Topic:

This is an informal meetup of the Belgian Agile and Lean community. Come after work and meet people you usually only meet at conferences. Anyone interested in Agile or Lean can join.

Add your name to the list to attend.

Location:

Foodsquare
Rue du Marché aux Herbes 120
1000 Bruxelles

Between Brussels Central station and the Grand’ Place.

See you there!

In this interactive tutorial you’ll be able to apply “Business Value Modelling” on a case study, to decide on the goals and definition of value for an improvement project.

Come and play with us!

This will be two days of engaging discussions around Agile in General. Don’t expect polished presentations, it’s all about sharing ideas and interaction.

To learn more about the Open Spaces concept, check out the description.

This Agile-fest is kindly hosted again by IBBT.

In this edition, we would like to support learning/exploring ‘Agile’ by experience and call upon your imagination to come up with agile simulations, games. Of course plain old discussions are fine too!

Register now.

See you there

See you there on April 7th!

See you on April 1st in Mechelen.

to inspire each other and

to learn how using serious games can help us achieve our goals

I’ll attend the Play 4 Agile open space conference in Frankfurt, Germany from February 18th to 21st. I expect to learn more about creating and facilitating learning experiences. And have fun too, of course!

Follow @play4agile or #p4a11 to see what new games come out of the conference.

XP Day session tryout: Agreeing on Business Value with Systems Thinking

Cap Gemini will host the next Agile/XP Belgium usergroup meeting. This session is a tryout for XP Days Benelux.

We talk a lot about “maximizing business value”. We ask business people and product managers to prioritise by estimating the business value of user stories. But what exactly do we mean by business value?

Over the past few years we’ve worked with many teams to define their “Business Value Model”, a clear definition of the value a project will bring to the organisation. The exercise hasn’t always been easy but it has always brought significant benefits:

• Measurable business value in units that impact the organization (such as revenue €€€, customer satisfaction, staff retention)
• Everybody involved was more motivated because there was a clear reason for the project and they finally understood what it was
• The whole team was aligned around one vision because we had clear criteria to define success
• We came up with more innovative solutions because everybody on the team, not only “the business” or “product managers/owners” could take product-related decisions based on the model
• We could deliver a lot faster than anybody expected because the Business Value Model allowed us to easily distinguish between value-adding and non-value-adding features
• We spent a lot less time writing and prioritising user stories because we were able to derive the user stories from the value definitions
• The Business Value Model guided us to explore new product ideas: the business value model was a hypothesis that we could test and refine each time we released or performed user testing.

In this interactive tutorial you’ll apply some Systems Thinking techniques, such as the Diagram of Effects and Intermediate Objectives Map) to define the business value model of an example project. We’ll show you the techniques we used and discuss how you can apply those techniques in you context so that you’ll be ready to start building a business value model with your team.

Agenda:

• 18:00 – 19:00 – Welcome with snacks and drinks
• 19:00 – 21:00 – Session

Address: Bessenveldstraat 19, B-1831 Diegem, Belgium

Register here for this free event

XP Days Benelux 2010 will be held in Kapellerput, Heeze (near Eindhoven), The Netherlands on 25-26 November

The program for XP Days Benelux has been published. This year we have more sessions than ever before: 41 sessions over 2 days. As always, it’s going to be hard to select only one session from the five parallel tracks.

I’ll be presenting “Agreeing on Business Value with Systems Thinking” with Portia Tung. I’ll be doing a tryout of this presentation, which has been updated after presenting it at Agile 2010. Come to the Agile/XP Belgium user group meeting on Tuesday 26th of October.

If you want to see a tryout of the “Database Change Management” session, join us in the Agile/XP Belgium user group meeting on Tuesday 5th of October.

IHC hosts the next Agile/XP Belgium usergroup meeting. There will be two sessions in parallel

Session 1: “A journey into Database Change Management” by Jochen Jonckheere and Pascal Mestdach. This is a tryout for XP Days Benelux.

Abstract:

We will bring you the story of our journey into database change management. We share our experiences with concrete examples/common situations and explain the different parts of Database Change Management along the way. During our journey we encountered several problems. We let participants reflect on how they would solve these problems, before we show the solution we picked. This is an interactive technical session where you will see 2 developers working together, writing some small sql scripts, breaking and fixing automated builds and even in the end a tool for handling Database Change Management in an automated way in the .NET environment.

