For a technology company, building a strong engineering culture is essential for long-term success. Today's software industry is growing so fast that a large proportion of developers will inevitably have less than 5 years experience. At the same time, many software systems contain code that is ten, twenty or even thirty years old.

It's a constant challenge to communicate a healthy culture to newcomers and prevent technical debt from getting out of control. Technical coaching is all about tackling those issues: culture and skills.

Target Audience: Developers, Architects
Prerequisites: None
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
The Samman method is a concrete coaching method for spreading skills and culture within an engineering organization. There are two main parts to the method:
- Learning Hour
- Ensemble working

In the learning hour the coach uses exercises and active learning techniques to teach the theory and practice of skills like Test-Driven Development and Refactoring. In two-hour Ensemble sessions the whole team collaborates together with the coach in applying agile development techniques in their usual production codebase.

In combination with strong technical leadership, the Samman method can enable the spread of skills and culture to bring a healthy engineering organization to the next level.

"Ich hatte keine Zeit, den Zaun zu flicken" - Dieses Zitat kennt wohl jeder, und doch ertappen wir uns selbst, unseren Zaun nicht geflickt, sondern stattdessen die Hühner gesucht zu haben.
Doch wie ändere ich das?
Dieser Vortrag zeigt mit dem Konzept der MLCs ein Tool auf, dieser Falle zu begegnen und sich selbst und andere in den Modus des kontinuierlichen Lernens zu versetzen.
Am Ende haben die Zuhörenden einen ersten MLC durchlaufen und ein Tool erlernt, um sich und anderen den Freiraum zum Lernen zu erschaffen.

Zielpublikum: Coaches, Entscheider, Projektleiter:innen, Transformation Manager, Architekt:innen, Lebenslange Lernende
Voraussetzungen: Keine
Schwierigkeitsgrad: Anfänger

Extended Abstract:
Micro-Learning-Cycles sind kein theoretisches Konstrukt, sie sind tatsächlich aus der Notwendigkeit entstanden, trotz vollem Terminkalender Zeit zum Lernen zu finden.
Neben der Vermittlung und Anwendung von MLC zeigt die Referentin auch aus der Praxis, wo sie MLCs einsetzte, was funktionierte und wo auch Limitierungen sind.

"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." Although it is (relatively) easy to measure objectively quantifiable decision criteria such as profit, how does one measure "soft" attributes, such as psychological safety or team dynamics, to judge an intervention's success?

This talk will present insights into the practical application of leading-edge research into what makes intelligent, high-performing teams and organisations, exploring the science behind the current buzzwords of psychological safety, diversity, and empathy.

Target Audience: Managers, Coaches, ScrumMasters
Prerequisites: None
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
"If you can't measure it, you can't improve it." This quote, attributed to Peter Drucker, emphasises that the ability to measure something is essential for seeing changes in it. Although it is (relatively) easy to measure objectively quantifiable decision criteria such as profit, how does one measure "soft" attributes, such as psychological safety or team dynamics, to judge an intervention's success? The problem with most team/organisational assessments is that they say more about the persons who designed the evaluation (and what they want to sell) than about the persons taking it.

This talk will present insights into the practical application of leading-edge research into what makes intelligent, high-performing teams and organisations, exploring the science behind the current buzzwords of psychological safety, diversity, and empathy.

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

"We're looking for passionate programmers!" says the job ad. Passion is used to evoke single-mindedness, drive and intensity. There is more than one kind of passion, and when raw passion is tempered with compassion and dispassion, we start to see a more balanced way of development.

Good development draws on both creativity and rationality, on both experience and experimentation, on both focus and connection, on both individual skill and group intelligence. Let's explore the many passions of programming.

Target Audience: Developers, Architects, Managers, Coaches, Leaders
Prerequisites: No specific prerequisites
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
"We're looking for passionate programmers!" says the job ad. For a love-in or a development role? Passion is used to evoke single-mindedness, drive and intensity, but it also has many other meanings, surely not all of which can be intended. Love aside, passion also spills over into irrationality, aggression — e.g., crimes of passion — and unconditional and unquestioning pursuit of ideas. Our acceptance of this word and this quality should be partial and conditional. But there is more than one kind of passion, and when raw passion is tempered with compassion and dispassion, we start to see a more balanced way of development.

Good development draws on both creativity and rationality, on both experience and experimentation, on both focus and connection, on both individual skill and group intelligence. The dry language of productivity needs to admit the possibility of enjoyment; the culture of burn-out needs to give way to humanity and empathy. Let's explore the many passions of programming.

IT is always changing ... In this talk I'll do some crystal ball gazing from two perspectives. At heart, I’m a tester. For two years I’ve also been a CEO. I’ll look at what factors are at work and what kinds of effects will they have on how we work and the roles of testers and software professionals.

Alongside musings about the future, I’ll talk about concrete activities on an individual and company level to best prepare ourselves for this nebulous future.

