Fall 2019 Conference Topic Descriptions

A color-coded Session Grid of topics on Oct 21st is https://bit.ly/2kmqNed

THE TICKET WINDOW IS NOW CLOSED. Thanks to all who attended

Copies of Presentations are:

David Hughes, Kanban @Vanguard

and check out David's ideas at https://dhughes-avc.com

Mark Dodge - Dark Lords SuperHeroes

Joel Chew & John Franklin Armstrong WhysWhatsProductDevelopment_AgileTour_2019_v7.pdf

Robin Ratliff of CERNER = Are We Done Yet PDF

Parag Deshpande on Product Strategy and UX, How to Manage a Financial Product

Tickets (still waiting for payment from some WaitListed People)

agilephilly.ticketleap.com

The early hour 8:30 am to 9:30 am is an hour set aside for Mingling or Optional Sessions

(The Conference does not officially begin until 9:30 am so those people fighting the PA Turnpike have some leeway as to when they arrive. The sessions in the 8:30 am hour are OPTIONAL.)

MEETING SPACE at CERNER

Auditorium A ( the big ballroom) = Coffee and Mingling. Remember that the Conference officially starts at 9:30 am

Auditorium B ( the smaller ballroom) = Kimberly Davis begins the Philly Chapter of Women in Agile

Classroom 1 = Greg Mester with "Sharing IceBreakers for the Daily Standup"

Classroom 2 = John Voris facilitates "How can Male Members support the Women in Agile Sub-Chapter?"

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Auditorium A - is for those who just want Coffee and Mingling

Instructions for the survey will include

If you are coming to one of the Optional Early-Hour Sessions, we will ask you which one

Are you attending the optional 8:30 to 9:30 Hour ? Y/N

If yes, then indicate your interest ( pick only one ). . .

                       Women in Agile Kick Off Meeting, with Kimberly Davis                         _ I want to be included in this                         _ I want to help Kimberly run this             Men supporting Women in Agile, facilitated by John Voris                         _ I am interested in seeing how this will improve my team                         _ Other              IceBreakers with Greg Mester                         _ Daily Scrum Networking and IceBreaker                         _ ( or any other question or activity you want to insert here )             I'll just be mingling and drinking coffee                         _ Just Coffee for me              I want to help with the conference and get emails from John                          and score me a nametag that says "Helper"                         _ I will come at 8:00 am and help with the Welcome Table.                                                     I have been to the conference before, so I know the routine.                                                                                        _ I am not a morning person. But I will help with cleanup afterwards.                         _ I have some really nice SWAG and will tell John about it.

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SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

-=========Table of Contents==========================-

Table of Contents

Instructions

Women in Agile - Local Philadelphia Chapter by Kimberly Davis

Sharing IceBreakers for the Daily Standup by Greg Mester

Supporting Women in Agile - The Men's Side - So what more is needed in the Workplace? by John Voris

The Dark Lord Villains Thwarting Your Agile Superhero Teams and How to Defeat Them by Mark Dodge and Terry Harmer of Vanguard

Kanban at Vanguard: How enterprise services planning improves outcomes at the world's leading mutual fund company by David Hughes

5 ways Modern Agile can take SAFe out of a Rut by Helen Wassef of Deloitte

Small Batch Sizes Enable Everything, even in the Government by Kimberly Davis

Value Stream Mapping for Business Agility by Kimberly Davis

Measuring Success for DevSecOps Adoption by Kimberly Davis

Communities of Practice for Enterprise Agility by Kimberly Davis

Agile Aggravations by Tom Hendricksen

Are We Done Yet? by Robin Ratliff

Faces of Courage in Agile Transformation by Bob Schatz

Open Mic: Coaching Up by Jen Wright and Sally Vassalotti

5 Ways to be an effective change agent in an Agile Universe by Deepika Menon and Brenda Kenny

Predicting Resistance to Change by Jorge Rivera and Arun Vinayagam of TD Bank

Lean Startup Snowflakes by Andre Dhondt

Agile Product Management and Faux Turkey Dinner by Andre Dhondt

3 Simple Rules for Hyper-productive Meetings (and how to measure the Communication Coefficient) by Andre Dhondt

Agile Philly - A Peer Panel of Common People addressing Common Problems by Scott Ocamb of RoadmapToAgile.com

