2019 Big Apple Scrum Day (BASD) was an amazing experience for many – again! The Coaches Clinic, supported by some top notch professionals in the industry, was one of the greatest hallmarks of the event – the tradition that has been maintained for the last 5 years.
Collectively, the coaches brought to the table lots of expertise, across multiple disciplines: organizational design, enterprise and team coaching, corporate culture, HR, business, DevOps/agile engineering, human psychology and other specialties.
Each coachee was given 15 minutes or more to share their thoughts, concerns or just ideas that required reflection and validation. Throughout the daily course, the clinic has served about 35 people.
Below are some testimonies, coming directly from the coaches as well as some best Kodak moments:
Coaches’ Testimonies:
Zuzi Sochova, CST, Agile & Enterprise Coach:
“I had several conversations with people about their careers, about what is next, and it felt that the missing ingredients is a courage. The true agile value we all keep forgetting. The courage to brake the position structure and the prescribed career paths and create a brand new job for yourself. Don’t wait until someone opens a position. Design it yourself. Create a need for your skills and value you can deliver. Defined positions and career paths are over. They belong to the last century. In modern world the we need more emergent leadership, the flexible solution for an actual problem. And fixed roles only keeps status quo. You are a leader. Step out of your position box and create your own role, focused on value, allowing you to satisfy your dreams.”
Jim York, CEC-CTC, CST at FoxHedge:
“Another great turnout at the Coaches Clinic at this year’s Big Apple Scrum Day in New York City! My thanks to the attendees, sponsors, and organizers that make this one of the premier agile events on the east coast. This year marks the third year I’ve volunteered as a coach at the clinic. I had many good conversations with those who stopped by. If you were one of them, let me know how things turn out!”
Amitai Schleier, Agile and Development Coach at Latent Agility
“It was an honor to once again take part in the BASD Coaches Clinic. When people need advice or guidance for where or how to start improving technical practices, I’m happy to offer some — but only after I’ve asked enough questions to begin to understand where they’re coming from and what they’re up against. Fortunately, our 15-minute sessions are usually enough to find at least one insight, one recommendation, and one action. Yesterday’s Coaches Clinic was no exception. My appreciation to Gene and the BASD organizers for including me.”
Mary Thorn, Agile Practice Lead at Vaco:
“Coaching at the Big Apple Agile was an enjoyable experience. The attendees were educated in their questions and ready to be coached. They came curious with open ears. They left with possible solutions to help them in their day to day execution.”
Aleksandr Kizhner, Experienced Agile Coach at TEKSystems:
“Big Apple Scrum Day is a groovy place to meet people who share your passions and interests. It is a place, where you can meet your influencing people and heroes, a place – to share your ideas, learn something new and help others with your knowledge and experience. One interesting thing that I remarked about how it felt: much more about actual practitioners of agile practices, rather than theorists or consultants. This was reflected in the attendees that I was inspired to meet, and I thank them all for sharing their interesting stories with me.
What was coming that might be game-changing in agile adoption 2019?”
David Liebman, Agile Coach at Eliassen
“This was the fifth year that I have participated in BASD’s coaching clinic among a group of outstanding and dedicated professionals. It is always a pleasure and an honor to be part of this group.
The individuals who came for coaching continue to demonstrate a passion for Agile and the issues and concerns that they brought during this year’s clinic dealt with everything from how to facilitate Scrum events to differences in implementing various Agile frameworks.
The most notable trend in my coaching sessions was the focus on applying soft skills to foster greater collaboration among the teams, stakeholders and executive management. This was expressed as the need to understand and level set expectations at all levels. It seems that although the basics of Agile practices seem to be better understood over the years the successful implementation of Agile remains an issue where this disconnect in understanding a major cause.
I believe that as we continue to attempt to be Agile we are at a point where difficult conversations need to be had to ensure that we agree on what success means and what we need to do to be successful. I am confident that we will reach our goals.”
Kodak Moments:
