Looking back at the TechForum eXplore Iberia 2024
The value of company-internal physical events
I am grateful to have been a speaker at the TechForum eXplore Iberia 2024. It was a company-internal event organized by my employer Worldline that took place on the 23rd of May in Madrid.
While I will not discuss talks in detail or mention other people personally (it was an internal event after all), I want to explain what I took away from it and why it was such an enjoyable occasion.
First, a big thanks to the colleagues who organized it. During my years as a young adult, I organized international events with around 300 participants from 35 countries. Since that time, I have not taken off my organizer’s glasses anymore and scanned every event that I attend. I felt very welcome. I think the program had the right mix of activities. There was always something to do, and there was enough time for one-on-one conversations and deeper discussions.
On the evening before the forum, we were meeting at Sidrería el LLagar, a place where food from Asturia was served. From earlier conferences (e.g. OKR Forum Amsterdam 2019), I already knew that this is perfect as an icebreaker and to get people to know each other before a very busy day.
It is so different to see people physically in front of me. Even years of successful collaboration online cannot replace the value of face-to-face contact. It is a kind of magic to see colleagues finally not on screen. I had not seen some of them for two years physically, and even a direct team member only for the second time in two years of working closely together.
The forum itself — a mix of talks and stands — was emotionally satisfying and intellectually engaging. On the one hand, it was about sharing what we learned. On the other hand, it was also about what could be and where we could go based on what we know right now. It was also a great opportunity to identify patterns. For instance, I discussed a couple of recurring DevOps challenges with a developer from Google.
My talk was about an Agile Leadership Training that a group of agile enthusiasts including me had been developing since late 2020 and giving almost every month since summer 2021. I am very grateful to have gotten the opportunity to gather more practice as a speaker and for the feedback and reactions that I got.
Usually, at the end of a packed day, everybody is exhausted. Surprisingly enough, the closing note energized me one more time. It was a critical question about technology hypes (like Artificial Intelligence right now) and a reminder about the true purpose of innovation — serving to solve jobs to be done in better ways.
On a side note, of course, The Chocolate Guild was present as well. It was nice to contribute to the atmosphere and create some smiles!
For me, the TechForum eXplore Iberia 2024 has reconfirmed an important lesson: Creative, capable people can be found everywhere. Trust them to collaborate and you will see!
Update: A short video about the event:
TechForum eXplore Iberia 2024
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