Agile Caravanserai

This episode of Agile Caravanserai is a presentation from Bob Martin given at our recent Lean + Agile DC Conference.

Bob Martin self proclaims himself as the Agile Curmudgeon yelling at the neighborhood kids to get off his lawn.  In this talk, he will describe was agile was, is, and should be.  No muss, no fuss, no adjectives like Lean, Scaled, SAFE, LESS, or anything else.  Just agile, the whole agile, and nothing but the agile.  

If you are looking to hear from other practiced Agile experts and industry leaders, check out our upcoming Global Agility + Innovation Summit: https://www.agilityinnovationsummit.com/

Today’s press is full of AI prognostications, many predicting a dire future. They are all wrong. History tells us that predicting technology’s path is futile. However, preparing for it is not. What does history tell us about past technology advances that we can use to prepare for the future—for both we as individuals and our businesses? Join Jim Highsmith whose recent book, Wild West to Agile, delves into the history of software development and establishes an historical framework that helps prepare us for the future.

If you are looking to hear from other practiced Agile experts and industry leaders, check out our upcoming Global Agility + Innovation Summit: https://www.agilityinnovationsummit.com/

I’ve had the privilege of knowing Mary Lynn for close to two decades.

Along with Linda Rising, she is the co-author of the “Fearless Change” Books.  “Fearless Change: Patterns for Introducing New Ideas” was released in 2005, and “More Fearless Change: Strategies for Making Your Ideas Happen” came out 10 years later in 2015.

Mary Lynn has presented and led workshops for conferences and organizations such as Microsoft, Amazon, Proctor & Gamble, and Avon.

Mary Lynn has had a 38-year career as a professor at UNC Asheville where she is now a Professor Emerita.

Diana Larsen is Chief Connector & Co-Founder of the Agile Fluency® Project.

Along with James Shore, her co-founder, Diana focuses The Agile Fluency Model on achieving fluent proficiency on an agile development team.

Diana also founded FutureWorks where she led Agile software development, team leadership, and Agile transitions.

She has co-authored several books including: “Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great,” “Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams,” and “Five Rules for Accelerated Learning.”

Diana has been very influential in the development of the agile movement, including as a former board member of the Agile Alliance Board of Directors.

Jurgen Appelo is an entrepreneur, speaker, and author on agility, leadership, and innovation. Jurgen is CEO of the business network Happy Melly and co-founder of the Agile Lean Europe network.

Since 2008, Jurgen has worked on his blog at NOOP.NL which offers ideas on the creative economy, agile leadership, organizational change, and personal development. Inc.com has called Jurgen a Top 50 Leadership Expert and a Top 100 Great Leadership Speaker.

Jurgen’s latest book is “Startup Scaleup Screwup.” His other books include “Management 3.0,” “How to Change the World,” and “Managing for Happiness.”

When he’s not speaking, writing, running or working, Jurgen likes to paint and illustrate.

Jim Benson is a pioneer of knowledge work and creator of Personal Kanban. He is also a public speaker, consultant, and author who is an expert in effectiveness for individuals, teams, and organizations.

After three decades as a business owner, team leader, and employee in both commercial & government agencies, Jim has shifted his focus to helping people and teams work out sticky  problems. Jim founded Modus Cooperandi in 2007, a management consultancy which uses Lean, systems thinking, agile management, and brain science to help their clients communicate and manage their work by building collaborative management systems.

Jim is also the founding partner of the Modus Institute and co-author of "Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life" which won the Shingo Research Award in 2013.

Laurie Williams is a Distinguished Professor in the Computer Science Department of the College of Engineering at North Carolina State University (NCSU).

Laurie's research focuses on software security; agile software development practices and processes, particularly continuous deployment; and software reliability, software testing and analysis.

Over the last 21+ years, Laurie has served NCSU at all levels of professorship as well as associate & interim department head.

Laurie also leads the Software Engineering Realsearch research group at NCSU. Alongside her students, Laurie has been working collaboratively with high tech organizations like Cisco, IBM Corporation, Microsoft, Red Hat, and more!

Laurie was one of the founders of the first agile conferences, XP Universe, in 2001 which has since grown into the Agile 200x annual conference.

She is also the lead author of the book “Pair Programming Illuminated” and co-editor of “Extreme Programming Perspectives.”

Over the last 25 years, Max has worked at the Motley Fool in a variety of different positions including VP of Business Processes, VP of Project Management, and Head of Global Operations.

I’ve known Max since 2007, when we helped his team get started with agile methods. Max and his crew quickly evolved into agile experts themselves. They have pioneered many advances in agile, including with agile portfolio management and agile performance management.

When he’s not on Investor Island, Max is a guitarist, cross-fitter, and video gamer.

Johanna Rothman, also known as the “Pragmatic Manager,” is a coach, consultant, speaker, and advisor. Johanna offers frank advice for tough problems with managing projects, programs, and project portfolios.  Essentially, Johanna helps leaders and teams do reasonable things that work.

Johanna started her career in software engineering.  She started managing cross-functional projects in 1979, then managing programs in 1988. She founded the Rothman Consulting Group, Inc. in 1994. She has had a virtual team long before 2020!

Additionally, Johanna is the author of 18 books (non-fiction & fiction) and hundreds of articles.  She works on a monthly newsletter, and blogs regularly at jrothman.com and createadaptablelife.com.

Johanna has served as a program chair for the Agile Alliance for 6 years, as well as a technical editor for TechWell, and a contributing writer to TestRail by Gurock.

Johanna was recently a guest speaker at the DC Lean + Agile Meetup where she covered Modern Management.

Follow Johanna on Twitter @johannarothman

Esther Derby is a consultant, advisor, author, and speaker. Esther has spent the last 25 years helping companies design their organization for success. 

She has a Master’s degree in Organizational Leadership and a certificate in Human Systems Dynamics.

In 1997, she founded her own consulting business, Esther Derby Associates. She works with both start-ups and Fortune 500 companies.

Esther is the author of more than 100 articles and several books. Esther started her career as a programmer, and has also worked as a business owner, internal consultant, and manager.

Esther is also the host of the Change by Attraction podcast that’s designed for people who want to bring change to their team, department, or organization.

Follow Esther on Twitter @estherderby.