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Meet The Speakers – Julia Västrik

April 11, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Julia Västrik (Estonia), with a talk “The Whole Team Approach to Innovation.“

About the talk:

Who is responsible for innovation? People with a word “Innovation” in their job title, like Innovation managers in Corporate Innovation Hubs? Well, definitely they might be great catalysts of innovation.

At the same time, the vast potential of very intelligent, creative, and educated people, who could contribute to the company’s innovations on an everyday basis, stays mostly unused. Usually, these people have a Software Engineer job title.

Over the last two decades agile way of working became prevailing within many cross-functional teams in the software development industry. Still, most of those teams can be called cross-functional just so far, as what they are mostly doing is just transforming a set of requirements, received from outside, usually from stakeholders, into working software.

In more progressive product companies decision-making regarding product has moved from stakeholders to product managers and eventually it is moving to the whole cross-functional teams, still this mindset shift is not that common.

During this session we will explore what are the benefits of placing product discovery inside the cross-functional team using the great potential of all its members, including Software Engineers, and how to start in practice with embracing the whole team innovation mindset. 

Presentation slides are available here

About Julia:

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI.

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI
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Meet The Speakers – Daryl Seager

April 11, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Daryl Seager (Estonia), Rush Street Interactive, with a talk “Giving and receiving effective feedback.“

Topic: Giving and receiving effective feedback.

About the talk:
Why are we so bad at feedback? Feedback is an important part of what we do and how we do it, yet most people struggle to give and receive feedback effectively. During this session we will look at ways we develop our skills in this area, which will enable us to have more productive conversations and improve our results.

About Daryl:
Daryl is a certified ICF Leadership and Communication Coach, Strengthscope practitioner, and Scrum Master. He is especially passionate about supporting new leaders in tech and empowering them with the tools to lead and grow their teams sustainably. He has over 10 years of international experience coaching and consulting a wide range of clients both in the public and private sectors. Industries he has worked with include: Pharma, Banking, Finance, Education, Government, Retail, Manufacturing, Media and Tech.

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI.

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Tommy Ågren

April 5, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Tommy Ågren (Sweden), with a talk “Organizational design and complexity“

Topic: Organizational design and complexity

About the talk:

Today there are various frameworks and methods for scaling agile, which many organizations adopt as means to become an agile organization.

Many frameworks and methods are based on structures, design elements, and practices that we more or less take for granted as the recipe for organizational design and success. Structures and design elements can indeed serve as enablers for agility. However, in some cases they can also be misleading, especially if applied in the wrong context.

So how can we know if our design elements are providing a viable foundation for an organization to become more agile? What could be indicators for a good fit, and what could be indicators to be cautious and rethink?

To address this question, we need to become more aware of context and degree of complexity, and bear in mind what we are trying to accomplish by “being agile”.

About Tommy:

Tommy lives in Stockholm, Sweden and works as Senior Agile Coach or Change lead.
He has been working within the IT business for about 30 years in different types of roles (Developer, Architect, Scrum Master, Agile Coach, Change lead).
Over the last 20 years Tommy has been involved in and gained experience from different Agile change initiatives from types of organizations, such as Banking and Finance, Retail, Telecom, Industry, Aeronautical and Defense industry, MedTech, the Public Sector and more.
Tommy is passionate about organizational development and scaling agility. In his work he uses a broad spectrum of different frameworks, methods, and practices. However, he prefers to use these pragmatically as “tools” to solve real problems – not as own ends.

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI, Uncategorized

Meet The Speakers – Lasse Ziegler

April 5, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Lasse Ziegler (Finland), with a talk “The culture to survive time of crisis“

Topic: The culture to survive time of crisis

About the talk:
In times of crisis and a rapidly changing environment companies struggle to cope. The one to adapt more quickly is more likely to survive. What kind of organizational culture makes your company more likely to live? How do you know what culture you have, and most importantly, how do you know it is changing for the better?