Session 2: To be decided

Agenda:

• 18:00 – 19:00 – Welcome with snacks and drinks
• 19:00 – 21:00 – Parallel Sessions

Register here for this free meeting.

Address: Legeweg 157 E/02, 8020 Oostkamp, Belgium

Portia and I have been invited to re-run the “Solve Conflicts without Compromise” session from SPA 2010 at Mini SPA 2010 on Friday September 10th. In the SPA session, participants used the Conflict Resolution Diagram to explore four real-world conflicts brought by the participants. I really liked doing the session, because the participants could really try out the tool and four participants got some ideas to solve some important conflict in their work and life.

Two features of the session were crucial to its success: we had plenty of time (3 hours) and a limited number of participants (20). Neither of those conditions will be true at Mini SPA. Therefore, we’ve had to apply some systems thinking tools to ensure that the session still delivers the benefits.

Check out the programme of Mini SPA: it features 6 of the most liked sessions of the SPA conference in two tracks. The conference is free, but you need to register. Don’t wait too long, places are limited.

See you in London!

The session will show how using business analysis and kanban techniques we can create a flow from business goals to implementable user stories with acceptance test, focus on value-delivering capabilities and involve the whole team in product development.

The “A3 report” is a standardized report format used within Toyota and other companies to make proposals and report. The standardized and constrained format helps the writer and readers to come to the point quickly, concentrate on the essentials and get the important information without wasting time.

However, when applying this technique we often only implement the superficial elements, the fact that the documents are limited in size and have a standardized format. Sometimes, the exact format of the Toyota reports is copied. And then we’re disappointed because this “cargo cult” application only delivers limited benefits.

In this session we’ll look at and let participants experiment with the social aspects of the A3 report:

• How we define the standardized format to support our goals
• How leaders and managers use A3 report writing by their team members are structured one-to-one coaching
• How to build in iteration and feedback from peers to improve the proposals
• How to use the review process as a consensus building tool
• How to present reports in such a way that they’re heard, understood and accepted

Come and play with us if you want to learn more about this powerful continuous improvement and learning tool.

If you want to know more…

• In “Pinocchio, On Becoming a Lean Leader” (Tuesday August 10, 13:30-15:00) Portia Tung and I help participants along the dangerous journey from toy boy to real boy. You’ll meet all your favourite characters from this Agile Fairytale and come away with some concrete actions to become a better leader.
• “Agreeing on Business Value using Systems Thinking” (Wednesday August 11, 09:00-10:30) is a workshop where Portia Tung and I help participants come up with a “Business Value Model” for their current project. You’ll be able to use the Business Value Model to identify the high value solutions that satisfy your customers. The number of places for this workshop will be strictly limited to 20.
• “Estimation Games” (Thursday August 12, 13:30-15:00) gives participants some rules of thumb to create reliable estimates with little effort. During the session we’ll play some small estimation games to put the lessons into practice. You need never be afraid again of estimating.

If you want to know more…

C’est la première édition de cette conférence et aussi la première conférence francophone sur l’agilité en Belgique.

“Les Boucles XP” est une introduction à la méthode Extreme Programming. Vera Peeters et moi avons créé cette présentation il y a longtemps pour donner un goût de la façon de travailler d’une équipe vraiment agile. A travers les pratiques et les exemples d’équipes avec qui nous avons travaillé depuis 1999, la présentation explique pourquoi cette méthode marche et comment procéder pour définir une méthode qui convient à votre équipe. Pour cela, il faut voir les choses comme un système où la valeur du tout est bien plus que la somme des valeurs des éléments.

“Agile + Business Analysis = Lean Projects” explique comment on peut combiner les techniques de Business Analysis avec ceux des méthodes Agiles pour “construire la bonne chose” et “construire de la bonne façon”. Le résultat: des projets vraiment “Lean”, de la demande du client jusqu’à la livraison. L’expérience nous a montré que cette combinaison nous a permis de livrer des projets en beaucoup moins de temps qu’auparavant et en même temps livrer un produit qui avait plus de valeur que prévu. Vous verrez quelques techniques que vous pourrez appliquer dès demain et des pistes pour en savoir plus.

