Name
When life gives you derecho...build a log cabin with agility!
Kevin Sutherland
Description

Do you feel like you keep hearing the *same agile presentations* over and over? Are you experiencing fatigue with best practices for running standups...minimizing meeting time...writing working agreements...removing impediments? Are you interested in a **unique and intriguing** learning experience? If so, I would be honored to share my experience with you! In the 2020 "Midwest hurricane" (derecho), we lost around 30 mature trees to the storm. I commented to my wife that "we could build a log cabin out of all these downed trees"...next thing I know, building a log cabin became the highest priority item on my backlog. We started without any detailed plans, timelines, or predefined notions of the final product, using a high-level vision and continual inspection/adaption to guide our progress. The final result was far better than we ever imagined! We successfully applied agile values, principles, and practices to the effort, resulting in a product I expect our family to enjoy for many years. At the same time, I was engaged in two challenging initiatives at work and tried the same approaches with *equal success!*

In this presentation, I will discuss the challenges presented in each scenario, the agile principles applied, and what I/others learned as a result.

Learning Objectives
1. Vision over planning - uncertainty requires design flexibility
2. Experimentation, then continuous inspection and adaption over delivery frameworks
3. Skill and job fit over scale
Learning Level
Beginner
Track
People
Session Type
Experience Report