Dave's not here! (50 years of telework research and experience) by Daniel Gullo of Apple Brook Consulting

13 Strategies for an Effective Job Search by Jason Biser of Apex Systems

And in the Special track for UI/UX/Product Development

-===-

The Incredibles (of an Agile Team) - The Scrum Master & The Product Owner by Deepika Menon and Brenda Kenny

Product development for internal clients by Julie Press

Managing Wealth through Product Strategy by Parag Deshpande

Collaboration in the Information Age by Andrew Evans

Agile for Non-IT Teams by Craeg Strong

Now You See It! ... Observing Flow Using Kanban Boards by Craeg Strong

-=========== End of Table of Contents ===========================================-

Auditorium A is just

Coffee and Mingling

Auditorium B

Women in Agile - Local Philadelphia Chapter

by Kimberly Davis

Kimberly Davis is starting a Women in Agile group in the area, and the 8:30am breakout will be the first instance of this group convening.

This is likely to be a sub-group somewhat similar to the AgilePrinceton group.

Come to this session to suggest what areas this new direction of AgilePhilly should pursue.

Join your "Agilista Sistas" to reflect on common areas of interest.

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Classroom 1

Sharing IceBreakers for the Daily Standup

by Greg Mester

Greg will cover his entertaining IceBreakers for your Daily Standup

Since this is an interactive session, bring your own ideas and things tried and true - or just tried and floundered.

Greg Mester is a long time AgilePhilly member, Phillies Baseball Fan, long-time blogger and recently partnered up with Clear Systems to bring ICP-ATF training to Philly These classes are usually scheduled for weekends at the Courtyard Philadelphia Valley Forge/King of Prussia.

-===-

Classroom 2

Supporting Women in Agile - The Men's Side - So what more is needed in the Workplace?

by John Voris

As managers, we men should be creating a workplace that is friendly, welcoming, even-handed and fair. We should be cognizant of what is upsetting or irritating in our workplace or to our co-workers. We may not know all they deal with, and we cannot address all concerns of gender in the workplace - but we should make attempts to understand the concerns of our staff.

Working Agreements and Codes of Conduct can cover many logistical issues of the workplace, but they are not enough. At the end of this experimental discussion, we will develop a Manifesto (a Code of Conduct v2) that states what we as managers shall strive to do in our workplace. This is a facilitated discussion with frank and open talk to tackle ingrained biases.

John Voris is a CSM and Lead Coordinator of AgilePhilly. As a member of many volunteer user groups, he has seen how some groups and his own workplace staff are slow to show concerns of changing 21st Century attitudes. The PHL Police Department has examples for us to talk about.

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FIRST HOUR 9:45- 10:45

The Dark Lord Villains Thwarting Your Agile Superhero Teams and How to Defeat Them

by Mark Dodge and Terry Harmer of Vanguard

This talk is ...

. An exploration of old-school traditional versus new-school "superhero" teams

. An introduction of the 4 Dark Lord Villains thwarting agile team collaboration and the 4 agile team Superheroes you need to defeat them

. and has interactive hands-on exercises to learn how to analyze and remedy real-world dysfunctional scenarios

Mark Dodge is Senior Scrum Master at Vanguard. His certs are CSP, CSM, PMI-ACP, ICP-ATF, ICP-ACC, and his Agile journey started in 2006 with varied experiences as Product Owner and Dev Team Manager, and is currently a Scrum Master.

Terry Harmer is a Senior Scrum Master at Vanguard, His certs are CSP, CSM, PSM, PAL, ICP-ACC, and he has worked as a Support Engineer, Developer, Manager and Coach across a range of industries and geographic locations for startups to Fortune 100's.

