Collaboration or Communication

Tutorials

ME Twelve Heuristics for Solving Tough Problems—Faster and Better

Payson Hall, Catalysis Group, Inc.

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 8:30am

As infants, we begin our lives as problem solving machines, learning to navigate a strange and complex world in which others communicate in ways we don’t understand. Initially, we hone our problem solving talents; then many of us find our explorations thwarted and eventually stop using and then begin losing our natural problem solving ability. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Psychologists tell us that people can regain lost skills and learn new ones to become better problem solvers. Payson Hall shares techniques and skills that apply to situations in real life.

MP Solving Real Problems through Collaborative Innovation Games®

Bob Hartman, Agile For All

Michael Vizdos, Vizdos Enterprises, LLC

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 1:00pm

Are you having trouble getting people in your organization to agree on a path forward? Is collaboration sometimes more like a contest to see who can yell the loudest? Is it difficult to get customers to give you the information you need to create a product charter or unambiguous requirements? Achieving meaningful collaboration with a diverse group of people can be very difficult. Bob Hartman and Michael Vizdos shares their experiences with Innovation Games®, collaboration exercises that dramatically improve the way people work together.

MQ Six Free Ideas to Improve Agile Success

Pollyanna Pixton, Accelinnova

Mon, 11/11/2013 - 1:00pm

Free? Is anything free these days? Based on her experience working with organizational leaders and her research into what drives organizational performance, Pollyanna Pixton shares six ideas—and the keys to their effective implementation—to help assure the success of your agile teams. As a bonus, her suggestions won’t cost you a thing. Pollyanna’s first free idea is how to create a culture of trust—the keystone of open collaboration—within your team and organization. The second free idea is about ownership—how to give it and not take it back.

TD Essential Patterns of Mature Agile Teams

Bob Galen, Velocity Partners

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 8:30am

Many teams have a relatively easy time adopting the tactical aspects of agile methodologies. Usually a few classes, some tools introduction, and a bit of practice lead teams toward a fairly efficient and effective agile adoption. However, these teams often get “stuck” and begin to regress or simply start going through the motions—neither maximizing their agile performance nor delivering as much value as they could.

TG Agile Project Failures: Root Causes and Corrective Actions

Jeff Payne, Coveros, Inc.

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 8:30am

Agile initiatives always begin with the best of intentions—accelerate delivery, better meet customer needs, or improve software quality. Unfortunately, some agile projects do not deliver on these expectations. If you want help to ensure the success of your agile project or get an agile project back on track, this session is for you. Jeff Payne discusses the most common causes of agile project failure and how you can avoid these issues—or mitigate their damaging effects.

TQ Patterns for Collaboration: Toward Whole-Team Quality SOLD OUT

Janet Gregory, DragonFire, Inc.

Matt Barcomb, odbox

Tue, 11/12/2013 - 1:00pm

A lot of talk goes on in agile about how collaboration among team members helps drive a shared responsibility for quality—and more. However, most teams don't do much more than just hold stand-up meetings and have programmers and testers sit together. Although these practices improve communications, they are not collaboration! Most teams simply don't understand how to collaborate. Janet Gregory and Matt Barcomb guide you through hands-on activities that illustrate collaboration patterns for programmers and testers, working together.

Concurrent Sessions

AW2 Shut Up ‘n Play Yer Guitar Some More

David Hussman, DevJam

Wed, 11/13/2013 - 10:15am

History repeats itself as people once again become addicted to process. Today’s difficult problems call for a renaissance of agility, drawing on past success as we invent the future. Real value lies in intentional and contextual selection of agile tools instead of the noise associated with calls to practice “pure agile.” It is time to replace process-based thinking with outcome-based thinking. It is time to stop talking about process adherence and start focusing on product delivery.

AW5 Agile Success with Scrum: It’s All about the People

Bob Hartman, Agile For All

Michael Vizdos, Vizdos Enterprises, LLC

Wed, 11/13/2013 - 2:15pm

Is it possible to be doing everything Scrum says to do and still fail horribly? Unfortunately, the answer is yes—and teams do it every day. To many, Scrum means concentrating on the meetings and artifacts, and making sure the roles all do their jobs. Bob Hartman and Michael Vizdos explore why success with Scrum means understanding the people who do the work and giving them the tools and environment to do their best in a meaningful way.

AW6 Six Impossible Things before Breakfast

Dan North, Dan North & Associates, Ltd.

Kyle Thomson, Bank of America Merrill Lynch

Wed, 11/13/2013 - 2:15pm

Recently we’ve been seeing a lot of things that just don’t happen in real life. A managing director at Bank of America abandons decades of organizational “best practices” and recreates his organization by letting people organize their own teams. And, if that weren’t unusual enough, the teams even choose their own coach. Impossible. A group of former managers reinvent their role as servants rather than masters. Also impossible.

AT3 Using Non-Violent Communication Skills for Managing Team Conflict

Pat Arcady, FreeStanding Agility

Thu, 11/14/2013 - 10:15am

“Going agile” has transformed thousands of workplaces into groups of self-directed teams, more engaged and increasingly more productive. Knowledge workers report increased job satisfaction, strong team identity, and camaraderie. One of the secrets of high performing teams is their ability to manage conflict in ways that support team cohesion, deepen trust, and reinforce commitment to team greatness. Agile practices value individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Sounds great on paper! How do you live that?

AT9 Lessons from Busting Organizational Silos

Tricia Broderick, Santeon Group

Thu, 11/14/2013 - 3:45pm

We’ve all heard of the evils that can result from organizational silos—bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and the “us vs. them” mentality. Perhaps you’ve been a victim. As Tricia Broderick repeatedly experienced value from busting individual project team silos, she naturally wanted to expand her busting across the entire organization. Not surprisingly, this turned out to be anything but simple. What surprised her was how many challenges resulted from falling victim to both faulty logic and prior successes, including halting a team’s progress out of concerns of sub-optimization.