The Agile Manager - Roundtable Discussion and Workshop

Recently the Agile Coaching Institute was in town presenting their Agile Manager class.  This month’s meeting will be a roundtable of people that attended the class and are also Agile Managers in their daily working lives.  The session will cover what the attendees took away from the class and how it has helped them better manage and lead their teams.

At times, traditional management philosophies may run counter to Agile principles and practices (e.g. self-directed teams).  The introduction of a Agile process like Scrum or even a larger change like SAFe often times leads to deeper challenges with management within an organization.  Managers have been trained and conditioned to allow ways of interacting with their reports and directing work that don't fit in an agile approach.  This leads to challenges.  Managers don't fully understand their role and responsibilities in an agile setting.  There is even an 'anti-management' undertone sometimes present in the Agile mindset (e.g. pigs and chickens). 

As the body of knowledge has matured and grown, managers are understood to be a crucial part of any Agile | Lean organization.   Their role is significantly different than that of a manager in a waterfall based process.  This session will help articulate what some of those differences might be.  The group will also engage in an exercise to capture what a learning journey for a manager transitioning from waterfall to agile might entail.

So bring your co-workers and managers and plan on joining us for this interactive session.

Kay Harper – Kay Harper Consulting
I help leaders of small to mid-sized companies bring efficiency and energy to their teams and organizations, making them more effective – with the primary focus on delivering better solutions to their clients. My purpose is to create positive change. I come at this from a passion of seeing organizations work well, where leaders and team members have focus, energy and creativity. My clients will tell you that I do this by bringing alignment to both the people side of organizations (culture, leadership, teamwork) and business side of organizations (strategy, process improvement, implementing delivery frameworks). By creating an environment that allows collaboration around a shared vision, people start to take ownership of their results and have more fun. And, at the end of the day, when you have time to focus on what matters, rather than focusing on putting out fires, you produce incredible results.

Adam Clark – Sprint

Shahzad Zafar – Cerner
Shahzad started at Cerner in 2005 developing C++ and Java Services. In 2009 he became a Technical Project Manager and has been leading and coaching multiple teams developing using Lean/Agile methodologies. Currently, he is leading the cloud development business unit and also leads the Agile Center of Excellence at Cerner.

Kevin Eilers – Cerner
Kevin is an Iowa State grad who has been working with Cerner for the last 6 years. He has had a few roles with Cerner ranging from client support and programming to his current job as a Technical Project Manager. He currently manages several projects under the Communications and Mobility umbrella.

Joy Morrison - NAIC
Joy Morrison has been at the NAIC for 19 years and is currently an Assistant Director in ITG. In that capacity Ms. Morrison oversees development, implementation and marketing for several applications including SERFF, OPTins, AVS+ and VISION. Her teams were among the first at the NAIC to begin the agile journey with a re-design of a major system in 2006. She has continued to be an agile proponent at the NAIC as her teams evolve and mature as agile practitioners. Joy has a B.B.A. from the University of Missouri-Kansas City and is a Certified Agile Practitioner (PMI-ACP).