-===-

Kanban at Vanguard: How enterprise services planning improves outcomes at the world's leading mutual fund company

by David Hughes

"Scrum-Stall" is a common symptom of dysfunction when knowledge work teams favor procedure over committing to evolutionary change.

This experience report is about the successful experiments at Vanguard aligning the Kanban Method and Enterprise Services Planning (ESP) with its own enabling practices to improve key outcome measures. The theme of "Overcoming ScrumStall" by adopting the Kanban Method is covered, with evidence of dramatic and immediate improvement in the flow of business value after adopting Kanban.

This Scrumm-Stall talk has been presented at Lean Kanban Global Conference 2019, Agile and Beyond 2019 Conference, and the Vanguard internal FinTech Summit.

Dave Hughes is a practitioner of the Kanban Method, eXtreme Programming, and the Scrum Method. He has been a speaker at conferences for Lean Kanban, AgilePhilly, Agile and Beyond, the Project Management Institute, the Network for Women with Careers in Technology, the AICPA, the Software Engineering Institute, MITRE Corporation, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.

Dave has taught professional development and technical courses to over 8,000 people world-wide. He has nearly four decades of business, engineering, and professional experience, including 22 years using Lean and Agile techniques. He originated Accepted Value Costing (AVC), the evolutionary approach to Lean-Agile costing and decision making.

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5 ways Modern Agile can take SAFe out of a Rut

by Helen Wassef of Deloitte

Points covered are ...

. What SAFE is

. What Modern Agile is

. How a hybrid approach can accelerate journey to agility

Helen Wassef is known to many at AgilePhilly for hosting the AgilePrinceton group at Deloitte in New Jersey, and for being one of the speakers at the Spring Conference on Definition of Done Day

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Small Batch Sizes Enable Everything, even in the Government

by Kimberly Davis

Lean practices teach us that small batch sizes optimize flow of value to market. Small batch sizes also enable organizations to focus on building quality into our systems by enabling the power of continuous integration, enabling faster feedback cycles, increasing our ability to debug, increasing our focus on simplicity, decreasing lead and cycle time, and decreasing snow plowing testing efforts.

These things are critical for helping to build quality into our products. In the government sector, it also enables the alignment of traditional Earned Value Management constraints and Agile for project management tracking. Kimberly Davis, ASRC Federal's Agile Solutions Architect, will discuss how their work decomposition process has been a critical component in facilitating quality and alignment for their supported government agencies.

Kimberly Davis works for ASRC Federal as an Agile Solutions Architect. She leads large Scaled Agile transitions for government agencies across ASRC Federal's enterprise, which also includes proposal support, client meeting support on enterprise Agility offerings, Scaled Agile certification trainings and powering an Agile CoP. Kimberly has a passion for Scaling Agile, Agile Transformations and Agile Culture and has presented at conferences in the Philadelphia area where she is also an AgilePhilly mentor. Kimberly is a Scaled Agile Program Consultant (SPC) giving her the ability to train and certify others in Scaled Agile practices. Additionally, she holds many Agile certifications as she believes it is essential to continuously improve in oneself: SA, SP, CSM, CSPO, CAL1, ICP-FDO, and PMI-ACP. Kimberly also has a background in software development and project management with a degree in Computer Science and an MBA.

-===-

Value Stream Mapping for Business Agility

by Kimberly Davis

Agile is a mindset based off a set of core values and principles which strive for delivering incremental value delivery to consumers. While it was first derived for modernizing software development practices, those values and principles can be applied throughout an organization and any type of organization - not just one that produces software.

All businesses are producing something valuable to market, so the concepts of Agility are universal.

Kimberly Davis, ASRC Federal's Agile Solutions Architect, will discuss how using Value Stream Mapping will identify areas where application of Agile principles are needed to increase throughput of value to the market. The Value Stream Mapping process helps organizations understand all the steps needed to create deliverable value and where Agility can increase speed to market.

