Emerging Technologies
for the Enterprise 2014

Linda Rising - Author, Design Patterns in Communications

I’ve wondered for some time whether much of Agile’s success was the result of the placebo effect, that is, good things happened because we believed they would. The placebo effect is a startling reminder of the power our minds have over our perceived reality. Now cognitive scientists tell us that this is only a small part of what our minds can do. Research has identified what I like to call “an agile mindset,” an attitude that equates failure and problems with opportunities for learning, a belief that we can all improve over time, that our abilities are not fixed but evolve with effort. What’s surprising about this research is the impact of an agile mindset on creativity and innovation, estimation, and collaboration in and out of the workplace. I’ll relate what’s known about this mindset and share some practical suggestions that can help all of us become even more agile.

Jim Benson - creator, Personal Kanban

Software development requires focus, direction, and understanding: three things most software teams rarely enjoy. To build better software, we’ve tried to protect teams, to integrate teams, to elevate teams. We focus on the team, but not the individual coder. We focus on the team, but not the individual manager. We focus on the team, but not the individual ops person. We focus on team team team, but not the people on the team.

Since software is not created by machines, but by people – doesn’t it make sense to pay attention to the people? Universally, people in the industry are overloaded, distracted, and stressed.

Stress Sucks. This stress is where technical debt is born. This is where unnecessary features are released. This is where integration issues are inevitable.

In this talk, Jim Benson will tell painfully funny stories (because they’re all true) about teams of wonderful people who built terrible products, simply because they were focused on the object of value at the expense of who produced it. They were focused on process and not people. They were focused on their task-at-hand and not on what their peers were actually working on.

And … he’ll give specific and tested recommendations to cure this pandemic of overload.

Jim Benson promises a powerpoint-free presentation.

Diana Larsen - co-author, Agile Retrospective: Making Good Teams Great

Going “Agile” can confer a number of benefits to teams and organizations, but all too often those promised benefits aren’t fully delivered and everyone wonders why. As organizational leaders/mentors and Agile coaches, we find ourselves confronted when the promise of Agile doesn’t match the reality. How do we avoid the traps of “ScrumBut” or “FragileAgile” in a better way? How do we help teams and leaders ask the right questions and make the right investments? The “Path Through Agile Fluency” model of the predictable signs of agile team competency can help. Through the lens of Agile Fluency coaches help leaders define the benefits they’re getting from their current flavor of Agile, determine the benefits they really want from team effort, plan next steps, and describe success. Join Diana Larsen in an exploration of ways coaches and managers can use the model to show the path to reliable Agile competence and find the “Agile” that’s right for them. Read more about the model at www.agilefluency.com .

Abhi Nemani - Former Technologist, Code for America
Governments spend hundreds of billions of dollars on technology, but they can adopt modern practices to reduce costs and improve services. And here’s the thing: they are.

Larry Maccherone - creator, Luminize

Ironically, much of the Agile process is based on intuition. Folklore. Anecdotes. Tradition. Faith. Now, for the first time in Agile history, there is solid research backed by the hard numbers of
10,000 teams. And not surprisingly, that disturbs some existing foundations, rebuilding them with facts, evidence, and insights. This talk builds upon on­going research.