Agile100 May 2020 Recap

With the agile100, the Agile Academy has created a virtual conference for the agile community, which aims to strengthen and bring the community closer together. The 100 best known agile experts, thought leaders and speakers are given the opportunity to talk about current topics, trends and developments that concern them.

We want to create an online event that takes place on the last Friday of every month, which will practically illuminate topics like Scrum, Agile, Kanban and many more, which will offer support and besides the expert lectures also provide further support like a Coaches Clinic or an Expo area.

The first Agile100 took place on May 29, 2020 and was initiated by the two presenters Sohrab Salimi (Trainer at the Agile Academy, Certified Scrum Trainer®, Board Member of the Scrum Alliance, CEO of the Scrum Academy) and Zuzi Sochova (Agile & Enterprise Coach, Certified Scrum Trainer®, Board Member of the Scrum Alliance). Together they put together a program with eleven internationally renowned agile experts, which was very impressive.

The following agile leaders gave presentations at the first Agile100, which we will now go into in more detail:

• James Priest & Jef Cumps (Co-Founders Sociocracy 3.0 & iLean): Sociocracy 3.0
• Gabrielle Benefield (Founder & CEO mobiusloop.com): Pivoting in a Pandemic
• Pete Behrens (Founder & Managing Partner Trail Ridge Consulting): One-Word Culture Shaping
• Klaus Leopold (Founder & CEO Flight Levels Academy): Flight Levels in Action
• Darrell Rigby (Partner & Director Bain & Company): Doing Agile Right: Transformation Without Chaos
• Alexander Osterwalder (Entrepreneur & Co-Founder Strategyzer): Building Invincible Companies
• Melissa Boggs (Co-CEO & Chief ScrumMaster Scrum Alliance): The Complexity of Agile Leadership
• Markus Andrezak (Founder & Managing Partner überproduct): Living Strategy
• Diana Larsen (Co-Founder Agile Fluency® Project): How Limits Empower your Agility
• Joe Justice (President & Principal Agile Business Institute): COVID Executive Response

Sociocracy 3.0 – A Social Technology for Organizational Agility

The first ever lecture at an Agile100 was given by James Priest and Jef Cumps. Together they opened the May event with: “Sociocracy 3.0 – A Social Technology for Organizational Agility”.

True to their motto: “Collaboration is the bedrock for a modern organization”, the two got down to work and explained the need for a common language and the support of Sociocracy 3.0 through the six Guiding Principles such as transparency and continuous development. It is important to both of them that objections to organizational development are allowed and that it is seen as a gift and not as something negative. In addition, one should always remember that there is no solution that can simply be put over the top, but that one should build on individual solutions.

You can see the session here at: Sociocracy 3.0

Sociocracy 3.0 Slides (PDF Download, 5,8 MB)

Pivoting in a Pandemic – how Businesses need to Adapt at Lightning Speed in a Crisis

Next up was Gabrielle Benefield with her co-speaker Riccardo Mariti. The topic of the very topical lecture was: “Pivoting in a Pandemic – how Businesses need to Adapt at Lightning Speed in a Crisis”.

Together, they described how they managed to use agile methods to pivot Riccardo’s restaurant business within only five hours (!) and to reposition it at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. After all, Riccardo’s restaurant in Chelsea, London would otherwise have had to close down temporarily due to British regulations. Driven by agile and lean principles, however, they restructured his business model overnight in such a way that the restaurant was quickly transformed into a “Deli”. The very next morning, Riccardo’s was no longer the stylish restaurant in London’s trendy district, but a snack bar offering meals for pick-up and as a delivery service for the neighborhood and local hospitals.

See the recording at: Pivoting in a Pandemic

Pivoting in a Pandemic Slides (PDF Download, 29,9 MB)

One-Word Culture Shaping

Pete Behrens was the third to present the principles of Culture Shaping. The lecture “One-Word Culture Shaping” focused on the effects that a healthy and prosperous corporate culture can have.

Pete zeigte anhand von praktischen Beispielen und durch die Unterstützung einiger Wegbegleiter, wie man als Organisation eine Kultur erschaffen kann, die nicht nur ein agileres sondern auch erfolgreicheres Unternehmen schaffen kann.

The Recording is at: One-Word Culture Shaping

One-Word Culture Shaping (PDF Download, 10,4 MB)

Flight Levels in Action

Klaus Leopold then showed how a successful company can be improved even further with his session on “Flight Levels in Action”.

In a lively presentation, the focus was on the flight level model invented and further developed by Klaus. The main point is to allocate and use the levers for improvement to the individual organizational levels of a company. Divided into operational, coordination and strategic aspects, the flight levels offer an approach to more agility and success of companies.

