posted 5th December 2022
As we come to the end of 2022, I’m starting to think about some of the conferences I’d like to attend in 2023. As I do this it reminds me of the power of conferences and meet-ups. Whilst this blog will focus more on the conference aspect, I think it’s only right that I acknowledge the power and positivity that comes from meet-ups and conferences, especially the growth and energy that they can provide. I personally have benefited no end from this with our awesome Heart of Agile Scotland meet-up that has brought me great insights and ideas over the past few years. Maybe that is a topic for another day, but for now here is how Lean Agile Scotland 2022 (here is the link in case you have no idea what I am talking about: https://leanagile.scot/programme ) went for me!
First off, I am a busy boy so I could only really take the time to attend one day, so I went along on the 1st day of the 3-day conference. There was a reason for me choosing this day, mainly being that me and the folks from Heart of Agile Scotland were holding a workshop on Elephant Carpaccio (I’ll cover that in more detail later). Plus, everyone’s energy is high on the first day with excitement right?
Overview
The conference is held over 3 days in Edinburgh and it’s located at the John Hopkins center in the University of Edinburgh buildings. The conference has a large footprint as there are normally multiple tracks running which is great as it gives you so much choice on topics you can go hear about. This was the 2nd time I was attending LASCOT as I’d been once pre-pandemic. I loved it the first time I went and I was a tad hesitant as sometimes the 2nd time you do something that magic has worn off. I am very glad to say that was not the case here. Maybe the break of the pandemic and our changing work culture has re-galvanised my need for face-to-face collaboration and learning, I am not sure. However, I am sure that the magic of the conference was still alive and kicking for me!
What session did I enjoy the most?
I enjoyed a number of the sessions. One that really stood out for me was by Edouard Gomez-Vaes talk on Introducing test-driven management (TDD) – craft leadership as developers craft their code! This was an enlightening talk that was very visual and gave me some great ideas. At the end of the session, I spoke with Edouard and we ended up speaking about a workshop he has used in the past to introduce the concepts and execution of TDD. I was so impressed and intrigued that I asked Edouard if could we run it remotely and if so, if could we do that for our Heart of Agile Scotland community. Edouard said yes so, we’ll run that session on 26/01/2023, come along and join us if you can!
What was the most powerful session?
The session from Toli Apostolidis and Andy Norton called Unicorn scale - team topologies at Cinch was the most powerful for me. I was so impressed with the Scale of growth that came to the company at the pace it came. The volume of change and how they iterated and pivoted was mind blowing. This covered how they both utilised Team Topologies and definitely did NOT use the Spotify Model as well as the need for observability across their ecosystem. The talk was very engaging, informative whilst also injecting a fair sprinkling of humour. I’d forgotten how powerful a book Team Topologies is and this talk has made me want to revisit the book and refamiliarize myself with the concepts and models.
The people I Met
It was great to see so many folks from the wider agile community. I got to finally meet some folk face to face who I have seen and followed on social media for years. Folks like Jac Hughes, Karl Scotland, and Julia Wester (I’d highly recommend you look these folk up on Twitter, LinkedIn, and the likes as their content is great. A personal favourite is Jac’s visual explanation of WiP with a packet of Monster Munch, it’s superb!). I also got to meet a bunch of new folks such as Edouard Gomez-Vaes, Gewnno Haf Hughes, and Suzanne Morrison. Not only this, but I also bumped into a bunch of former colleagues such as Joanna Masraff, Kylie Yearsley, Amy Riddell, Ashley Singh, Stuart Cathcart, Kathy Thomson, Hannah McKee, and many others. This was awesome. So good to have a chance to catch up with good folk you’ve not seen in ages and get to meet new like-minded folk too.
How did our Workshop go?
Our workshop was based on Alistair Cockburn’s (The creator of the Heart of Agile) concept of Elephant Carpaccio utilising a lot of the guidance from Henrik Kniberg that you can find online. We had run this at one of our Heart of Agile Scotland meet-ups earlier in the year and Scott Seivwright submitted it to LASCOT on our behalf after the session. Scott, Lucy Burns, Peter Hopes and I took it on and ran the session. It went fantastically, better than I imagined it could. The session ended up being oversubscribed and the room we had was full to the point that we had to get extra chairs in. One real bonus to come out was that I did not forsee the positive in limiting of fewer workstations per table until it happened. If anything I was very concerned from the outset that we would not have enough laptops per participant to make the session work. However, a real gem of the day for me was seeing this enabling constraint in action as the collaboration levels went through the roof! Especially in the groups where there were only 1 or 2 laptops/tablets per team. At the end of the session, we got some great feedback from the group as well as some being party to some nice conversations during and after with a lot of different people. A superb session that put a spring in my step for the rest of the day. Thank you to all who attended.
What did I get from the conference?
The main things I took from the conference were energy and refreshed ideas. That alone is worth the ticket fee. The new learnings from running Elephant Carpaccio were a bonus, but the new learning, ideas, and excitement I had from the talks and interactions over the day were the real juice for me. Also, did I mention the chocolate brownies on offer were amazing? I must have inhaled 4 of them before I started getting some weird looks from people. I also got a great notebook from the recruitment team at the BBC which has pride of place on my desk so a tip of the hat to the good people at the Beeb for that!
Why do I want to go to more?
Like anything good in life, we want more of it right? I always want more ideas (especially good ones), and more energy to galvanize me in my work. I want to widen my network so I learn from more people, and did I mention the chocolate brownies? Someone once said to me, “Anyone who thinks less is more, clearly has not had enough more!” Not sure I should live that tip (see 38” waist for details) quite as much as I do but it’s been fun so far.
Where do I want to go next year?
Agile On the Beach (AOTB) is one I’d love to go to in the UK, Martin Burns (and others) always told me that was his favourite conference of the year and Martin has rarely given me a bad steer so I think I’ll head down south for that. I’d also like to experience an international conference; it would be great to hear from a wider base and how agility is helping in other cultures and work environments.
Did you go along to #LASCOT22? Will you be going to AOTB 2023? Where would you recommend, and which conferences are your favourites? Did you go to any conferences this year that you’ll definitely head back to? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you.