About Lasse:

As an experienced Enterprise Agile Coach, Certified Scrum Trainer, and Managing Director at agile42 Finland, I am passionate about helping organizations embrace agile methodologies and achieve their goals. With a focus on creating a collaborative and innovative work environment, I have helped numerous clients to improve their processes, increase efficiency, and deliver exceptional value to their customers.

I am committed to driving growth and success for my clients through innovative and effective solutions. Whether coaching leadership teams, mentoring individual team members, or collaborating with clients to develop customized solutions, I am dedicated to delivering exceptional value and driving results.

If you’re interested in learning more about my experience as an Enterprise Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Trainer at agile42 Finland, I would be happy to connect and share my insights.

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Hanno Jarvet

April 5, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Hanno Jarvet (Estonia), with a talk “Going Beyond Agile: Influencing Business and Driving Change“

Topic: Going Beyond Agile: Influencing Business and Driving Change

About the talk:
You have experience in Agile methodologies and corporate change initiatives and find yourself in a position where you have more responsibility. You could expand Agile further and involve more of the business. Perhaps even make the whole organization Agile. How should you go about it in a non-naive way? How can you find some contextually appropriate ways to move your organization forward? Depending on your context and environment, different parts of the Agile methodology are appropriate (but insufficient).

This talk will help you choose a contextually appropriate approach to drive change. We will look at Wardley Mapping, Strategic Sales and Business Model Canvases to understand how to look at systems and environments and act contextually appropriately to avoid running fool’s errands and pick the battles that can be won with the right tools.

About Hanno:
I have helped organizations improve performance with Agile and other methods since 2009. 

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Eric Reppo and Vadym Davydov

April 5, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speakers Eric Reppo and Vadym Davydov (Swedbank), with a talk “Benefits of SAFe implementation in Finance sector – Swedbank user story“

Topic: Benefits of SAFe implementation in Finance sector – Swedbank user story

About the talk:

The financial sector is extremely competitive as well as highly regulated.

Banks and others in the financial sector have to change their priorities and processes very quickly. 

This story takes you on an agile journey of engraining a new culture in Swedbank, including harmonization of our way of working to allow us to be even more nimble and customer-centric by adopting SAFe.

We will SAFely take you through this journey and show you all the benefits we get from the perspective of Release Train Engineer (RTE) and Product Manager (PM) roles.

About Eric:

  • I am a certified Product Manager (SAFe) at Swedbank. I have been working at Swedbank for 15+ years and have been involved with Baltic/Group level projects/programs since day one.
  • I have worked in several countries and enjoy working with people from diverse backgrounds.
  • I believe in creating positive feedback cycles with every program. Happy stakeholders lead to happy development teams, which then lead to motivated productive teams and finally to happier stakeholders.

About Vadym:

  • I am a Certified Release Train Engineer (SAFe) at Swedbank and a Certified Professional Scrum Master (PSM I, SAFe).
  • I am extremely passionate about Agile and start-ups – validating hypotheses, working with uncertainties, building high-performance teams.
  • I was one of the co-founders of an Agile community – AgileTalks in Kyiv – a Ukrainian AgileTalks community with a vision to support Scrum Masters and Product Owners in their journey of learning and implementing great practices and approaches.
  • I am a decisive and committed individual who knows how to create an environment in which great ideas can happen!

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI



Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Vasco Duarte

April 4, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Vasco Duarte (Finland), the host of famous Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, with a talk “What are you missing to be a world class Scrum Master or Agile Coach?“

Topic: What are you missing to be a world class Scrum Master or Agile Coach?

About the talk:
Have you thought about this question before?
In this session we will cover 3 ideas that may make you a world-class Agile Coach, and we will discuss what we can do in our own personal learning journeys to achieve that goal.
But first, we will discuss what makes us world-class Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches! Bring your thinking hats, and let’s explore success for Scrum Masters/Agile Coaches together!

