Lean Agile Brighton 2019: Full Schedule

See the website for more information and get your tickets!

8:30am BST

Registration

Thursday October 17, 2019 8:30am - 9:00am BST
Foyer

Break

9:00am BST

Welcome

Thursday October 17, 2019 9:00am - 9:15am BST
Arundel 2

9:15am BST

Doctrine, domesticity and delinquency; returning Agile to the Wild

Slides

Like many movements over history, Agile started with a great idea whose ideas continue to inspire many people, but the modern equivalent of religious wars, minor splits over doctrine and crass commercialization have compromised those ideas. Is all lost or can we get back the original inspiration of the Agile Manifesto?

If Agile is going to move outside of the fields of software development and support to the wider organization what will need to change? In the wild, there are only a few variations in canines, but domestication had produced multiple variations, but within those variations aggressive breeding to reinforce differences. The net result is a set of increasingly harmful genetic changes; is the same happening to Agile? How do we avoid this?

Speakers

Dave Snowden

Founder and chief scientific officer of Cognitive Edge. His work is international in nature and covers government and industry looking at complex issues relating to strategy, organisational decision making and decision making. He has pioneered a science based approach to organisations... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 9:15am - 10:15am BST
Arundel 2

Keynote

10:15am BST

Sponsor Lightning Talks

Slides

Joanna Plumpton - TEKsystems
Ben Collins - Bright

Thursday October 17, 2019 10:15am - 10:45am BST
Arundel 2

Lightning Talks

10:45am BST

Break

Thursday October 17, 2019 10:45am - 11:15am BST
Arundel 1

Break

11:15am BST

Giving Feedback: How Clean is Your Data?

How often have you:
- avoided giving feedback because you are not sure how it will be received?
- given feedback and nothing has changed?
- been given feedback and ended up feeling resentful or confused?

Often it is not the feedback we are given that is the issue, there is usually a useful message in there, but it is how we are given it that makes the difference.

During this 30 minute talk we will show you how to decode your thinking and to artfully separate out and sort the messages you receive from others so that you can expertly receive and give meaningful feedback.

We will demonstrate to you the components of the Clean Feedback Model, give you an opportunity to use it live in the room, and see how structuring feedback in this way creates a granularity of data that is clearer to accept and action, or reject and challenge.

This session will build on some of the Clean Language concepts presented by Caitlin Walker during her Key-Note speech at the Brighton Lean Agile Conference in 2018.

Speakers

Alison Kuy

Alison has 25 years experience in business and IT change, inhabiting various personas during that time including Business Analyst, Test Manager, Project Manager, Change Manager, and Operational Change Specialist. In her latest incarnation she has been working as a Business Coach providing... Read More →

Rachel Gilmore

With a background in Learning and Development and over 12 years coaching experience working in the Tech and Creative industries, Rachel brings a passionate and enthusiastic approach to coaching individuals and teams to help them understand their behaviour patterns and how they can... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 11:15am - 11:45am BST
Arundel 2

Talk

11:45am BST

U-Kan-Scrum-gile - Enterprise Edition

Slides

There has been a rise recently in organisations saying that they 'Do Agile' without fully understanding what they mean. There also seems to be a loss of faith in Scrum and other agile frameworks from people who see them as a way to sell something to large companies; set of rules to follow and then somehow attain success.

This is a very quick tongue in cheek introduction of a fictitious Agile Framework especially designed to appeal to stereotypical senior management with lofty promises.

Beware the snake oil!

Speakers

Jon McNestrie

Originally a software developer Jon is now a 'proper coach' working with teams and individuals to help them to work together. He runs the Agile North East meetup group up in Newcastle and can often be found sketch-noting or playing with Lego.

Thursday October 17, 2019 11:45am - 12:15pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

12:15pm BST

How did we get here???

Ever get trapped in people difficulty loops and just shake your head in frustration? How did we get here? How do we get out? In this talk Katherine uses her eastern philosophical toolkit to reveal the 'invisible forces' that kick off repeating people difficulty and, most importantly, offers simple, tried and tested techniques on how to start getting out of people 'hell' traps, stalemates and infinity loops.

Speakers

Katherine Kirk

Katherine Kirk is an independent Agile/Lean Coach and an international conference speaker. Her primary area of expertise lies in co-discovery and insight facilitation through exploring and combining eastern and tribal philosophy to find answers to tough issues, specifically involving... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:15pm - 12:45pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

12:45pm BST

Lunch

Thursday October 17, 2019 12:45pm - 2:00pm BST
Arundel 1

Break

2:00pm BST

Bringing humanity back to the workplace

Slides

How many times have someone told you:
* Stop being emotional!?
* Act like a professional?
* Feelings do not belong at work?
Some people seem to be two different people at work and outside work; different identities and definetly different feelings. In fact feelings only exits in one of the roles.
I believe this is damaging to us as humans and damaging to us as an industry. I think we need to realise that being professional does not mean being inhuman. In fact our humanity is a great asset at works as well as in life, and we need more workplaces where it is safe to be ourselves.