See Flight Levels in Action!

Flight Levels in Action (PDF Download, 24,3 MB)

Doing Agile Right – Transformation Without Chaos

Further practical advice was provided by Darrell Rigby, Partner and Director at Bain & Company. His presentation, based on his recently published book “Doing Agile Right – Transformation Without Chaos”, shows further possibilities for becoming more successful and, above all, more agile as an organization.

The focus of the presentation was why and ultimately how to initiate change in an organization. Darrell was able to draw on data from hundreds of his company’s projects. He was particularly impressed by the studies on how to improve team performance and also by the concrete tips on working with senior management. The presentation was rounded off by an extremely exciting interview between Darrell and Sohrab.

Do Agile Right and take a look at the recording from the event!

Doing Agile Right (PDF Download, 1,7 MB)

Building Invincible Companies

Without doubt, the most interactive contribution of the day was given by Dr. Alexander Osterwalder with “Building Invincible Companies”. Equipped with several monitors, tools & hardware, Alexander went straight from 0 to 100. He integrated the audience via chat and thus created a lively exchange between speaker and audience.

In his presentation, he impressively demonstrated what it takes to create a company that is constantly able to reinvent itself. He explained how to create great innovations with even the smallest changes.

Through systematic testing, as the presentation made clear, a scalable business can be created with small budgets, agile teams and just a pinch of risk.

Build an Invincible Company and watch the recording!

Unbesiegbare Unternehmen (PDF Download, 19,7 MB)

Courage.Empathy.Creativity: The Complexity of Agile Leadership

The second lady of the day, Melissa Boggs, showed with “Courage.Empathy.Creativity: The Complexity of Agile Leadership” how complex leadership according to agile principles and through the agile manifesto is.

In her opinion, Agile Leadership is fundamentally shaped by the alignment of personal and organizational values. Ultimately, agile leadership deepens these values and creates a more complex combination of these core values.

Lead with Courage, Empathy and Creativity.

Komplexität Agiler Führung (PDF Download, 14,2 MB)

Living Strategy – how to make strategy an integral part of your company again

Markus Andrezak showed what agility means to him through a very exciting combination of youthful memories and his daily work. With “Living Strategy – how to make strategy an integral part of your company again” he not only showed connections between 80s music and the present day, but also which companies were involved in the background.

For him, identity is the most important distinguishing feature of companies. Adherence to specific patterns also enables the success of that very company. For him, the costs that arise from the delay of decisions are far too high to be worked out with endless discussions.

Living Strategy with Markus Andrezak

Lebendige Strategie (PDF Download, 20,2 MB)

How Limits Empower Your Agility

Diana Larsen’s contribution was the penultimate lecture of the day. She showed how setting limits or limiting issues can drive the agility of a company. She presented her Agile Fluency® project and gave some examples of what she has encountered in the last 30 years working with leaders, teams and organizations.

The very relaxed lecture showed again and again how one can manage to achieve more by taking time for breaks. Far away from all the events that came along, Diana’s summary was that in the end you can work much more agile and successful if you get out of your specially created hamster wheel and decelerate yourself.

Diana Larsen on Limits and Boundaries.

How Limits Empower Your Agility (PDF Download, 17,3 MB)

COVID Executive Response: How to pivot to making Essential Products and services in 1 week

In a very special way Joe Justice finished the first Agile100 from his Tesla Model 3 Race Edition in a congenial way. His really complete Tesla presentation: “COVID Executive Response: How to pivot to making Essential Products and services in 1 week” shows not only how agility in hardware development works, but also that you can turn an entire business around within a few days.

Several practical examples from his daily work showed how agile techniques and an agile mindset can be applied to a wide range of business areas if you want to be successful. Even if it requires a pivot of the original business model.

See the recording of Agile Executive Response with Joe Justice!

COVID Executive Response (PDF Download, 11,6 MB)

Overall, the first Agile100 was a complete success. The almost 200 participants rated the event with a NPS of 9.2 out of 10 points. The event, which takes place on the last Friday of the month, immediately saw the enthusiasm in the audience, as the early registrations for the second event showed. The participants could look forward to eight agile thought leaders, who presented on 26.6.2020 at the June Event (Recap).

Read more recaps about the agile100

July 2020

=> Gitte Klitgaard,Fabiola Eyholzer and Chris Li were three speakers at our July 2020 event

August 2020

=> Jurgen Appelo, Tendayi Viki and Marina Alex were speakers at our agile100 August 2020 event

September 2020

=> Learn from Boris Radke, Evelyn Tian and others at our agile100 September 2020 event