September Meeting: State of Agile Survey - Cincy Edition

Ready for some Agile fun, enlightenment and a challenge? “Come on Down!” to the next AgileCincy meeting and enjoy a game show presentation about the State of Agile in Cincinnati. Do you know what percentage of projects are Agile in Cincinnati? We challenge you to guess! This month’s meeting will be interactive, a combination of game show, movie show, and fun!  You will learn the results of the agile survey of Cincinnati practitioners and how they compare to a similar national survey.  So, join us and see how Cincinnati stacks up against the rest of the country and, most importantly, come and have some fun.

Presented By:

 Dr. Charles Suscheck specializes in agile software development methodologies, and project management.  He is one of the few people in the world certified to teach the entire scrum.org curriculum. He has over 25 years of professional experience in information technology, beginning his career as a software developer.  Dr. Suscheck holds a Doctorate, Masters, and Bachelors in Computer Science and is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST), Professional Scrum Master (PSM I and II), Professional Scrum Product Owner (PSPO I and II), Scaled Agile Framework Process Consultant (SPC),  Certified Scrum Master (CSM), certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP) and certified RUP specialist.  An educator at heart, he has over 30 published articles, has taught nearly 1000 students software development, and is a highly respected conference speaker

Kathy Vaske (phonetically Vaskay) is the Marketing Manager for MAX Technical Training. She earned her MBA from OSU's Fischer College of Business in marketing and international business. She is passionate about education, technology and the environment and is thrilled to be working in IT Education with MAX, Agile Cincy, and several other user groups.  

Peter Wendler is a long time IT professional and Agile enthusiast.  He is prepping for his PSM and PSPO exams, and is currently on the lookout for his next Agile adventure. 

When: September 11, 2014 (Second Thursday)
Networking: 5:30 - 6pm
Program: 6 - 7:30pm.
Where: Max Train, 4900 Parkway Drive, Suite 160, Mason, 45040

PMP's: This event counts for 1 (one) PDU

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AUGUST MEETING: OFFENSIVE BODY LANGUAGE

One of the principles of agile is to use face to face, high bandwidth communication. Body language is a big part of face to face communication. This presentation is about the applying the unspoken communication of body language – in the context of agile teams.

This presentation addresses using use body language to enhance your message and how to avoid contradictory body language. Most people know how to read body language to one degree or another and man trainings have been given on how to read body language. This presentation is different – it focuses on how to contort, control, and move your body to make body language work for you and send a better, more powerful message. It also addresses applications of new research that indicates body postures can induce certain mindsets.

Learning outcomes and takeaways:

• The learner will see body language as a tool for better communication from the standpoint of managing body language rather than reading others.
• The learner will understand common subconscious body language mistakes and be more conscious of them when communicating with others.
• The learner will understand that body language leads to behavior, not always follows behavior.
• The learner will be able to use techniques to model body language and thereby induce a desired mindset.
• The learner will understand gender specific body language and ways that the different genders can use body language to communicate with social etiquette.
• The learner will understand culturally specific body languages and ways that different cultures may interpret western body language.

Dr. Charles Suscheck specializes in software development methodologies, and project management. He is one of only 8 people in the world and 4 in the USA certified to teach the entire scrum.org curriculum. He has over 25 years of professional experience in information technology, beginning his career as a software developer. Dr. Suscheck’s holds a Doctorate, Masters, and Bachelors in Computer Science and is a Professional Scrum Trainer (PST), Professional Scrum Master (PSM I and II), Certified Scrum Master (CSM), certified Scrum Practitioner (CSP) and certified RUP specialist. An educator at heart, he has over 30 published articles and conference proceedings and has spoken nationally and internationally at various software management conferences.

When:August 14, 2014 (Second Thursday)

Networking: 5:30 - 6pm
Program: 6 - 7:30pm.
Where: Max Train, 4900 Parkway Drive, Suite 160, Mason, 45040

PMP's: This event counts for 1 (one) PDU

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July Meeting: Team Canvas - Making Teams the Atomic Unit of Delivery

As Agile moves further into the mainstream we are encountering more and more risk averse companies. These companies require a path and will be highly resistant until you can show how Agile can work in their world. A key component of showing the path is showing them how to organize their people into teams and chains of teams that can deliver on business objectives. For this purpose, we created the Team Canvas.

The Team Canvas is a design and modeling tool that allows you to integrate various aspects of team formation with value-stream optimization. As a design tool you can use it to do initial analysis, to iterate the design and test various scenarios and combinations, and then to improve over time as you learn about the dynamics of your Agile organization.

To help us address these challenges in Agile adoption, the Team Canvas is a simple, 1-page tool that will help you:

• Visualize how team assignments impact other teams and the organization as a whole
• Understand how teams can chain together to create a value stream
• Represent the team as the atomic unit of delivery
• Enable continuous improvement at the organizational level with the Team design being at the core

Come learn how to leverage the Team Canvas!

Jack Wooten, is the Agile Practice Lead at Vantiv, where he is transforming the organization into agile programs (each program is ~50-125 people; 5-12 agile teams) utilizing Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe). 

When:July 10, 2014 (Second Thursday)

Networking: 5:30 - 6pm
Program: 6 - 7:30pm.
Where: Max Train, 4900 Parkway Drive, Suite 160, Mason, 45040

PMP's: This event counts for 1 (one) PDU

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June Meeting: Emotional Intelligence for Agile Teams

Find out how Product Owners, Scrum Masters and Development Team members can expand and improve their working relationships as well as greatly increasing productivity. Emotional Intelligence can become a critical component of high-performing Agile and Scrum teams. You will learn the key concepts and ways to apply them for immediate results.

Session will cover:

• Overview of Emotional Intelligence
• Agile & Scrum values that are consistent with emotional intelligence
• Best practices and techniques that can be employed now
• Situations where emotional intelligence works

Stephen Wagner is currently a consultant with Cardinal Solutions Group in Cincinnati as a Scrum Master and Project Manager.  He has been part of the Agile Cincinnati Leadership team since 2012.  Stephen worked for 14 years with P&G's IT organization. While at P&G, he was a member of P&G Agile Community of Practice and managed numerous teams, projects and initiatives. Stephen is an Attorney and practiced for 10 years in Boston before making a career switch to IT during the Y2K era

When: June 12, 2014 (Second Thursday)
Networking: 5:30 - 6pm
Program: 6 - 7:30pm.
Where: Max Train, 4900 Parkway Drive, Suite 160, Mason, 45040

PMP's: This event counts for 1 (one) PDU

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