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Measuring Success for DevSecOps Adoption

by Kimberly Davis

DevOps is supported by a culture based on "whole team" accountability that enables a Continuous Delivery pipeline of value to customers.

DevSecOps adds an iterative focus on security into this culture which creates a shared responsibility for assuring the Value Stream delivers secure products. For several years, it is consistently reported that resistance to change is the number one reason for Agile adoption failures. Simply stated, culture that does not support Agile adoptions, does not support Agility in general which includes DevSecOps.

Kimberly Davis, ASRC Federal's Agile Solutions Architect, will discuss a method for identifying a purpose for change to create a meaningful mission to support cultural buy-in, establishing incremental steps toward DevSecOps maturity, and a measurement model for baselining and showing growth towards full DevSecOps adoption. These components are essential for fostering a culture that supports any DevSecOps model.

-===-

Communities of Practice for Enterprise Agility

by Kimberly Davis

Organizations that have various entities building a multitude of solutions across the enterprise may end up with a number of Agile implementations. Autonomy is important for each entity, however, optimizing as a whole is essential for growing Agile maturity throughout.

Having a centralized, enterprise Agile Community of Practice where all Agile Leaders have a place to learn, discuss and evolve creates harmonious growth that is independent of product solutions and technologies used. Kimberly Davis, ASRC Federal's Agile Solutions Architect, will discuss how their model for a light-weight Agile Community of Practice expedites Agile maturity throughout, including basic Scrum adoption to Scaled Agile with DevSecOps implementation across their enterprise.

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Agile Aggravations

by Tom Hendricksen

This talk on Agile Aggravations addresses many of the struggles we encounter as agile practitioners.

From beginner to expert we run into issues creating user stories, backlog bugaboos, and run-of-the-mill retrospectives.

Tom Henricksen is an experienced technology professional with the chops to relate personally to this topic. He has worked in various roles in technology for over fifteen years.

Tom's books include: Agile Basics in 60 minutes -and- Agile Project Management - A Beginner's Quick Start Guide to Mastering the Basics of Agile Project Management -and- Beyond Agile: What is the next big development paradigm? He has also created courses on agility and technical leadership.

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Are We Done Yet?

by Robin Ratliff

Consider the average American garage, basement or workshop: truly, it is easier to start a project than to finish one. This applies equally whether you are replacing a faucet or building a software solution.

At work, a deadline introduces an additional wrinkle. Sometimes the deadline leads us to rationalize our project's doneness in the interest of progress. We may cope by changing the scope, changing the deadline, or worst of all - compromising quality.

This session will tell the story of one or more complex projects (for example the construction of Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5).

We will survey a few typical reasons projects fail and what we can learn from the epic failures of others. Then we will look at a common sense, locally created, tool that can help ensure your project is "done done done" when you reach the deadline.

This presentation builds on the areas covered in the AgilePhilly Spring Conference of Definition of Done.

Robin will be sharing a project checklist used at Cerner which ensures team members are doing what's necessary during various phases of the project. A sample Project Initialization Plan is included.

Robin Ratliff is a Senior Development Project Manager at Cerner Corporation in Malvern, PA. She is motivated by a strong preference for projects that achieve the stated objective within the allotted timeframe. When not at work, Robin enjoys the endless quest for completion of home improvement projects with her husband Eden and her 115 pound German Shepherd, Toby Keith Ratliff.

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Faces of Courage in Agile Transformation

by Bob Schatz

Courage is a commonly stated value in agile principles and values.

However, only a small fraction of people in organizations can employ it in extremely limited circumstances. This makes transformation an ellusive target that can cause high levels of frustration at every level of an organization.

Unlock the mysteries of what creates a great change agent and how they experience the consequences.

This was part of my Doctoral Dissertation completed earlier this year.

Bob Schatz is a 35-year veteran in the software/systems development profession. Bob is the Owner of Agile Infusion LLC, an agile training and consulting firm based in the Philadelphia area. He was an early pioneer in the practical application of agile practices and helped transform many organizations around the world.