A bientôt!

“Définir la Valeur Métier avec le Systems Thinking” est un atélier où on utilisera quelques techniques de Systems Thinking pour définir la “Valeur Métier” des projets des participants. Pourquoi? Parce qu’une définition de la valeur métier est le premier pas pour vraiment se focaliser sur ce qui est important. La “valeur métier” n’est pas un concept nébuleux. C’est un outil dont l’équipe se sert tout le temps. On applique le principe du “project economic framework” qui est décrit dans “The Principles of Product Development Flow: Second Generation Lean Product Development” de Don Reinertsen. Après cette session vous aurez plein d’idées pour prendre des décisions produit qui rapportent plus ET prennent moins de temps. Le nombre de places sera (strictement) limité à 20 personnes.

“Les jeux de l’estimation” vous aideront de mieux répondre aux demandes d’estimations “parfaites”. Cette session est une combination de présentation avec des petits jeux dans lesquels vous pouvez mettre en pratique les astuces présentés. Après cette session, vous n’aurez plus peur de faire des estimations. Vous saurez faire des engagements fermes avec des estimations incertaines. Si vous avez à faire avec des estimations ou engagements, vous vous devez de lire “Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art” de Steve McConnell.

A bientôt au Chalet de la Porte Jaune!

Si vous voulez en savoir plus…

iLean will host the next XP user group event on May 5th 2010, in Kontich.

What can Business Analysis and Agile mean for each other?

The International Institute of Business Analysis (IIBA) has created the Business Analysis Body of Knowledge (BABoK) to capture the experience of business analysts worldwide on a wide set of projects. According to the BABoK, “Business analysis is the set of tasks and techniques used to work as a liaison among stakeholders in order to understand the structure, policies, and operations of an organization, and to recommend solutions that enable the organization to achieve its goals.”

Meanwhile, Agile methods, with their own methods of understanding needs and proposing solutions, have been sweeping through many companies.

Is there room for business analysis on Agile projects? Can agile teams learn from business analysts? What happens when business analysts work in Agile teams?

The IIBA has started up a workgroup to create an “Agile extension” to the BABoK. This extension will provide practical guidance to do business analysis in Agile projects, based on experience. We’ll present this effort so that both communities can review and contribute to this project.

If you want to participate in the discussion, join the Agile BA Yahoo group.

Register for this free event on the Belgian XP Group wiki.

Why Agile + Business Analysis?

Why am I interested in seeing the Agile and Business Analysis communities collaborate?

Business Analysts could learn something:

• You don’t have to specify everything upfront. You can deliver your analysis incrementally and iteratively, at the pace it’s consumed by the implementation team(s), prioritized by value and risk.
• You don’t have to specify everything in consistently excruciating detail. You can ask your team mates what information they need and only provide just enough detail, depending on how risky the topics are.
• You don’t have to do everything alone. You can coach other team members to apply business analysis techniques.
• You don’t have to specify things before the project starts and move on to the next project before you see the results. You can be a full member of the team that delivers value and participate in the release parties.
• You don’t have to be an intermediary (or worse, a “Shuttle Diplomat“) between “The Business” and “IT”. You can be a facilitator who brings out the best in the whole team.

Agile teams could learn something:

• You don’t have to invent “Business Value”. Business Analysis can help you link the benefits the organisation expects to the capabilities it needs.
• You don’t have to create a “Vomit of User Stories” and spend an inordinate amount of time “grooming” that backlog. Business Analysis can help you to focus on the value-adding capabilities.
• You don’t have to make the giant leap from organisational goals to detailed user stories in one go. Business Analysis provides many techniques to gradually break down large problems.
• You don’t have to limit yourself to User Stories. Business Analysis provides may other ways of modeling what users and stakeholders need.
• You don’t have to go it alone as Product Owner or Onsite Customer. Business Analysts and business analysis techniques can help you get the job done, identify more value and work at a sustainable pace.