Speakers

Gitte Klitgaard

Gitte Klitgaard is an agile coach, hugger, friend, and much more. She lives and love agile. She took the oath of non-allegiance. Why fight over methods when we can use the energy to help people?Gitte wants to change the world by helping people. Her preferred tools are listening... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 2:00pm - 2:30pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

2:30pm BST

Making your strategy happen using Hoshin Kanri and Toyota Kata

Lean and Agile software development can help your organization deliver early and often, but that is not sufficient. Without clear and transparent alignment on a strategy, the organization might still end up just keeping itself busy and not achieving the desired results.
Making your strategy happen have two major components that lives in symbiosis; strategy alignment and strategy execution.
Aligning on the right strategy can be a challenge in today’s complex world. Hoshin Kanri is an approach to meeting this challenge by drawing for the collective brain trust in your organization.
Organizations also need to become laboratories, in which they are constantly running experiments, generating learning, and applying that learning to continually progress towards their strategy.
In this session you will learn how to create this symbiosis of strategy alignment and strategy execution using Hoshin Kanri and Toyota Kata as one system.

Speakers

Hakan Forrs

Håkan Forss is a Lean/Agile Coach. Håkan coaches, mentors and teaches Lean and Agile thinking, methods and tools to leaders, teams and individuals. He develops people’s ability to continuous learn and improve how work is done. Håkan has an extensive background in developing software... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 2:30pm - 3:00pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

3:00pm BST

Building Trust In Distributed Teams

Slides

When you can't meet up with your team members easily, what happens to trust?Many managers find themselves struggling. They want to know:

Can you trust remote team members to get the job done efficiently?
Will they really grasp what's wanted, and why?
How will they find out that things are going wrong, soon enough to help to fix them?
Could remote team members be less loyal than you would hope, and how might that manifest?

As a result of these fears, managers of distributed teams often find themselves adopting a "command and control" style - even when they know that this approach has been shown to undermine the very trust they want to build, and itself be a barrier to developing high performance
In this short, highly-interactive online session, you'll learn three specific ways to enhance trust remotely, so that you and your team can develop a richer, more collaborative way of working.

Speakers

Judy Rees

Judy Rees has introduced scores of trainers, coaches, and facilitators to the joy of live online training – including within large organisations such as the RSA. For the last three years, she’s been the host of one of the world’s first online-video unconferences, Metaphorum... Read More →

Steve McCann

Steve McCann has had a long and interesting international career involving management of and relationships with remote teams, some of them in the more complex and hostile parts of the world, in organisations and projects with more than just deadlines and profit margins at risk.After... Read More →

Thursday October 17, 2019 3:00pm - 3:30pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

3:30pm BST

Break

Thursday October 17, 2019 3:30pm - 4:00pm BST
Arundel 1

Break

4:00pm BST

Crossing the river by feeling the stones.

Deng Xiaoping once described managing the economy as crossing the river by feeling the stones—in other words have a direction but be adaptive. But in a world of constant change, how do you determine the right thing to do? In the talk, we will discuss the importance of situational awareness, why maps matter and how agile is not always the answer.

Speakers

Simon Wardley

Thursday October 17, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm BST
Arundel 2

Keynote

5:00pm BST

Social Evening

Thursday October 17, 2019 5:00pm - 6:30pm BST
Arundel 1

Break

5:30pm BST

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

This session will have limited places, on a first come, first served basis.

That complex idea you are trying to explain to your audience, in several detailed sentences, can actually be better clarified with one single picture.

Humans have practiced the art of visual communication since prehistoric times and it remains one of the most effective forms of sharing information today.

In this session learn how you can:
* Draw anything!
*Ditch the documentation.
* Be more attention-grabbing and engaging.
* Kill the internal editor and be confident sketch noting in public.