Bob is a Certified Scrum Trainer, and holds a Doctor of Management degree from Thomas Jefferson University.

-===-

Open Mic: Coaching Up

by Jen Wright and Sally Vassalotti

The term "coaching up" traditionally refers to communication with a supervisor or person above you in the organizational chart.

"Coaching up" strategies can be effective for all levels. Have you ever had a conversation with a boss, PO, Scrum Master or leader that did not go well? Is one of your teammates dropping the ball? When difficult situations do happen == or, better yet, when you anticipate them happening == can you let them know about the problem in a polite and helpful manner?

Coworkers should appreciate your initiative. But often times, our instincts tell us to fight and go on the defensive which may result in the blame game.

Jen Wright and Sally Vassalotti will share how to effectively interact with leaders throughout your organization. They will walk you through real-life scenarios they have used to "coach up" effectively. We will try these techniques in groups, so be prepared to share your real-life experiences with us.

Jen Wright is an experienced product manager certified in Pragmatic Marketing (PMC-II) and CSPO with a history of working in the computer software industry. She has seven years of experience in product management using agile methodologies and has been managing and leading teams for over fifteen years. Jen is skilled in agile testing, technology needs analysis, agile methodologies, project estimation, and customer relationship management.

Sally Vassalotti is a Scrum Master, Agile Coach and Project Manager with over 15 years of experience - and guides teams to implement and practice agile principles. Sally is passionate about helping teams improve in order to deliver value to clients and customers. Sally's certifications include PMP-ACP, CSM, CSP and Pragmatic Marketing(PMC-I).

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5 Ways to be an effective change agent in an Agile Universe

by Deepika Menon and Brenda Kenny

Change is the only thing that is constant and the term Agile reverberates change and our ability to embrace/adapt to change.

We will have an interactive session on different organizational approaches to introduce change and how the work force will respond to it. Further, we will also explore 5 different ways in which ANYONE can act as a change agent regardless of their role in the organizational hierarchy.

Deepika Menon is a Certified Scrum Master, who is passionate about human psychology and people dynamics at the workplace and how it can impact the success of any team/organization. He is a Cox Automotive employeeand Agilist at a philosophical level and likes to explore the further/deeper dimensions of agile in all walks of life.

Brenda Kenny's 20 years of experience in growth-stage software development spans across the Automotive, e-Commerce, Pharmaceutical, Financial, and e-Learning industries. In her current role as a Senior Product Manager for HomeNet Automotive, a Cox Automotive Brand, Brenda collaborates with clients, team members and stakeholders to create and launch merchandising products that help dealerships save time and sell more cars.

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Predicting Resistance to Change

by Jorge Rivera and Arun Vinayagam of TD Bank

Change is the only constant in life- but resistance to change is natural. Struggling with modifications or transformations that alter your way of thinking, beliefs and even the status quo is hard. Individuals may even put up a wall when change is poorly introduced or when they don't see the need for it.

Join us in an experiential session to explore what it takes to identify resistance early, and the steps to prepare your company's culture for change.

We will cover:

. What causes Resistance to Change

. The neurobiology behind change

. How to identify resistance early on

. How to address Resistance to Change

. Tips to introduce and manage change effectively from the start

Jorge Rivera is a technology leader, transformation specialist and Agile Coach with a passion for building strong teams and valuable business outcomes. With 20 years in the financial and media services in various roles as Infrastructure Architect, Scrum Master, Release Train Engineer and Agile Coach, he holds Agile credentials that include CSM (Certified Scrum Master), CSPO (Certified Scrum Product Owner), ICA-ACC (Agile Certified Coach) and ICA-ATF (Agile Team Facilitation) certifications.

Arun Vinayagam is a seasoned Agilist and Scrum Master with 13 years in Credit Cards, Payments and Home Lending and as Business Analyst, Quality Assurance, PMO and Product owner. He has been a key contributor on insourcing and regulatory projects going from traditional waterfall models to agile at six different financial institutions.

