This year, I was part of and spoke at Agile & Beyond 2018. Shawn and I delivered a talk on Community-Driven Change. It was a great experience to go back after a long time this time as a presenter. A&B is one of the must-go conferences in North America is you are in it!
We presented to a wide range of audience. We learned from them as well. I, for one, learned that the concept of a community is very different in Germany. From one of our participants, I learned that there are some communities that you are part of and you don’t have a choice not to be, and there are some that you can volunteer yourself to be part of. Although this view does not represent all of the people’s view living there, it is definitely a very interesting take on community.
You can find the slides embedded below, and also on the Agile & Beyond 2018 website.
The Abstract:
Many organizations flatten management structure when they transform to agile. It soon becomes obvious that important activities done by managers are still needed. A community can fill these gaps. They can provide morale, governance, learning, and mentorship, recruiting and hiring, mutual support, coordination, sharing, innovation and more! Unfortunately few companies manage to create a strong community. Even fewer empower that community to fill these gaps. This means they are missing the ultimate benefit of community: a strong, empowered community can transform the organization itself! Join Shahin and Shawn in this interactive session to explore communities in organizations. Examine the benefits of building great communities. Learn how to spark the community, and how to support it as it evolves. Hear stories of communities empowered to improve the organization. Learn how to make a community into a driver of positive change.