About Vasco:
Vasco Duarte is a leading voice in the agile community, known for his contributions to the development of agile methodologies and practices. He is the co-founder of Agile Finland and the host of Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast, the most popular Agile podcast in the world, which has more than 8 000 000 unique downloads. He is also the author of “NoEstimates: A novel look at how Agile can transform software development, making it both more sustainable, as well as incredibly profitable.” Vasco is a keynote speaker at many conferences and events, sharing his knowledge and experience with the agile community. With his passion and expertise in agile, Vasco has made a significant impact on the way software development is done today, helping organizations to become more efficient, flexible, and responsive to changing requirements.

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI
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Meet The Speakers – Juan Gutiérrez Plaza

March 27, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Juan Gutiérrez Plaza (Estonia), with a talk “Heresy! Mixing Together Large and Dynamic Teams.“

Topic: Heresy! Mixing Together Large and Dynamic Teams.

About the talk:
Long-term static teams of about 7 +/- 2 people is currently the most accepted set-up and it has been the de-facto approach for many years. But would it be so bad to have larger teams? and very dynamic ones in composition? How could we do this without becoming heretics in the world of Agile? Let’s explore in this session how to take the idea of “dynamic re-teaming” to the extreme.

About Juan:
Juan has worked as developer, agile coach, manager and other roles in Spain, Finland, France and Estonia. Software Engineer by education, he is passionate about computers and about finding new and better ways of developing software. Currently he works as VP of Engineering at Scoro. He re-founded Agile Spain community in 2009 and every now and them gives some talks in different conferences and events.

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Ivo Peksens

March 22, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Ivo Peksens (Latvia), with a talk “Team effectiveness or deep dive into Agile principle #12.“

Topic: Team effectiveness or deep dive into Agile principle #12.

About the talk:
This is an original talk based on writing at https://www.ivopeksens.com/effectiveness. 

I invite you to look deeper at the word “effective” from the Agile’s 12th principle. We will break it down into team efficiency, productivity and effectiveness and explore those in the context of knowledge work. Then, I will tell you about my original term “diversivity” that I propose to introduce instead of productivity term. As we go, you will be able to self-assess yourselves a bit, think, reflect and applaud me at the end :). Hopefully. See you soon!

Ivo about himself:
My name is Ivo Peksens. I am a natural intelligence Agile and Team Coach from Riga, Latvia. I help organizations develop and improve healthy team dynamics in various contexts. My recent interest is team research and team effectiveness models merge with Agile context and vice versa. I have worked with teams in various industries over the last 15+ years. Managed to be the first CTC from Scrum Alliance in the Baltic States (I know there will be a few other CTCs in Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI :)).

More about Ivo: https://www.ivopeksens.com/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivopeksens/

Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI will take place 15th of April 2023 and you can register through Eventbrite.
More information about Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI

Meet The Speakers – Petri Heiramo

March 20, 2023 Written by Julia Vastrik

Meet an Agile Saturday Tallinn XVI speaker Petri Heiramo (Finland), with a talk “The World’s Most Expensive ‘Hello World!’ “

Topic: The World’s Most Expensive “Hello World!”

About the talk:
In an Agile project in 2008, at the Sprint Review of the first Sprint, the Team demoed their first increment – the text “Hello World!” in the top left corder of an otherwise empty browser window – and everybody celebrated. 

Why did this apparently simple result elicit such a powerful response? What was the point of spending two weeks of time, and the effort 8 people working on the project, for this apparently trivial outcome?

This story takes us to an exploration of “learning value”, and how it can affect the planning in an Agile project. In fact, learning value often trumps business value in the very first Sprints. We will look at some exercises that allow us to explore our Backlog in a few different ways, and then use that knowledge to sort it collaboratively into a meaningful release plan, seeking to optimise our chances of success.

Petri about himself:
I’ve been an Agilist since 2005 when the “lights turned on”. Since late 2008, I’ve done over 400 certified Scrum course as a Certified Scrum Trainer by Scrum Alliance. I’ve worked quite internationally and with both small and big organisations.

In Agile, I’m most excited about the human element – team formation, motivation, self-fulfilment – and I see them as platforms for everything else. Sure, we need also good ways of working, but if we can get the people to really work together and want to do a good job, everything else becomes possible. 

Agile Saturday, Agile Saturday XVI
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