Agile, Scrum, inattentional blindness, perception, attention, start without a spec, Dan Mezick

Dan Mezick is an Agile coach focused on Scrum. He's a 3-time presenter at Agile2007, 2008 and 2009 and an invited speaker to the Scrum Gathering (Orlando) in 2010. Dan's company provides Scrum training, Agile coaching and consulting to executives, managers and teams. Learn more about Dan here.

Presentation: FULL IMMERSION AGILE

Most folks getting into Agile have trouble getting belief on the idea that you must literally "start without a specification". The NOKIA TEST for Scrum actually names this as a requirement to determine if you are actually doing Scrum. Do you need a complete spec to start? If the answer is 'no', you are doing Scrum according to this test.

How can this work? Come to this session to find out. You'll engage in a really fun, experiential, group-level game (building a complex product) that helps explain how 'starting without a complete spec" engages your brain, grabs your attention and generates a tremendous amount of perception about the work, the team and the goals of the project.

Along the way, we'll cover significant advances in cognitive science that prove "there is no conscious perception without conscious attention". Come to this meeting, pay conscious attention, and build some conscious perception on Agile and Scrum dynamics.

Topics and Activities include:

o Why you MUST start ... without a complete specification

o Why waiting for a 'complete' spec is actually an IMPEDIMENT to productivity

o The SCIENCE behind 'starting without a complete specification' and 'paying attention'.

o The link between 'starting without a complete spec' and entreprenuerial behavior

o How and why there is 'no conscious perception without conscious attention'

o Directly experience the building of a complex product...at this meeting...on a team...WITHOUT A COMPLETE SPEC.

o Participate in a group-level retrospective debrief, after experiencing 'starting without a complete spec' with your team

MEETING AGENDA:

6:30 PM: PART1: SCRUM overview as described by Dan Mezick of New Technology Solutions

7:00 PM: BREAK: Food and networking time.

7:15 PM: PART 2: FULL IMMERSION AGILE .... with direct experience building a complex product on a team. This is an experiential session and you work on a team without a complete spec and you build a complex product.

8:00 PM: GROUP RETROSPECTIVE on the entire experience

8:20 PM: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION OF MEETING

MEETING VENUE: MICROSOFT offices in FARMINGTON CT. REGISTER NOW for this meeting

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DIRECTIONS TO MICROSOFT FARMINGTON.