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Lean Startup Snowflakes

by Andre Dhondt

Andre Dhondt of Reach Escape Velocity has been helping executives for over a decade - increasing quality, reducing stress, and decreasing process time. Recently he's been applying these skills to Clinical Trial Management/Oversight organizations to help them reduce Study Set-Up Time below the 10-week average of the industry.

Andre is also a Leader of Agile Philly and instrumental in bringing the International AgileTour to America.

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Agile Product Management and Faux Turkey Dinner

by Andre Dhondt

Andre is also a Leader of Agile Philly and instrumental in bringing the International AgileTour to America.

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3 Simple Rules for Hyper-productive Meetings (and how to measure the Communication Coefficient)

by Andre Dhondt

Andre is also a Leader of Agile Philly and instrumental in bringing the International AgileTour to America.

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Agile Philly - A Peer Panel of Common People addressing Common Problems

by Scott Ocamb of RoadmapToAgile.com

A standard part of the October Conference is the "Panel of Experts"

This session will endeavor to have regular members of the monthly meeting discuss their common problems and build rapport for enhanced problem solving.

Since members of Agile Philly are involved in agile software delivery at all levels of maturity, we should share among ourselves successful and unsuccessful ideas. Some members are fortunate enough to be involved with highly mature teams - while others (most likely most of the members) are involved with teams where the maturity level varies widely from low maturity to firms on a clear journey to a high adoption goal.

As a group, we have tremendous experience implementing agile process. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss as peers the challenges we have and some of the success as well. We will use the outline below as a general guide to the discussion. (It roughly follows the Scrum process. And we hope to summarize on post-its the ideas generated.)

. Estimation - discuss all things estimation related from story points to hours to no estimation at all.

. Backlog Grooming - discuss how teams perform this important activity and challenges to making it happen. What happens when it is not done well.

. Sprint Planning- discuss how the meeting is conducted and how teams commit to a sprint. Is velocity and or hour estimates used?

. Sprint Execution - discuss challenges in sprint execution and how teams self-organize.

. Standup - discuss how the meeting is kept short and examples about how they are conducted.

. Sprint Demo - discuss how the meeting is conducted and the challenges that occur. Are features demonstrated prior to the meeting? What happens when a Product Owner is not fully engaged and perhaps misses the meeting?

. Retrospectives - discuss how true value is achieved from this meeting and challenges to reaching that goal.

. Release Schedule - most companies want some type of release schedule or product roadmap. Discuss challenges to meeting this goal and ideas that people use to achieve it.

. DevOps - this has become an extension of the Agile process. Discuss challenges to performing frequent releases as well examples where it is done well.

. Architecture - proper architecture is a true impediment to Agile especially when DevOps is considered. Discuss challenges to getting systems changed to support more vertical slices of features that are independent and examples of where it was done well.

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Dave's not here! (50 years of telework research and experience)

by Daniel Gullo of Apple Brook Consulting

There is a 50 year history of remote working. Learn what the research tells us, and what the future holds along with some opportunities for attendees to have share their thoughts and experiences.

Daniel Gullo is a long-time member and sponsor of the October Conference. Located inn Wilmington DE, Daniel does training and consulting throughout the region.

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13 Strategies for an Effective Job Search

by Jason Biser of Apex Systems

This was presented to overflow crowd at Code Camp in April 2019. A good session for anyone currently in the market.

Jason Biser runs the Applications Recruitment Teams at Apex Systems.

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And in the Special track for UI/UX/Product Development

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The Incredibles (of an Agile Team) - The Scrum Master & The Product Owner

by Deepika Menon and Brenda Kenny

This is a discussion on the impact this dynamic duo can have on building an incredible agile team.

It is an exploration of the pitfalls that these roles need to avoid and advantages that these roles can leverage. Period.

-===-

Product development for internal clients

by Julie Press

. Why is a process analysis important from a product owner perspective before requirement gathering?

. Requirement gathering, user feedback

. What does change management look like before releasing products for internal clients?

