Leading an agile development team; what is the role, what’s important, what to do, and how to lead. This is based on my experience in leading a large (600+ people) application development organization that has been practicing Agile since 2001. Over the past eight years I’ve observed, coached, and developed Agile leaders. In my talk I’ll cover the attributes of the successful Agile leader. I will use real life examples that illustrate and validate the attributes that can help or hinder the process of leading an Agile team. Leadership versus management will also be discussed.

Leaders can stifle progress when they unnecessarily interfere with team processes. However, as a leader, you don’t want your project to go over the cliff and fail miserably or deliver the wrong results either. There are times when leaders should stand back and let the team work things out for themselves—and other times when leaders should step up and really lead. How do you know which is which? And what do you do to not stifle the team’s creativity, ownership, integrity, and problem solving ability? Come away with tools to both motivate and guide teams and organizations effectively.

In our business and personal lives, many of us know leaders who foster environments with incredible creativity, innovation, and ideas—while other leaders try but fail. So, how do top leaders get it right? This session explores ways that leaders create cultures of trust that fosters the free flow of ideas. While we can’t make people trust each other, a culture of trust gives empowerment and provides a safe place to explore and discover new and innovative solutions and new ways of implementing and reaching results. It also encourages healthy risk taking to fail early and correct faster.