November « 2009 « Thinking for a Change

Nov

XP Days Benelux 2009 is over

It’s been a busy November

Last week we organised XP Days Benelux and I’ve just about recovered from it. It was fun, as usual, and participants seemed generally happy with the event. You can see for yourself in the reports, participant retrospective and session feedback.

There are also a lot of things which could be better. The organisers are already busy setting up a retrospective and next year’s events.

A full report will follow later.

If you’ve written about XP Days Benelux, let us know. We gather all the reports on the conference website.

If you have any feedback or ideas for improvement, let us know. Even better, join the organising committee and realise your ideas.

Organising a conference is fun even if you’ve never done it before. There are enough experienced organisers to pair with. It does take some time and effort, so make sure that you’ll be able to invest in the conference. In return, you get the chance to take part in a non-IT Agile project.

Nov

Agile Tour 2009 retrospective

Agile Tour Besançon and Lille 2009

This year, I participated in two stops of the Agile Tour in France: Besançon and Lille.

In Besançon I presented the “Résoudre les Conflits sans Compromis“. In Lille I presented the “A l’aide! Mon processus m’étrangle“. The participants of the Conflict Resolution in Besançon did a session retrospective.

This is my conference retrospective

What Went Well

Both conferences were relatively small (fewer than 100 participants) with three tracks, so that it was possible to meet many of the participants and the audience sizes weren’t too large.
A mixture of foreign and local presenters. Although, in Lille the presenter from Toulouse was more foreign than the one from Belgium
Participants to both workshops happily played along and told me they had learned some useful techniques.
Going to lunch and dinner with local agilistas and hearing about their challenges and successes.
I’ll be back soon in Besançon.
I hope I’ll be back soon in Lille, and this time not just as a train stop between London and Brussels.
Participating in Christophe Thibaut’s well-rehearsed and interactive Haskell kata and going off the cliff with him as we “implemented just one more small feature” because we took too big a step and failed to really let the tests drive the code.
Participating in Olivier Albiez and André Dhondt’s Pomodoro simulation.
15 participants for the Conflict Resolution session.
8 participants for the Theory of Constraints session is just enough to run the simulation.

What Went Wrong

My French could be better. It’s sometimes hard to switch between Dutch, English and French from one day to the next. “Today is Friday, this must be France.”
Not being able to talk with all the participants I wanted to talk with.
Only 8 participants for the Bottleneck session.
Forgot to bring Belgian Chocolate to Besançon, so got lots of “What Went Wrong” feedback.
My eyes hurt during the Haskell kata session in Lille, probably because of the lighting in the low-ceilinged meeting room.

Puzzles

What’s the real state of agility in France? It seems that there’s less uptake than in the “Anglo-Saxon-oriented” countries (UK, the Flemish part of Belgium, Netherlands, Scandinavia, Finland). Why? Is the language a factor?
Where are the French-speaking Belgian Agilists hiding? I know only three, but there must be more.

Lessons Learnt

It’s not an Agile Coach session if it doesn’t contain chocolates and sweets.
The “Resolve Conflicts without Compromise” session works in French too. That means I’ll have to translate the materials in French.

Merci aux organisateurs, orateurs et participants. Et, qui sait, à l’année prochaine?

Oct

Resolve Conflicts without Compromise at XP Days Benelux

I present the “Resolve Conflicts without compromise” with Jef Cumps at the XP Days Benelux conference on November 24th.

Bring a conflict to the session and come out of the session with several ideas to turn this conflict into a win-win situation. If you don’t have any conflicts, you can learn how to help others solve their conflicts as a Systems Thinking consultant.

Oct

Toyota Way at XP Days Benelux 2009

Portia and I present the “Toyota Way Management Principles to Sustain Lean and Agile” at the XP Days Benelux 2009 conference.

Come and learn how we’ve applied the Toyota Way management principles to introduce Lean and Agile methods in such a way that the companies can sustain the change.

Oct

Customer Value Analysis in London 3-4 November 2009

What is Customer Value Analysis?

Customer Value Analysis is the name we came up with to describe the process we use to derive User Stories and Acceptance Criteria from project and company goals. It’s nothing new, it contains a lot of tried and tested Business and Functional Analysis techniques. It’s incremental and iterative, so that it’s a perfect frontend process to “feed” an Agile development team. It’s pull-driven, so you can keep your team fed with high value User Stories, just-in-time, when they need it and in the form they need it.

We’ve seen many projects where the Onsite Customer or Product Owner became the bottleneck, as the development team’s velocity improved. Customer Value Analysis contains the process and techniques we’ve used to exploit and elevate the analysis bottleneck and subordinate it to development again. Now the development team can continue to improve, because the Customer can keep up.

The companies where we’ve applied Customer Value Analysis are always suprised by how much value their teams can deliver. How do they do it? They

Identify the high value needs
Derive the leanest possible implementation that satisfies the needs, by taking small steps and really understanding the situation
Challenge constraints and assumptions to find breakthrough solutions
Describe the solutions with User Stories and Acceptance Criteria
Do this efficiently, reliably and repeatably

Come and play with us!

Portia and I deliver a series of Customer Value Analysis training sessions, organised by emergn in London. You can expect a hands-on, fun-filled and very intensive session where you can learn and experiment with all the techniques on a real project.

The next training course is on the 3rd and 4th November 2009 in London. See you there!

If you’re interested in a session in Belgium or your country or company, let me know.

Thinking for a Change

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