Agile Complexification Inverter

One of the suggested improvements for our AgileFest! 2013 was a  "How-To" document for planning a conference.  So in the nature of an experiment in gathering some "validated learning" I'm going to post a rough draft of this future book here.  If it gets some interest, hits, comments, suggestions then I'll turn it into an eBook. Since this page will be an on going effort to create a draft, outline, sketch, etc. of the whole how-to guide, you may want to revisit this page in a week, and again in a month. First, creating a conference is an Agile project, so treat it like any other agile project.  Hold several visioning meetings and workshops.  Insure that you and the core group explore your vision of the conference, understand the explicit goals, and try to uncover the hidden agenda of the conference drivers.  Don't kid yourselves there are alterative motives - everyone has some, so get them out in the open. Define what a suc...

[Reprint of article in "The Current" a Sabre newsletter.] “Serious” Fun at AgileFest! More than 200 Sabre employees participated in the “sold out” AgileFest! event in Southlake on March 21. AgileFest! is a one-day conference covering all aspects of Agile software development and was created and sponsored by the Airline Solutions Development Agile Coaches. This year, eight industry experts from around the country hosted sessions to share their ideas about Agile – ranging from the theoretical to the practical. Luke Hohmann, founder and CEO of Innovation Games, kicked off the morning with the keynote speech in a packed cafeteria. Luke focused on how we can use serious games with our clients to have deeper conversations, unearth priorities, drive innovation and ultimately, deliver better results. The conference then split into sessions, to allow participants to choose the topic that interested them most.  Options included a session by Eric Nusbaum about creati...

Sabre's AgileFest! Lessons Learned Review A few people that attended  AgileFest! 2013  came together to solidify lessons learned at the event.  We created  mindmaps  of the sessions.  Shared key points the speakers shared in their presentation, and exercises.  Here's our mindmaps. It was April Fool's day - so we started with an example of how to draw a mindmap in real time.  Will played the Google Nose (beta) Video , and I mapped it as an example.  Darn - didn't get a picture of that map. The Mission for the Lessons Learned session was to create an artifact for sharing and reflecting. Mind Map example Here is the group still talking about the wonderful lessons from AgileFest! 2013. What's in Your Playbook -- Jay Packlick Distributed Teams Workshop -- Derek Wade Intro to LEGO Serious Play -- Steve Paro Navigating the Sea of Change -- Modesto Hernandez & Derek Lane Creating Positive Cul...