:00 - 12:00 Open Space
Session 2
Developing Expertise: Herding Racehorses, Racing Sheep
12:00 - 13:00 lunch
13:00 - 14:00 Open Space
Session 3
Agile Quality Management
14:00 - 14:15 Break
14:15 - 14:30 Open Space
Session 4
14:30 - 15:30 Mock Roles, not Objects
Steve Freeman & Nat Pryce
15:30 - 16:30 Open Space - Session 5
16:30 - 17:00 Closing the Space
Diana Larsen
17:00 - 17:15 Break
17:15 - 18:15 Keynote Panel

Open Space:

What kind of discussions will happen in Open Space for the Agile Mastery track? That's entirely up to you! Come with experiences to share, or unanswered questions to explore, and expect to meet like-minded colleagues eager to collaborate on finding answers. We don't know which topics you will all bring, but here are some examples from other Agile Open Space events:

  • How can we collaborate smoothly with external teams? (Agile and traditional)
  • Compensation schemes to support Agile teams, not work against them.
  • Dealing with strong personalities on collaborative teams.
  • Implementing Agile across the larger organization.
If this is your first encounter with Open Space, you are in for a good surprise - and you may even find it's a new tool to use in your workplace . Read about how an Open Space event unfolds. You can also find references to other articles at the end of that blog entry.