When we talk about leadership and balance, we also need to talk about how we handle toxic behaviour in our midst and how we protect ourselves and our communities from it. As a full-time open source maintainer and project leader, I've sadly had to encounter many ungrateful, entitled or outright toxic people.

In this session I'll first show some examples, then share some coping strategies that I've successfully used to deal with them. I'll also share some things that everyone can do to help with responding to negativity.

Target Audience: Developers, Project Leaders, Open Source Users
Prerequisites: None
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
It's no secret that running an open source project has its dark sides, and one of these is having to sometimes interact with quite ungrateful, entitled or outright toxic people. As a project's popularity increases, so does the frequency of this kind of interaction, adding to the burden shouldered by maintainers and possibly becoming a significant risk factor for maintainer burnout.

I've been the project leader and maintainer of a quite popular project for almost ten years straight now, and had to develop the one or other coping strategy to deal with these interactions, in order to not let them drag me down and negatively affect my motivation and mental health. In this talk I want to first give a classification of the most common forms of bad and toxic behaviour I've seen, and then share my personal approach to dealing with them, explaining why this has worked for me along the line.

In the end, the viewer should take away some concrete advice on how to handle possibly volatile interpersonal situations in the context of an open source project and beyond without compromising on their own mental well-being.

In recent decades, our scientific and clinical understanding of how our nervous system works has increased tremendously. I’ve recently completed an education for trauma-informed work (NARM informed professional). It has changed many key aspects of how I teach and coach and will continue to have a large impact.

In this session, I’m presenting those key learnings, connecting them to well-known parts of Agile knowledge and inviting into a discussion of what a more trauma-informed approach to leading people in Agile organisations could look like.

Target Audience: All kinds of Leaders, Product Owners, People Managers, Decision Makers, Coaches, Scrum Masters
Prerequisites: No prerequisites
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
In recent decades, our scientific and clinical understanding of how our nervous system develops and works has increased tremendously. Its implications are so profound, they radiate far beyond the field of psychology. Topics such as trauma-informed law, trauma-informed volleyball coaching, legal counseling, education, social activism have arisen. It is time to think about how it affects leadership.

Your speaker Anton, a Scrum trainer and coach, has recently completed a NARM-informed professional education. It has tremendously changed some key aspects of how he leads, teaches and coaches and will surely continue to have a large impact. In this session, he is presenting those key learning, connects them to well-known parts of Agile knowledge and invites into a discussion of what a more trauma-informed approach to leadership could look like.

In this talk you will:
•    experience a more calmer vulnerable space
•    learn what developmental trauma is and how it plays out in the workplace
•    learn about regulation and states of our nervous systems and its connection to creativity and cognitive capacity
•    get a new angle to think and act about topics such as responsibility, clarification of assignments and setting goals, teaching, mentoring and more
•    reflect on how these topics affects your own line of work and exchange on ideas

As Product Leaders, the methods we use are fairly easy to understand but the collaboration with others to get to the desired results sometimes is a hard nut to crack in a complex software engineering world. This talk will provide insights in solution-focused coaching skills being used in the product role and break the common belief that coaching is only relevant for Agile Coaches. It will show how solution-focused coaching skills have been used to solve several challenges on individual, team and organizational level.

Target Audience: Product Leader, Product Owner, Product Executives, Agile Coaches, Scrum Master
Prerequisites: Experience in Product Management / Product Ownership
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
In product management, there are a lot of methods we use (user stories, product backlogs, impact mapping, etc.) and usually they are easy to understand. However, to be truly successful we have to closely work together with people to get to the desired results and in a complex world - this sometimes feel tedious. We have to communicate strategy, manage different expectations, have to lead great user interviews, get devs and all other stakeholders on board, deal with "resistance" and emotional customers and users. Our stakeholders expect a lot from us and sometimes it just feels overwhelming.

Solution-focused coaching skills can help to improve communication towards stakeholders, deal with "resistance" in a helpful way, come to collaborative (and also better) results much faster and much more. The solution-focused mindset and toolbox helped me personally to improve collaboration not only in my Scrum team but also in the Product Leader team and the overall organization. It enabled me to benefit from emotional customers to the advantage of the product. I lead much more efficient meetings now and use the full potential of user interviews to get and understand the core need. And in the end, everything leads closer to the general goal of Product Leaders: maximizing the value for the user.

The goals of this talk are to provide insights in solution-focused coaching skills being used in Product Leader roles and break the common belief that coaching is only relevant for Scrum Masters and Agile Coaches. It will provide small learning nuggets (f. e. linguistic turns, powerful questions for "resistance") and real-life examples how solution-focused coaching skills have been used to solve several challenges on individual, team and organizational level.

We all live in an increasingly complex world and decision making for leaders isn't getting any easier. However, a long time ago, it probably was equally challenging for the Roman Emperor - Philosopher King - Marcus Aurelius. When dealing with our current challenges as leaders (e.g. as product owners, scrum masters or in management), we can learn from ancient Stoic ideas that we are in control of our own decisions, but we cannot control outcome. This interactive session will leave you with focus on your own discipline, intent and decision making.

Target Audience: Leaders, Managers, Decision Makers, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Project-, Programme Managers
Prerequisites: None
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
We live in a world of ever-growing complexity - however in his time it probably was just as complex for Philosopher King Marcus Aurelius, Roman emperor from 161 till 180. Stoicism teaches us we cannot control outcome, we have no influence on external factors. We can however control how we make decisions, how much effort we put into things and how we react to circumstances. And we can actively strive to do all of these things a bit better, every day.
Since Stoicism is a practical philosophy for people in real life, this session aims to leave you with some theoretical knowledge on Stoicism, the Stoic notion of what is in your control and what isn't, and mostly with practical suggestions and new habits to start with. Reflection on decision making and journalling is key, so please bring a journal to this session to make the most of the interactive parts of this session.

