SoCal

Most of our events are local to where we live & work: namely, Southern California

  • 12. Three Amigos or the Dirty Dozen?

    A fresh brew: Vic is joined by Jon Jorgensen (@waterScrumBan) and Brett Palmer (@Brett_Palmer) for another morning of Agile and Coffee.

    In this episode, our heroes discuss the following topics:

    1. pre-review of “Scrum: The Art of Doing Twice the Work in Half the Time”, Jeff Sutherland’s upcoming book from Crown Publishing.
      • we’ll be holding a review of the book in an upcoming episode, including book giveaways – stay tuned
      • how does this book relate to Joy, Drive Collaboration Explained and Tribal Leadership?
    2. Nerf Gun Economy
    3. Proximity Switch Estimating, with Lasers
      • a tool for estimation on par with planning poker
    4. the (upcoming) Agile Open of Southern California

    Reach out to Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter –  and use the hashtags #askAgileCoffee or #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

  • 4. Coffee is Done When it’s Done

    Live from Paradise Perks, Jon and Vic use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics:

    • Agile Games and Gamification
    • Agile in Japan
      • referenced The New New Product Development Game by Takeuchi and Nonaka, 1986
    • Training, Taboos and Readiness
    • Recursion: Use it or Lose it
      • Jim McCarthy (Software for your Head, the Booted, etc.)
      • Jon brought up the movie Ed Wood starring Johnny Depp, but I thought he said “Elwood” and completely missed the reference – lol
    • Big Plan Up Front (BPUF) vs Just In Time (JIT) plans vs No plans
      • does no plan = no estimates?

    Please reach out to Jon (@waterScrumBan) and Vic (@AgileCoffee) on Twitter –  and use the hashtags #askAgileCoffee or #tellAgileCoffee to interact with us on an upcoming episode.

    Here are some upcoming Agile/Lean events in California and across the USA:

    • Scrum Day San Diego – June 13
      • Interact with local executives, ask why they went with Scrum and Agile and hear the benefits they received from this new way of working.
    • Agile2014 – Orlando, FL — July 31 – Aug 1
      • AgileAlliance’s annual conference will reinforce our understanding of proven methods and will illuminate some of the exciting new innovations that represent the future of Agile.
    • Agile Open Southern California 2014 – Irvine, CA — Sept 11-12
      • Join experienced Agile practitioners and newcomers alike for two days to discuss, examine and otherwise brainstorm the most timely and relevant topics in Agile development today.
  • 3. Lean Coffee for Two: Minimally Viable Agile

    Vic (@AgileCoffee) and Jon use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics:

      • Minimally Viable Agile
      • Transparency between POs, SMs and teams
      • Non-IT Agile
      • Safe environments and the Soup

    Plus we take a look ahead to the following agile/lean events both in California and across the USA:

    • Scrum Day San Diego – June 13
      • Interact with local executives, ask why they went with Scrum and Agile and hear the benefits they received from this new way of working.
    • Agile2014 – Orlando, FL — July 31 – Aug 1
      • AgileAlliance’s annual conference will reinforce our understanding of proven methods and will illuminate some of the exciting new innovations that represent the future of Agile.
    • Agile Open Southern California 2014 – Irvine, CA — Sept 11-12
      • Join experienced Agile practitioners and newcomers alike for two days to discuss, examine and otherwise brainstorm the most timely and relevant topics in Agile development today.
  • 2. We’re Here and We’re Motivated

    In this second episode of Agile Coffee podcast, Vic (@AgileCoffee) is joined by Jon and they use the lean coffee format to discuss the following topics:

      1. what motivates people
      2. making a difference
      3. body of work
      4. coddling teams
      5. are we overly idealistic?
      6. 50 new Agile coaches hired

    We mention the following books:

    Plus we take a look ahead to the following agile/lean events both in California and across the USA:

    • Scrum Day San Diego – June 13
      • Interact with local executives, ask why they went with Scrum and Agile and hear the benefits they received from this new way of working.
    • Global SCRUM Gathering ® – New Orleans — May 5-7
      • Scrum Alliance’s annual gathering in the USA will showcase the powerful “goodness” that Scrum can bring to our products, our professional relationships, our workplaces, and our organizations.
    • Agile2014 – Orlando, FL — July 31 – Aug 1
      • AgileAlliance’s annual conference will reinforce our understanding of proven methods and will illuminate some of the exciting new innovations that represent the future of Agile.
    • Agile Open Southern California 2014 – Irvine, CA — Sept 11-12
      • Join experienced Agile practitioners and newcomers alike for two days to discuss, examine and otherwise brainstorm the most timely and relevant topics in Agile development today.
  • upcoming Diana Larsen workshop in San Diego

    Great news for those of you in sunny SoCal: expert agilist Diana Larsen is holding an Advanced Retrospectives workshop in San Diego on March 6th.

    The full title of the workshop is “Advanced Practices for Leading Agile Retrospectives: New Techniques and Activities”, and full details can be found here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/advanced-retrospective-techniques-with-diana-larsen-tickets-8807454333

    from her abstract:

    “Agile Retrospectives improve any project or process — building on a team’s immediate past experience of success and failure. Smart teams and organizations hold Retrospective meetings iteratively, throughout the work cycle and at important release milestones. With effective meeting design and facilitation, Retrospective leaders help team members systematically evaluate their own performance, explore their lessons learned, expand their capacity and capability, and forge ways to continuously improve their work and deliverables. Teams can’t truly call themselves Agile if they don’t include Retrospectives among their regular work practices.

    “As Agile Retrospectives become routine, they can also become stale and boring, delivering less value to the team. How can you prevent this? Keep your Agile Retrospective practice fresh through a renewed emphasis on team learning, collective analysis, and collaborative decision making. View Retrospective facilitation and design through the lens of Five Rules for Team Learning: Keep it Alive!  Hunt Fluency, Start Obvious, Stay Focused, Adapt the Setting. Bring new activities and group processes to the meeting that will stimulate better thinking and improvements. In this workshop, Diana Larsen will introduce advanced uses of the Flexible Framework for Retrospectives and show how to incorporate the Five Rules for Team Learning in your Retrospective designs. Participants will share new team activities to enlarge your repertoire and gain practice in designing and facilitating effective Agile Retrospectives.”

    Diana is a founding partner of FutureWorks Consulting. She is considered an international authority in the areas of Agile software development, team leadership, and Agile transitions. Follow her on Twitter @DianaOfPortland and @FutureWks