Abstract: Some have called me a visionary pragmatist. When I write this, I am Chief Relationship Builder (and bottle washer) at the Agile Fluency™ Project. I also lead the practice area for Agile software development, team leadership, and Agile transitions at FutureWorks Consulting. For more than 20 years, I've partnered with leaders to design work systems, improve team performance, and support leader and enterprise agility. I'm also a contributor to my profession. I've volunteered. I speak. I facilitate Open Space events. I co--authored the books Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great; Liftoff: Start and Sustain Successful Agile Teams; Five Rules for Accelerated Learning; and co-originated the Agile Fluency™ model.
Why do I do this work? Why am I here? Fascinated curiosity. How do groups of people find ways to pick a direction and collaborate to move toward their vision? What helps them travel well together? What creates potholes and speed bumps along the way? My inquiry leads me toward a four-way intersection of:
- agile (and pre-agile) approaches to improvement;
- theories of leadership in complex systems;
- how learning and fluency unfolds for groups and teams;
- experiments in organization design that celebrate and embrace human diversity.
Is there a final utopian destination? Opinions vary. Does it matter? It's the journey that counts, and the rich conversations with our companions on the road.
Learning Outcomes: - - based on the questions asked
