20 Continuous Learning Initiatives for Agile Teams

Abstract
These days many large companies are experiencing various types of transformations (from waterfall to agile, from agile to scaled-agile, from a CMMI-world to a light-weight governed world, from a PMO organization to something else, and so on) in their IT and/or software development organizations. All these transformation efforts need to be supported by continuous learning tenets. As a popular example, agile transformation needs a culture change that fosters continuous learning. As another yet concrete example, Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) that is fully or partly embraced in large Danish/Global companies such as Lego, Nordea, SimCorp outlines certain initiatives such as Communities of Practice, and advises the ScrumXP teams to try Team Inside-Outs and Book&Coffee Breaks.

In this talk, we will visit 20 tangible continuous learning initiatives that can be applied to agile teams. All these methods are used with three different teams on a scaled agile (SAFe) setting, during the last year, hence you will also get information from the trenches on how such initiatives are perceived. My intention is, after this talk you will be able to try something new with your teams that would hopefully cause a good change.

This talk may seem to target agile coaches, scrum masters, development managers, etc. who can influence their teams and lead by example. In reality, any software development professional can benefit from the numerous ways of continuous learning and contaminate their teams with the new good habits.

Speaker
Ender Yüksel

Speaker Bio
Ender Yuksel works as a Senior Scrum Master in SimCorp, using the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) and from the beginning taking an active part in a massive agile transformation in SimCorp. He holds a PhD degree from the Technical University of Denmark in computer science, and worked as a postdoctoral researcher prior to joining the FinTech industry in Copenhagen as a software engineer. He is advocating continuous learning and continuous improvement, together with an emphasis on craftsmanship.