Speakers

Darren Smith

Thursday October 17, 2019 5:30pm - 6:30pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

9:00am BST

Welcome

Friday October 18, 2019 9:00am - 9:15am BST
Arundel 2

9:15am BST

Variety: The Spice of Life and Secret to Scale

When we talk about “scale,” the conversation tends to be restricted to talk about scaling the size of the organization. What if negative consequences of scale eg silos, frustrating bureaucracy, etc are actually a consequence of attempting to scale the size of an organization without also scaling the amount of tolerable variety? Further, what if we should be doing more than just tolerating variety? What if increased space for (and decrease cost of) variety is a reason to scale, not just a curious byproduct?
If you seek to scale variety, you must understand and overcome the natural human aversion to ambiguity. This session provides an approach for incurring variety where it makes sense within the coherence of a longer-term vision.

Speakers

Cat Swetel

Cat is an engineering manager with experience applying Agile and Lean principles in a variety of settings: from startups to large enterprises, warehouses to web, etc. She is passionate about increasing diversity in STEAM as a means of creating possibilities for a more equitable human... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 9:15am - 10:15am BST
Arundel 2

Keynote

10:15am BST

Local Lightning Talks

James Burt: Tiny Projects
Sarah Owen: 8 Years into 8 Months
Daniel Wood: Scale & Embracing Constraints

Friday October 18, 2019 10:15am - 10:45am BST
Arundel 2

Lightning Talks

10:45am BST

Break

Friday October 18, 2019 10:45am - 11:15am BST
Arundel 1

Break

11:15am BST

Inept and Inapt: Agile Teams Misbehaving Badly

Most Agile processes (Scrum, Kanban, etc.) are built upon the notion of empiricism. According to the Scrum Guide, “Empiricism asserts that knowledge comes from experience and making decisions based on what is known”. The implicit assumption here is that Agile teams are comprised of rational actors who will gather the right information, and--when presented with that right information--will always make the correct process decisions around how to perform/improve. However, we know that in reality Agile teams are comprised of humans--each of whom bring their own biases, are guided by their own beliefs, and otherwise behave “irrationally” from an empirical point of view. In this session, we will discuss how this irrational behaviour actually makes teams very predictable in the mistakes they will make and what you can do to nudge your team from inept and inapt towards inspect and adapt.

Speakers

Prateek Singh

Prateek Singh has been leading and working on agile teams for the past 15+ years. Starting with XP, then Scrum and now working in a Kanban system, Prateek has gained a breadth and depth of knowledge regarding agile techniques, practices and implementation principles. Prateek is... Read More →

Dan Vacanti

Daniel Vacanti is a 25-plus year software industry veteran who has spent most of his career focusing on Lean and Agile practices. In 2007, he helped to develop the Kanban Method for knowledge work and managed the world’s first project implementation of Kanban that year. He has... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 11:15am - 11:45am BST
Arundel 2

Talk

11:45am BST

Coach, Teacher, Consultant - Confused?

Slides

Some people believe agile coaches should only coach, others believe we should give customers the answers they have paid us to give. With the level of divide building is the term ‘agile coach’ even the right one? Where do organisations turn for help? What skills should they be looking for? And what certifications can help identify a good fit?
During this interactive session, we will explore real-world scenarios, gauge opinion from the audience, and explore multiple approaches to serve the client.
By the end of this session, you will have a more balanced view of what approaches an agile coach can take in different situations and for organisations additional clarity on what qualities to look for when looking for help.

Speakers

John Barratt

John is a Certified Enterprise Coach who loves seeing individuals, teams andorganisations become the best they can be. He does this using a mixture of coaching approaches embedded with the agile mindset. He is often found at meetups and conferences around London trying out new ideas... Read More →

Helen Meek

Helen is an outgoing and driven coach and trainer who is passionate about working with Individuals, teams and organisations on their road to agility. Helen has working with many varied organisations and teams in many different industries and brings this vast wealth of experience and... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 11:45am - 12:15pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

12:15pm BST

Seeking Nirvana: Achieving predictability in a complex world

As Simon Wardley says: "predictability is a measure of how accurately we can anticipate something". In life and in business, human beings struggle to deal with uncertainty. When you ask people why they engage in agile transformations, change programmes, digital initiatives, scaling projects, and things like that, they will often say that they want things like faster delivery times, cheaper development, better products, higher quality or, just, more benefits. The truth is that what they often really want is to be able to trust the work being done and for it to be predictable. Faster, cheaper, better, higher, richer are all important, but predictability is the building block that enables the others.

Inspired by the ground-breaking work by Daniel Vacanti, this session will discover and explore the different Agile Transformation steps that allow us to build a predictable system that works in complex and uncertain environments. Since Jose Casal introduced this workshop to Actineo's Kanban training courses and workshops, participants consistently highlight it as the outstanding jaw-dropping takeaway from the class. So, health warning, if you have a fragile facial bone structure, please DO NOT attend the session. Otherwise, don't miss out.

A Nirvana of predictability awaits you.