Target Audience: Everyone
Prerequisites: None
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
I’m not the first person to notice that the world is constantly changing and that everything is impermanent. Most especially after the last two years, we have really been forced to come to terms with how quickly and drastically things can change. As IT professionals, we are aware of the intrinsic changeability of projects, contexts and our business, but the events of the last couple of years have put this into sharper focus.

But let’s not get too generally philosophical about the whole world. Let’s look at what is in our more immediate context and perhaps even in our sphere of influence. If our future is anything, it’s nebulous (and I don’t just mean the cloud). How will external changes shape our teams and our work, and how can we shape ourselves proactively in order to be able to respond to changes, make changes or our own and even thrive?

In this talk I’d like to do some triangulated crystal ball gazing from two perspectives. At heart, I’m a tester. For two years I’ve also been a CEO. From my passion for testing and my experience of business and people in organisations, I’ll look at what factors are at work now, what known unknowns we have and what kinds of effects will they have on how we work and the roles of testers and software professionals.
Alongside musings about the future, I’ll talk about concrete activities on an individual and company level to best prepare ourselves for this nebulous future.

Firmen können kaum noch IT-Systeme neu entwickeln, ohne dass existierende Funktionalität mitwandert. Vor die Aufgabe gestellt, ein System von einem Fremdanbieter in eine Public Cloud zu überführen, hat sich gezeigt, dass hilfreiche Wanderführer rar sind.
Diese Session strukturiert Entscheidungswege und Erkenntnisse bei Cloud-basierten Migrationsvorhaben - abgeleitet aus der Migration und Modernisierung von einem Konsumenten-Service mit 6 PB Daten und ca. 2 Mio. Nutzern.

Zielpublikum: Business-Architekt:innen, Entwickler:innen, Projektleiter:innen, Manager, Entscheider
Voraussetzungen: Erfahrung mit IT-Projekten
Schwierigkeitsgrad: Anfänger

Extended Abstract:
Wanderungen versprechen Entspannung, Panorama oder Sehenswürdigkeiten auf dem Weg. Selten steht bei der Planung die erwartete Anstrengung im Vordergrund. Ähnlich ist es mit Cloud-Migrationen: Der positive Beitrag zur geschäftlichen Entwicklung lockt, aber nicht ohne Mühe.

Wir streifen die folgenden Etappen:
1. Tourenplanung: Wie wähle ich den richtigen Migrationsweg, aka. die "Migrationsstrategie"
2. Lohnt sich der Weg: Wie überzeuge ich Entscheider, ein solches Vorhaben zu sponsoren
3. Auf dem Weg bleiben: Wie managt man den Migrationsfortschritt?
4. Bleibende Erinnerungen: Wie begegnet man übergroßen Erwartungen und vermeidet Enttäuschung bei Endkunden und Produktverantwortlichen?

Modernization projects are not a straight line as there’s no one-stop shop. Balance is definitely the right word: we talk here about finding the proper trade-off between quality/costs/timeframe requirements and customized patterns for a successful legacy system modernization. Based on actual use cases, we’ll discuss the available solutions (ERP implementation, code rewriting, middleware, cloud…), and see why combining the relevant tools is key.
Let us take you on a modernization journey and get your IBM mainframe to embrace innovation!

Target Audience: Architects, Developers, Project Leaders, Chief Information Officers
Prerequisites: IBM i (AS400) and IBM z environments, mainframes, software development
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
Trusted by major players in the insurance, banking, industrial and public services, IBM i and IBM z mainframes are undoubtedly powerful and reliable. Yet, the core business applications developed decades ago are no longer suited for today's requirements nor for tomorrow's innovations. Issues are piling up: maintenance, regulations, cybersecurity, mobility, UX/UI, technical debt … all made worse by the lack of skilled and motivated developers able to untangle layers of spaghetti legacy COBOL or RPG codes.

When the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is rising, some may consider simply shifting to modern architectures. Remember the massive rush to a famous ERP in the 2000s? Disarray, downtime, sleepless nights dreading data loss … History has taught us that forced march towards efficiency is possible but also that balance to consider the actual business environment and needs could have been a far better solution, both for systems and people.
Successful modernization is about making the most of the existing mainframe (remember, IBM i and IBM z systems are powerful and reliable!), adapting it to the latest IT trends and strategically relocating applications, inside or outside the mainframe.

Let us introduce you to an interesting use case we had a few years ago: this financial institution, specialized in consumer loans, is struggling with the obsolescence of its mainframe core business applications:
•    Accounting
•    Human resources and payroll
•    Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
•    Documentary reporting

Lately, legacy applications had had issues to address new demands from their various users (accountants, HR, sales, management):
•    How to work over 2 accounting exercises?
•    How to add new data and issue monthly statements of account?
•    How to call an external webservice to check customer solvency?
•    How to cope with the stricter compliance checks requested by financial regulations?
•    How to secure remote access for other branches?
•    How to provide a modern, secure and multi-session interface?
•    How to offer mobile access to all kinds of devices?

