I may have mentioned this before, but I serve as the board president for the local chapter of the Agile Project Leadership Network (APLN) here in Chicago (http://www.aplnchicago.org). Over the years, we have heard a lot of success stories from smaller and medium sized companies, or small pilot projects within a larger framework. We have even heard some stunning success stories of Agile taken to a very large scale. But you would not believe how many large corporations we come across that attempt to bring Agile into their processes because they hear it can improve performance, and then settle for a half-realized implementation and lackluster results.
We have just sent out a formal announcement that APLN Chicago is rebooting with a big meeting on June 28 – we’re calling the event “Hitting the Agile Reset Button”, because we see a desperate need in the Chicago area to address what seems to have become an epidemic of mediocrity. For the foreseeable future, the APLN Chicago events will be happening at the Sears Holdings campus in Hoffmann Estates).
The intent of these meetings is not to focus on the nuts and bolts of executing agile. The practices that are followed by a Scrum team, for example are well documented, and there are hundreds of sources for help with that. Our approach is going to aim much higher – at those who are responsible for setting the vision and building the environments in which Agile teams will operate. We need people who are leaders in your organization who by rank or sheer desire, have the responsibility to drive an Agile effort forward.
We will be exploring the science and psychology behind Agile methods. We will be exploring Agile environments and how they affect the performance of Agile teams. We will be addressing Agile culture, and how the melding of Agile methods into traditional corporate cultures has limited their effectiveness. We are building a community of Agile Professionals, Thought Leaders and Innovators in the Chicago area – a community of individuals who will join together to share experiences, and practices, and apply those experiences to shaping a model for Agile Transformation that could successfully take root in a large company. This is not a lecture series. This is a community-driven Agile think-tank.
Does this sound like something that would help your organization? Does it sound like something you would like to be a part of?
Registration for the APLN events is accomplished through our Meetup site (http://www.meetup.com/APLN-Chicago), and due to security restrictions at the site, pre-registration is required.
