The Road to #Agile2021 - "From Values to Action: Using Principles to Transform Organizations"

#Agile2021 (Virtual) July 19-22, 2021 – Excited to have my virtual workshop, titled “From Values to Action: Using Principles to Transform Organizations” accepted for the Process Track! The conference, to be held July 19-22, 2021 virtually, will consist of a set of workshops and talks from the leading voices in agile.

Although this workshop was originally accepted for the cancelled Agile2020 conference, it has now undertaken a transformation journey to support a virtual forum in 2021!

The Journey to Agile 2021?

I would like to take a moment to reflect upon the transformation journey that has led me here since the presentation has certainly evolved and taken a life of its own in the last two years. In order to support a COVID19 environment, all of my work shifted towards a virtual environment in 2020-2021. Thus, my workshop has transformed from ground-based to a virtual session to illustrate the learning outcomes, and work in a collaborative environment using new tools.

Principle based leadership is an important topic for leaders in organizations to practice creating a shared vision, alignment, tactical practices, and then outcomes using shared principles and values. In fact, principle-based leadership is so important that the new edition of the PMBOK V7, where I was a reviewer, has been completely rewritten to move from 10 process groups to leading and managing teams using a selected set of principles.

After practicing the session at some local venues including my local PMI chapter, meetups, and Toastmaster grass roots sessions, the presentation was accepted for Agile2020, which was subsequently cancelled due to COVID19. Pivoting on the situation, I took the content for this presentation and created a 2-day virtual workshop for UC Santa Cruz Extension titled “Principle Based Leadership for Project Managers”, which reached full enrollment. Additionally, I also used some of the strategy mapping work for a COVID19 nonprofit Helpful Engineering, to help them create some initial strategy and objectives to support a large volunteer organization to provide Open-Source solutions to combat COVID19. The next step in the presentations’ journey was just recently for AgilityToday2021, where the talk was titled “Finding your North Star: Mapping your Principles to Action” which was provided in a virtual environment to a worldwide audience. Now, the workshop has come full circle, and will be modified for Agile2021.

Gratitude for Special Support

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who has helped this presentation reach its current form and support me during this difficult period. Here are a few people that I would like to thank for their support - Claudia Terrizzano at UC Santa Cruz Extension for believing that this was a viable product and allowing me to pursue my interests and passions for courses that I both develop and teach at UC Santa Cruz Extension. Shout out to Craig Sharp at Helpful Engineering to support this body of my work and recommend the approach to executive leadership as a viable way to map their organizational vision and objectives.

Thanks to my local PMI chapters for allowing me to present for a grass roots audience, including the PMI Wine Country Chapter, PMI San Francisco Chapter, and PMI Silicon Valley Chapter. Special thanks to leaders at the PMI for supporting me, including Scott Ambler, Al Shalloway, Lee Lambert, John Jones, Rich Condon, J. Hutson Hart, to name a few …

Appreciate the support of my fellow board members for the National Speakers Association Northern California chapter, where I will serve as the incumbent President for 2021-2022 using agility to lead the organization. Thanks to Rod Dunican, Candy Campbell, Chuck Hooper, Nancy Giere, Gary McKinsey and of course the infamous Patricia Fripp. Look out for new best practices using agile principles in 2021-2022!

I also appreciate my local Silicon Valley PMI Toastmasters group for allowing me to explore my speaking craft and practice in a safe environment. Kudos to Oren Gotesman, Bhanu Viswanadha, and Sangita Patel for leading and organizing this special group.

I am also very thankful for the Agile20Reflect Leaders who supported my thought leadership including Karl Smith, Scott Seivwright, and Grace Johnson. Also, thanks to Dr. Stefanie Puckett for helping me hold the space during our talk.

Thanks to my newfound colleagues at the Personal Agility Institute including Peter Stevens and Maria Matarelli for providing a structure and framework for me to follow to focus on what matters most in order to craft my own personal direction, and celebrate and choose what I do next. Now, I am proud to say that I am one of the strongest Personal Agility advocates as a #PARA ambassador! And yes, Lyssa Adkins was also one of my instructors, not only for Personal Agility but also as an expert in coaching for my IC-Agile certifications back in 2018.

Kudos to Deepti Jain for letting me present to a virtual international audience at AgilityToday2021 to get my chops going. I picked up some tips for presenting in a 24x7 virtual conference that will provide a better virtual workshop from a very tech savvy audience.

Finally, thanks to some specific folks at the Agile Alliance for supporting me throughout the years including Phil Brock, Ellen Grove, Pam Hughes, Brandon Carlson, Dana Pylayeva, Deema Dajani, Deepti Jain, Jutta Eckstein, Zach Bonaker along with the rest of the volunteers.

Other agile buddies to thank include Evan Leybourn of the Business Agility Institute, whose conference was the last in-person conference I attended in March 2020. Thanks for creating a safe space in an emerging pandemic and seeing us all home safely. I still have a souvenir of the last evening there was a show on Broadway in NYC last year! Also a shout out to Bria Schecker, for her friendship and support throughout the years.

If I left anyone out, apologies, but given the fact that I have been on this journey for a long time there are a lot of you! 

Looking forward to "seeing you virtually" at Agile 2021!