We’ll discuss a fully customized and easy to implement solution to modernize:
developers’ workstations: Java Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
systems and software: migration, decommissioning, revamping, middleware, runtime, mobile connectivity, web services, cloud
Let’s dive together into this real-world use case and deploy the full array of modernization tools to support this financial institution in her quest for innovation.

This talk explains how Scenario Casting enables agile teams to pull together despite diverse ideas and concerns - in three iterative collaborative steps:
1. Find example scenarios of how ideas and concerns affect the domain - strictly in domain language! This provides an initial Scenario Backlog outlining the problem space.
2. Prioritize the Scenario Backlog and agree on scope.
3. Combine the top scenarios into coherent overarching Orientation Scenarios.

Let the agile teams focus on their parts of the Orientation Scenarios over the next iteration(s).

Target Audience: Stakeholders, Non-IT Domain Experts, BAs, Developers, Architects, QMs, Agilists
Prerequisites: Project experience, basic knowledge of DDD, basic knowledge of agile methods
Level: Advanced

Extended Abstract:
Scenario Casting is a collaborative planning and requirements engineering method that has emerged over the past four years in various Domain-Driven Design projects. It is used intensively with dozens of teams most of them involved in ambitious transformation projects.
Scenario Casting is especially helpful for getting a handle on complex or even overwhelming domains. If your domain feels like this and there are a lot of people involved too, you should give Scenario Casting a try.
Scenario Casting lays the groundwork for focused collaborative modeling sessions using domain storytelling or event storming. It ensures that all relevant points are addressed step by step. Also, it helps to quickly identify your domain's subdomains and determine the people who should be involved.

More relevant scenarios are discovered during collaborative modeling. They all go into the Scenario Backlog and will be considered in future Scenario Castings.
Unlike other concepts that try to scale agile, the Scenario Backlog is strictly limited to DDD's problem space, thus avoiding upfront design and premature planning.
Instead, Scenario Casting sets a common focus in problem space for agile teams by defining Orientation Scenarios. An Orientation Scenario illuminates parts of the problem space very precisely. It defines the actual results that solutions must deliver from a domain perspective - but without prescribing specific solutions. Finding and implementing good solutions remains the responsibility of the individual agile teams!

This talk contains examples from real projects and gives you best practices - so you get a good idea of how to try Scenario Casting yourself!

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.

Over 95 % of companies in the EU are small businesses with less than 250 employees. Many of them would like to reduce their carbon emissions but very few have the knowledge and time needed to take action.
Reaching a sizable fraction of these companies with actionable information about their carbon footprint has a huge potential for climate impact. But is that possible for an organization with less than 10 employees? While also working at a sustainable pace?

Target Audience: Everybody willing to explore how to build software for our future
Prerequisites: none
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:

Humanity of today is faced with several very serious challenges: environmental problems such as climate change are changing our conditions for living and producing food, making social problems like poverty and global inequality worse.  A good future for our Planet Earth and the humans it supports is possible, but only if we act for it. The aim of this session is to give more people the confidence and tools to get more people to do exactly that: act for a better future.

We’ll spend most of the session exploring the story of GoClimate, a company founded for the sole purpose of stopping climate change. From the example of GoClimate’s journey we’ll extract a toolbox for making an impact on a global problem with a small team. Hopefully you’ll leave this talk convinced that your actions matter and with concrete ideas on how you can act.

• The race for performance and the variety of specialized workloads drives the industry to build more parallel, more heterogenous (multi accelerator), and distributed computing systems.  
• These systems introduce programming challenges and barriers of entry to developers.
• Software solutions can make technologies like AI accessible, safer and easier to use by wider communities.
• We will present some of the driving forces, world trends, challenges, and emerging solutions such as oneAPI, AI reference Kits, federated learning and more and demonstrate how SW can be made simpler, safer, and more profitable.

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

You have emotions? Congrats, you are a (professional) human being! Now, how can you actually handle your emotions smartly in our still tech- & tool-focused IT world?

In professional situations like:
- dealing with human "legacy experiences"
- integrating "personal silos"
- interacting with ease with other human beings
- tackling stressful situations (e.g. conflicts) within a team

This session offers a set of science-based, pragmatic tools that are (almost) always accessible - like a Swiss Pocket Knife for engineers (and other humans :-)).

Target Audience: Developers, Architects, System Engineers, Managers of all kind, Human Beings :)
Prerequisites: Curiosity and openness for new ways of thinking (and behaviour)
Level: Basic

Extended Abstract:
Oftentimes people think that having emotions or even “being emotional” means being unprofessional, being irrational or even being weak. That is wrong!

Being able to consciously deal with (your) emotions is a (professional) strength that can be learned and practised.

•    It contributes to better teamwork.
•    It promotes individual health.
•    It even is a leadership quality.

Join this session to bridge potential gaps between "tech" and "humans", between "hard" and "soft", between "us" and "them". Join and start right now with finding the 'right' balance...

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.