Julie Press is a Leader of the Product Tank Meetup that AgilePhilly has been partnering with this year.

-===-

Managing Wealth through Product Strategy

by Parag Deshpande

This talk will demonstrate the process used to turn a Vision into Strategy then into an actual Product for Wealth Managers and Advisors.

The team designed and developed a Wealth Advisory Ecosystem for Asset and Wealth Managers Client Advisors use at private banks for efficiently managing a client's investment portfolio. One interesting part of the process was how future planning and other models evolved for mangement to derive rule-based portfolio decisions.

Although this product is specific to one industry, the agile methodologies used in designing and delivering this product will be the focus as well as showcasing the close collaboration between product management, user experience, and the development team using agile methodologies.

Parag Deshpande is a Senior UX Designer with more than a decade of experience in solving complex and tricky problems through the process of product innovation, business strategy, and design.

Bridging business and design, the designer must bring creative solutions to the table, while one's MBA training brings forth the analytical reasons behind decisions.

Currently working at EPAM Systems, Parag has in the past worked at VMware Workspace ONE, at Cognizant, and has founded a startup.

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Collaboration in the Information Age

by Andrew Evans

Through the historic ages?-?from the Agrarian, to the Industrial, and our present Information & Technology Age?-?the speed and quantity of information has exponentially increased, and now vastly exceeds our feeble capacity to actually make sense of it. Resulting in overload. In light of this, how shall we collaborate? What does quality collaboration look like?

Andrew Evans is a Senior UX Designer at Frontline Education in Malvern.

A Philly design native by way of Temple U's Tyler School of Art, Andy has been practicing UX in agencies small, Comcast-large, and now Frontline Education for about 10 years. Residing in nearby West Chester, he is wrangling two young boys and a budding obsession for running.

This presentation was included as a 10 minute reduced version at Invision's January evening event. Obviously, this is the full version.

-===-

Agile for Non-IT Teams

Why should IT have all the fun? This interactive workshop will explore how non-IT organizations are leveraging Lean and Agile principles to improve the way they work. We will explore how Kanban boards are being used in surprising and innovative ways to track things like insurance underwriting, sales funnels, and HR team workflows. We will have a look at how an agency leverages visual boards as they develop digital assets and new campaigns (i.e. "Discovery Kanban"). Finally, we will explore alternative board designs for managing portfolios of work (i.e. "Portfolio Kanban").

By reviewing and analyzing different examples across multiple disciplines, and developing your own alternatives, we hope to generate new insights and deepen our understanding of how to leverage the power of visualization in your own organizations.

Craeg Strong is the CTO of Ariel Partners, a small IT consulting company based in Times Square. He is currently teaching public Kanban classes and coaching teams to adopt and mature Agile/Kanban practices in the NYC area. He has 25 years of experience in information technology, starting at Project Athena during his undergraduate studies at MIT. Mr. Strong has successfully instituted Agile and DevOps practices on large and complex commercial and government software projects, helping them to obtain new capabilities and realize significant cost efficiencies.

Mr. Strong leverages his experience as a hands-on software architect, trainer and agile coach to help remove the barriers that prevent organizations from adopting new technologies== such as cloud. Mr. Strong led a successful transformation of a major FBI Criminal justice program from a traditional waterfall lifecycle and manual intensive processes to lighter weight agile processes and full DevOps automation.

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Now You See It! ... Observing Flow Using Kanban Boards

This is a two-part interactive workshop begins with a detailed look at how to interpret Kanban boards and ask thoughtful questions so that you can improve the work of your teams. I will briefly review the Kanban Method and then proceed through a series of several short exercises that will give you an opportunity to review and interpret various Kanban board configurations with other attendees at your table.

Part two of the session puts the attendees in the driver's seat to create their own board configurations. I will provide several business scenario exercises and ask the attendees how they would go about configuring their Kanban board given the unique system constraints for each scenario.