Speakers

Jose Casal

Founder & Trainer, Actineo Consulting

Jose Casal is a business agility consultant & trainer with extensive experience. He is dedicated to helping organisations and individuals embrace modern management methodologies including Kanban, Scrum & Collaboration Frameworks. Strongly motivated towards continuous learning and... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 12:15pm - 12:45pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

12:45pm BST

Lunch

Friday October 18, 2019 12:45pm - 2:00pm BST
Arundel 1

Break

2:00pm BST

It's Getting Faster

Slides

Humans have always used tools to shape their environment and their lives, from stone axes to modern technology. The shift from stone tools to metal ones took millions of years. From metal tools to machines took thousands. From machines to computers, mere centuries... and it's getting faster. But why is it happening, what does it mean, and what can we do about it?Humans have always used tools to shape their environment and their lives, from stone axes to modern technology. The shift from stone tools to metal ones took millions of years. From metal tools to machines took thousands. From machines to computers, mere centuries... and it's getting faster. But why is it happening, and what does it mean for our social and technological landscape?

In this talk we look at some different perspectives on the accelerating pace of change of technology and the implications for our work and our relationships... with some hope-filled hints and tips for what to do about it!

Speakers

Liz Keogh

Liz Keogh is a Lean and Agile consultant based in London. She is a well-known blogger and international speaker, a core member of the BDD community and a passionate advocate of the Cynefin framework and its ability to change mindsets. She has a strong technical background with 20... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 2:00pm - 2:30pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

2:30pm BST

A Lean Agile Coach's Toolkit - Guides, cinema, coffee, lunch and Lego.

As a coach it is easy to fall into the trap of trying to make a splash. This is especially the case if we are new or external. This can stop self-organisation in its tracks. It makes the organisations we work with dependant on us. What happens when the coach is not there? All our hard work is undone, and organisations revert to type. Could this be one of the reasons why so many people say that Agile fails?

So, what can we do? How do we promote self-organisation? How do we ensure organisations continue to improve once we've left the building?

During this talk, we'll look at this coaching dilemma. How we can promote self-organisation, and create resilient agility? We will see a real-world case of how an organisation achieved lasting change. How armed with a guide, a cinema, coffee, lunch, and Lego we inspired an organisation to be different.

Speakers

Jean-Paul Bayley

Jean-Paul is a Partner with Actineo Consulting LLP. He is a business agility coach and trainer who is passionate about helping teams do their best work. He does this through training courses, workshops, and coaching. He has a strong technical background having worked for many years... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 2:30pm - 3:00pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

3:00pm BST

Love the Brain you're In

From different backgrounds, Kate, a post-graduate student in cognitive psychology and computational modelling, and Chris, an engineer, have reached a common commitment to understand that what makes us human affects whether we thrive or flounder at work.

Understanding the brain benefits both you and your work. Using familiar lean concepts, and examples from our practice, we'll share the science and experiences we are aware of, adding to our understanding of why we do what we do.

Speakers

Kate Gray

Kate’s diverse roles have included investing in start-ups and scale-ups; board-level rolesand consulting to support global transformation and innovation programmes, along withstrategic work on brands, products and communications. She has worked with companiesin technology, finance... Read More →

Chris Young

Friday October 18, 2019 3:00pm - 3:30pm BST
Arundel 2

Talk

3:30pm BST

Break

Friday October 18, 2019 3:30pm - 4:00pm BST
Arundel 1

Break

4:00pm BST

Continuing the story: Taking inspiration from the life of one of the central characters in our Lean Agile community.

When Martin Burns passed earlier this year our community grieved. It mourned the memory of man who dedicated his life to love, family, community and learning. We cried, supported each other shared memories and drank whisky (not whiskey of course). In this talk we want to share some of those memories with you. Not so that you can grieve with us but so that you can be inspired by him like we are. He listened and made time for others, he argued and fought hard for the things he believed in… he changed lives. He gave so much to us, we want to pass some of that on to you.

Speakers

Lucy Burns

Lucy became an events organiser of all things agile by accident. For five years now she has helped to organise conferences, leadership retreats, meet-ups and more recently funerals and house moves using Kanban.Lucy found this bold new world of agile infectious and is curious to learn... Read More →

Chris McDermott

Chris is an independent Lean Agile Coach, founder of Lean Agile Scotland and Lean Agile Glasgow and knows enough about most things under the Lean Agile banner to be both effective and dangerous all in one session.He caught the Agile bug in 2003 when, as a developer, he borrowed his... Read More →

Friday October 18, 2019 4:00pm - 5:00pm BST
Arundel 2

Keynote