A perfect paradigm of “Being Agile” @ #PAUC18

It was my pleasure and thanks to #ScaleUpConsultants for providing me a platform to share my experiences with all the Agile enthusiasts, respected participants and speakers who were attending #PAUC18.

#PAUC18 had a vision of making Pune an Agile capital of India not only this it was based on the idea of UnConference, which focused on people participation, their involvement, while they share their own experiences, learn, adapt and take-way with them a habit of Being Agile rather than doing or knowing Agile.

I keenly observed how PAUC18 was mentored, managed, organized and executed and can surely say that the whole team put forth for all of us a perfect paradigm of “Being Agile” and learn from them.

They can be said to follow all the 12 principles of Agile, and I have jotted down my below observations against each principle.

1.      Our highest priority is to satisfy the customer through early and continuous delivery of valuable software.

Yes PAUC18 organizers, members committee focused on this principle and provided a niche experience to all its participants. This could be seen in the feedback provided by each of the participants. I would say all the participants, speakers, mentors, and the whole organizing team were delighted.

2.      Welcome changing requirements, even late in development. Agile processes harness change for the customer's competitive advantage.

There were changes made as per the availability of the speaker, or facilities at the venue or food etc. and it was so smoothly coordinated that the end user or customers , who are PAUC18 participants were did not report any decrease in their delight or satisfaction.

3.      Deliver working software frequently, from a couple of weeks to a couple of months, with a preference to the shorter timescale.

The working software in this case was the UnConference held on 19th August at The O Hotel Pune and this was very perfectly delivered. The preparation had taken few months & weeks by the team. The team was committed to deliver a delightful experience to all its stakeholders.

4.      Business people and developers must work together daily throughout the project.

All the PAUC18 organizing team members worked closely with the participants, the speakers, the sponsors, the venue owners/managers and other stakeholders. It was perfect rhythm they achieved by working with them day-in day out with the goal in their mind.

5.      Build projects around motivated individuals. Give them the environment and support they need, and trust them to get the job done.

Yes, all the PAUC18 organizing team and staff was so motivated and goal-oriented that as I said there was a cadence seen in each of their activities. All the team members were entrusted and provided an environment where they can work, express, mingle and finally enjoy what they were doing. All of them understood very well their roles and responsibilities. They knew what it takes to delight and deliver to their customers. They knew and understood that they are a team, and I will say a very high-performing team.

6.      The most efficient and effective method of conveying information to and within a development team is face-to-face conversation.

What I learnt, that all of the PAUC18 organizing team members were collocated and conveyed each and every information face to face and even truthfully thus maintaining a transparency within the team.

7.      Working software is the primary measure of progress.

Yes, PAUC18 which took place on 19th August 2018 was the working software for the organizing team and it was the primary measure for their progress. Here I would like to add that it was just a one chance for the whole organizing team get the customer feedback, had the team not realized this very early it would not have been able to achieve that customer satisfaction.

8.      Agile processes promote sustainable development. The sponsors, developers, and users should be able to maintain a constant pace indefinitely.

Last year PAUC17 and this year PAUC18 which was conducted by #ScaleUpConsultants are perfect example of achieving sustainability. The team improved continuously and is successful to deliver the value and delight it's stakeholders, participants & speakers,

9.      Continuous attention to technical excellence and good design enhances agility.

What I learnt that the whole team had ensured that there are no glitches during the conference, be it the projector malfunctioning or dimming off the lights before a speakers talk, placing of the wires so that no one is tripped off, the seating arrangement of each hall and room along with continuous configuration of those one talk after another, placement of refreshment counters, a separate room to cogitate for the speakers before they talk and many other small and important things which made PAUC18 a successful milestone.

10.  Simplicity--the art of maximizing the amount of work not done--is essential.

All the communication, activities, events at the conference was kept very simple and straight forward so that the participants can easily understand the expectations. Also at the venue I could see there were PAUC18 organizing team members who easily guided all the participants in case of any query.

11.  The best architectures, requirements, and designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

The whole team was self-organized as the any of the glitch if it had happened was fixed then and there. The team members coordinated so well that the customers satisfaction did not went down. Be it any issue with a projector or lights or refreshments serving on time or the rooms being arranged for the speakers or any such events all were taken care smoothly.

12.  At regular intervals, the team reflects on how to become more effective, then tunes and adjusts its behavior accordingly.

There were many talks happening in parallel and the whole PAUC18 organizing team managed them well by learning & applying on the go, or I will say on the field (war-front) learning.

As a speaker and participant I would like to say that PAUC18 was perfectly in sync with its vision of making Pune an Agile capital of India and it surpassed not only its own expectations but also of the participants, speakers, and all other stakeholders. I wholeheartedly thanks the whole PAUC18 team, participants and speakers for making it a delightful experience.Looking forward to another delightful experience next year @ PAUC19. :)

Vineet Patni Dipti Gupta Tushar Paunikar Anand Murthy Raj Christian Hujer Purnendu Tripathy Anand Bagmar Sharmila Patwardhan Parag Walimbe Santosh Kotnis Vishal Prasad Ashwinee Singh, SPC4?,CSPO? Dharmesh Shah Nitin Bhide Kavita Mamidi, CSPO Laxman Murugappan Aditya Pandey Rohan Bhokardankar Jui Kudav Sudarshan Palande,Ruchi Chopra Pramod Goggi, Mansi Jain, Vishal Pujar, Aatish Kapur, Ketan Tailor,Ayesha Shaikh, Laxman Murugappan, Mandar Thosar, Pavan Kumar Koutarapu, PMI-ACP, SAFe? 4 Agilist, CSM Prateek Jain, Purnendu Tripathy, Sanjay Darwatkar, Shraddha Khare, Siddharth Vaghasia, Tushar Paunikar, Vaibhav Sharma.