(This workshop is more likely to become a session for an evening monthly meeting, as it may be difficult to fit into the shorter time slots we have for the conference)

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Last Years scheduling of Topics ( 2018 Grid Schedule)

Pre-Conference Sessions are from 8:30 am to 9:30 am

Official Start Time is 9:30 am

Welcome Messages from 9:30 am to 9:45 am

9:45 - 10:45 First Morning Hour

11:00 to 12:00 noon Second Morning Session

12:00 - 1:00 Lunch in the Big Room

1:00 - 2:00 First Afternoon Session

2:15 - 3:15 Agile Terminology Raffle and Panel of Experts

3:30 to 4:30 Final Afternoon Session

-==========================================================-

Topic: Fun Daily Scrum Networking and ICE-BREAKER questions after introducing their name and company.. A great tool to get teams to realize how easy it is to hold a daily scrum and it is applied here as a social networking ice breaker, so people can create social and professional connections throughout the conference. Groups of 30 people take less than 10 minutes to ask the 3 questions:

1) What fun thing did you do last weekend?

2) What fun thing do you plan to do this coming weekend? and

3) What blockers do you have to having fun this weekend?

-or-

1) What new Agile technique/concept did you do last week or month?

2) What new Agile technique/concept would you like to learn today? and

3) What blockers do you have to trying a new agile concept and could you use some help of follow-up with AgilePhilly?

Bio: Greg Mester an Agile Cheerleader is currently transforming an organization of over 30 plus teams into an Agile organization. Greg loves to get teams to work at an enjoyable, sustainable pace, so they have time to enjoy life and produce timely customer solutions.. His career journey includes: engineer, independent business owner, project / program manager, Scrum Master and continues as an Agile Coach. Greg's 30 years of experience includes Agile and Scrum work with over 30 teams across 8 different companies in areas ranging from fighter jets and tanks to software in brick and mortar stores, entertainment, schools, health care, insurance, logistics and large corporate IT organizations.

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When we do surveys of topics, your choices do not bind you to any one session.

When you purchase your ticket, that is when we would like

you to commit.

The following list of topics let's us get a inkling on which is more popular. We do this so we can size the rooms properly. Even then, we

may be forced to make last minute changes on the day of the conference. But we are agile and all of us can adjust quickly.

Fall 2019 Conference Topic Descriptions

Instructions for the survey will include

SESSION DESCRIPTIONS

And in the Special track for UI/UX/Product Development

Coffee and Mingling

Women in Agile - Local Philadelphia Chapter

Sharing IceBreakers for the Daily Standup

Supporting Women in Agile - The Men's Side - So what more is needed in the Workplace?

FIRST HOUR 9:45- 10:45

The Dark Lord Villains Thwarting Your Agile Superhero Teams and How to Defeat Them

Kanban at Vanguard: How enterprise services planning improves outcomes at the world's leading mutual fund company

5 ways Modern Agile can take SAFe out of a Rut

Small Batch Sizes Enable Everything, even in the Government

Value Stream Mapping for Business Agility

Measuring Success for DevSecOps Adoption

Communities of Practice for Enterprise Agility

Agile Aggravations

Are We Done Yet?

Faces of Courage in Agile Transformation

Open Mic: Coaching Up

5 Ways to be an effective change agent in an Agile Universe

Predicting Resistance to Change

Lean Startup Snowflakes

Agile Product Management and Faux Turkey Dinner

3 Simple Rules for Hyper-productive Meetings (and how to measure the Communication Coefficient)

Agile Philly - A Peer Panel of Common People addressing Common Problems

Dave's not here! (50 years of telework research and experience)

13 Strategies for an Effective Job Search

And in the Special track for UI/UX/Product Development

The Incredibles (of an Agile Team) - The Scrum Master & The Product Owner

Product development for internal clients

Managing Wealth through Product Strategy

Collaboration in the Information Age

Agile for Non-IT Teams

Now You See It! ... Observing Flow Using Kanban Boards

Last Years scheduling of Topics ( 2018 Grid Schedule)

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