I’ve been applying business analysis techniques since my first agile project in 1999 (although we didn’t call it business analysis then). The results:

• Our projects were smaller, cheaper and delivered faster than those of the competitors.
• By focusing on the few high value delivering features, we were able to release incrementally, thereby generating real value quickly for the customer.
• By focusing on what was really needed, not what was wanted, our systems were smaller, easier to understand and easier to maintain.
• By using simple but effective business analysis techniques the cycle time from request to proposal was dramatically shorter than our competitors’.
• By having everyone in the team working on the business analysis we often came up with innovative solutions and delighted our customers. How often do your customers tell you “Wow! I didn’t know you could do that!” ?

It’s not enough to appoint someone to be the “Product Owner” and expect to become a productive team. More likely, you’ll end up with a burnt out Product Owner. First of all, you should give effective tools to your Product Owner. Secondly, you shouldn’t build such a bottleneck into your team; provide your whole team with those tools. I know in which community you can find many such effective tools…

This year’s Agile Open Belgium will again be held in beautiful Gent, on May 21st and 22nd.

The Open Space format lets participants determine what’s on the program, how sessions are run and what they want out of the session. The conference location at IBBT provides several rooms, so that each session can run undisturbed by others while allowing participants to move easily from one session to another.

See you there!

I’m looking forward to return to Geneva to take part in the second Swiss XP Day. Last year’s event was a lot of fun.

This year, I’ll co-present “Agile Project Management in practice” with Portia Tung and I’ll help Portia run the “Coaching with the Wizard of Oz” Agile Fairytale.

La gestion de projet agile en pratique

Est-ce qu’il y a des chefs de projet dans un projet agile ? Qu’est-ce qu’ils font ? Quelle est la différence avec un Scrum Master ? Quelle est la différence entre la gestion de projet « agile » et la gestion de projet « normale » ? A travers des présentations, jeux et exercices nous vous proposons un ensemble d’outils et techniques que vous pourrez appliquer dès demain pour améliorer le déroulement et les résultats de vos projets.

Apprenez les techniques de coaching avec le magicien d’Oz

Pour pouvoir aider les autres (et soi-même) avec du coaching il faut mettre en pratique quatre activités :

• Poser les bonnes questions
• Écouter ce qui est vraiment dit
• Observer ce qui se passe vraiment
• Donner le bon feedback au bon moment

Le coaching est simple, mais pas facile. Quelque soit votre rôle dans l’équipe, ces techniques seront utiles pour améliorer chaque jour. Apprenez quelques techniques de coaching et mettez-les en pratique. Les personnages du Magicien d’Oz vous aideront sur la longue route de brique jaune vers la cité d’Émeraude.

A bientôt les amis Suisses et Français!

Couldn’t come to XP Days Benelux 2009? You missed a lot of great sessions.

Even if you did go to XP Days Benelux 2009, you missed several great sessions, because the program committee stupidly scheduled great sessions at the same time in each of the five parallel tracks.

Or maybe you want to send your colleagues to those great sessions you attended.

Well now you can, because 8 of your favourite sessions are being presented again at Mini XP Day Benelux on April 26th, 2010.

What’s in it for me?

You could learn more about

• finding the right question to ask to intervene on an individual or a team with Pierluigi Pugliese
• writing executable acceptance tests for real-world applications using Fitnesse with Pascal Mestdach & Michel Grootjans
• creating and improving an Agile office with Ralph van Roosmalen
• managing your backlog with Peter Janssens
• becoming a peer-coach and finding new insights for old problems with Portia Tung and the cast of The Wizard of Oz
• organizing and refactoring code with Matteo Vaccari & Antonio Carpentieri
• using Lean and Kanban techniques to increase teamwork and delivery speed with Machiel Groeneveld
• becoming a more effective Product Owner with Serge Beaumont

Mini XP Days Benelux remains the place to exchange ideas and share experiences about Agile in an open and relaxed atmosphere.

Don’t wait too long

Register quickly because the event is limited to 60 participants and the event usually sells out.

See you on April 26th in Kappelerput, just to the south of Eindhoven, near the Dutch-Belgian border (which might have an effect on the availability of beers…)

Portia Tung and I will co-present the opening keynote “Pinocchio: On Becoming a Lean Leader” at the Agile Turku Day 2010 in Turku, Finland on March 17th 2010.

Come and play with us to sharpen your leadership skills!