Change happens one person at a time. As a leader, you are responsible for helping to persuade people to accept the change. Many of us have been taught persuasion techniques that focus on giving information … and then more information. How is this working for you? Might there be a better way? This session will give you the opportunity to prepare other methods of persuasion for the changes you want to make.

Target Audience: Anyone who sees problems in their organization and would like to help make change happen
Prerequisites: A desire to learn (and have some fun while you do)
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
Change happens one person at a time. As a leader, you are responsible for helping to persuade people to accept the change. Many of us have been taught persuasion techniques that focus on giving information … and then more and more information. How is this working for you? Might there be a better way? This session will give you the opportunity to prepare other methods of persuasion for the changes you want to make. These will include an "elevator pitch" with a wake-up call, an "imagine that" exercise, and some stories to build an emotional connection with the people you are trying to persuade.

This interactive workshop presents a practical approach for scaling agile. The approach is based on five shifts needed in typical organisations to get agile to work well at scale. It guides how to find the right balance for each shift, using the current context of the organisation. In this way it not only presents the end state, but also the possible steps to implement each shift.

In this practical workshop participants will learn to assess their own organisation against the five shifts.

Target Audience: Leaders, Agile Coaches, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, Managers
Prerequisites: Experience with Scrum and Agile at team level
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
Our approach is based around five shifts in leadership, organisational structure, processes, trust and transparency, and the learning organisation.
Participants will learn how to assess their own organisation against the five shifts. The result is a heat map which enables the next iteration in the organisation’s development to be visualised.
The participants will learn how leadership at all levels (including at team level), are involved in creating an organisation where people thrive and better business results can be achieved.

Unfortunately, this presentation has to be cancelled at short notice for personal reasons.

This talk covers the fundamentals of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), including key definitions and statistics. Moreover, the link between DEI, sustainability, and innovation will be made, including reflections on the importance but also complexity of finding a balance.

As part of this talk, I will link theory and research to my work as the Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a fintech company, including giving practical examples of how we are embedding DEI into our organization.

Target Audience: People Leaders, Managers, Decision Makers, C-suite
Prerequisites: Open-mindedness, interest in DEI
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
What does diversity, equity, and inclusion have to do with sustainability and this year’s conference focus on “finding the right balance?” Everything.

In this talk, I will cover the basics of D, E, and I including definitions and statistics, including introducing various “diversity dimensions” and the concept of “intersectionality.” Then, I will link the DEI agenda to the people sustainability agenda, including showing how the world is already diverse and if your organization is not: how you are likely missing out on learning, development, innovation, user experience knowledge, and even market share.

In doing so, I will link theory and statistics to my work as Global Head of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in a fintech company, including giving practical examples on how we are embedding DEI into processes and policies. Finally, I will give reflections on how DEI is a journey that also must be balanced and prioritized, just as any other business priority, before opening up to audience questions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its sub-domain, Machine Learning (ML), have been developing quickly. Your organization could be planning for or be in the middle of an AI transformation.

In this talk, I will speak from my own experience managing the strategy and delivery for AI/ML programs and discuss practical steps for the executive leadership to ensure the success of their AI strategy and delivery.

Target Audience: Project Leaders, IT Leaders, Executives, Decision Makers
Prerequisites: None
Level: Basic

What should you do if you are promoted or hired to be the first Head of Architecture in a big, international organisation? What should you do to shape the role to deliver value to the organisation and its customers? How do you work with many development teams to shape the current legacy spaghetti mess into a coherent system, without becoming a bottleneck?

In this talk I'll respond to all questions and more, by sharing my experience in becoming the first Head of Architecture in a big international organisation.

Target Audience: Architects, Developers, Senior Managers
Prerequisites: Knowledge of software architecture
Level: Expert

Extended Abstract:
In this talk I'll share my experience in becoming the first Head of Architecture in a big international organisation, and on how I shaped the role to deliver value both to the organisation and its customers. Among other things, I'll share what I did to:

- Work productively with the development teams and be relevant.
- Navigate the political landscape to influence decisions.
- Create an architectural decision process tailored to the needs of the organisation.
- Provide guidelines and constraints to decentralise decision making while avoiding chaos.

The attendees will get a better understanding of what the role encompasses, and future heads of architecture may get a better view of what expects them in this role.

When you want to make a change, the skeptics are lying in wait throughout the process. You must continually recognize them if you want the change to be sustainable. Who are they and why are they resisting?

We want to be understanding but oh, they can be annoying. We are told to increase communication, but before shouting more information, we must understand why they are irritating us.

This presentation will provide some practical tips for identifying and dealing with resistance in your organization and perhaps in your personal life too.

Target Audience: Everyone who sees a need for change but also sees resistance
Prerequisites: None
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
When you want to make a change, whether it be agile, AI, cloud, microservices, or anything (!), the resistors are lurking everywhere throughout the process. You must continually recognize them if you want to create a sustainable change. Who are they and why are they resisting? We want to be understanding but oh, they can be annoying. We are told to increase the communication, but first we must understand why they are irritating us before we are tempted to shout more information at them.

This fits into the conference theme of Finding the Right Balance because leaders must continually handle skepticism surrounding the change while, at the same time, moving the process forward at a rate that attempts to work for everyone. As the Signature Track describes, this presentation will, “illuminate the area of tension in which decisions can be made, but also to show practical tips and empirical values so that teams can make the appropriate decisions.”

In a fun and enlightening way, it will point out why resistors annoy us and offer some practical tips that attendees can use on Monday morning for identifying and dealing with this resistance in their organizations and perhaps in their personal lives too.