I seem to be taking a habit of replying blog posts with blog posts, and here's the source of current inspiration to write: http://learninggamedev.wordpress.com/2013/08/01/join-me-in-re-imagining-the-agile-finland-coaching-circle/
I've been setting up a session to reimagine things in Agile Finland in a larger scale than just coaching circles, with 24 participant limit this time. Thus I've tried to also positioning the coaching circle in a bigger scheme of activity. The fact has been that for quite some time, coaching circles were pretty much the only activity, muddling them into "all things agile, from beginner to advanced". But it does not have to be so yet it can be.
With discussions around, I gathered the types of events we seem to bounce between when organizing:
For Agile Finland, the Agile Drinks/Dinners have been unfacilitated, with nice groups of people meeting up, sometimes with a specific theme and sometimes not. The Dinners we've organized within Finnish Association for Software Testing have been facilitated, meaning that there is one discussion ongoing for the whole group instead of everyone grouping up to a different theme.
We have the unfacilitated / facilitated Dinners. We have the dojos. We have the coaching circles. And we have the conferences. What we've been missing is something for a beginner/intermediate audience that allows a larger crowd and that happens more regularly - a mini-conference with a facilitated discussion twist. That's what Agile Breakfast will be about, and the first one will most likely be 6.9.2013 in Ruoholahti - first Friday morning of the month. Location still needs confirming.
For the events status, I collected this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ak7e3JZGe_hadDBscGF4NEFtZm5JdnVMZEE1ZXF0NUE&usp=sharing - just to see what there could be.
I've been setting up a session to reimagine things in Agile Finland in a larger scale than just coaching circles, with 24 participant limit this time. Thus I've tried to also positioning the coaching circle in a bigger scheme of activity. The fact has been that for quite some time, coaching circles were pretty much the only activity, muddling them into "all things agile, from beginner to advanced". But it does not have to be so yet it can be.
With discussions around, I gathered the types of events we seem to bounce between when organizing:
- circles (like coaching circle) are for practice and deep knowledge though shared insights
- dojos and retreats and camps (like coding/testing) are for practice
- unfacilitated meetups are for meeting people interested in similar themes, but finding the right conversation is up to you
- facilitated meetups are for talking about a topic together in a group / subgroup, making finding the right conversation a little easier
- peer conferences (unconferences) are for sharing real experiences and debating them for insights
- conferences are for listening to ideas and experiences with possibility to discuss or gain experiences through exercises
- webinars are for listening to ideas and experiences in cases where you can't be onsite
- working parties are for creating something together.
- courses are for teaching a topic with exercises to practice
For Agile Finland, the Agile Drinks/Dinners have been unfacilitated, with nice groups of people meeting up, sometimes with a specific theme and sometimes not. The Dinners we've organized within Finnish Association for Software Testing have been facilitated, meaning that there is one discussion ongoing for the whole group instead of everyone grouping up to a different theme.
We have the unfacilitated / facilitated Dinners. We have the dojos. We have the coaching circles. And we have the conferences. What we've been missing is something for a beginner/intermediate audience that allows a larger crowd and that happens more regularly - a mini-conference with a facilitated discussion twist. That's what Agile Breakfast will be about, and the first one will most likely be 6.9.2013 in Ruoholahti - first Friday morning of the month. Location still needs confirming.
For the events status, I collected this: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Ak7e3JZGe_hadDBscGF4NEFtZm5JdnVMZEE1ZXF0NUE&usp=sharing - just to see what there could be.
