#AgileGrenoble2019

Feedback on one of the biggest Agile conference.

Context

From November 12 to 16, 2019, France’s biggest Agile conference took place at the Grenoble World Trade Center Congress Center.

More than 1 900 participants attended this event, and took part in 149 sessions presented by 181 speakers during three days of conferences, a one-day open forum and a day dedicated to kids.

This conference was first initiated in 2008 by Alexandre Boutin and is supported by the Club Agile Rhône Alpes (CARA). Through the years, it evolved and quickly became a reference in the French Agile scene. If you intend to go, note that tickets are usually sold out in less than two hours.

This year, five main categories covered all sessions:

• Opening Keynotes on each half-day
• “First steps in the Agile world”
• “Collaboration: Tools / Methods / Project Management”
• “Product Management”
• “Gestion / Facilitation / Coaching”

FYI, you can stream every session that took place in the WTC auditorium on the Agile Grenoble Youtube channel. I strongly advice you to do so!

Choosing a conference

The first time that I looked at the program, the first thing that crossed my mind was “wow! there is quite some content!” The event’s notoriety and recognized status generate a very large choice of sessions, and it’s very difficult to make a choice because you want to attend each one.

As a compromise, I chose to focus on two main categories: “Collaboration: Tools / Methods / Project Management” and “Management / Facilitation / Coaching”. In addition to that, I attended every keynotes.

To present them to you, I have regrouped the sessions into categories, pointing out the most memorable ones.
You will also find links to more details (e.g. videos) about the different sessions.

The conference

Keynotes

Every day had the same routine. Jérôme Bourgeon from CARA outlines the day, the safety rules and the meal schedule. Then the sponsor of the day has the floor. After that, the keynote begins.

Marie-Laure Brunet, Olympic Biathlon medalist, opened the event with a keynote on the importance of taking action, the importance of short/medium/long term goals and milestones in order not to be overwhelmed by the weight of the final goal. (vidéo).

Then Arnaud Lemaire suggested a comeback to the basics of agility (vidéo), Laurence Ruffin told us about collective construction(vidéo), Jean-Pierre Lambert focused on collaboration (vidéo), Isabel and Alexis Monville spoke on the interactions between people (vidéo), et finally Arnaud Riou wrapped the day with the key topic of community (vidéo).

I will simply highlight this quotation from Arnaud Lemaire on the deviations of agility.

“If the features are blocked from the start of the contract, don’t expect to be agile.”
— Arnaud Lemaire

Collaboration: Tools / Methods / Project Management

Because agility is also practicality and experience, the collaborative sessions were all geared towards putting it into practice.

Hosted by Damien Bonhomme and Alfred Almendra, l’Usine à confettis highlights the waste of time and energy caused by multi-tasking. Some of the benefits illustrated by this workshop are less stress, more comfort, better productivity, concerned teams and satisfied customers.

Following the 4C canvas (Connections, Concepts, Concrete Practice, Conclusion), Emmanuel Etasse and Mana Yon Snoeck presented a reverse teaching method. Instead of listening to an “expert” talk and having a late implementation, this is a facilitator that intervenes and the implementation is immediate. What are the benefits? Efficiency, collective, fun.

With a firm human-centered approach, Nicolas Ploquin explained the relation between the four Toltec chords and Lean, of which he is a fervent coach and devotee. In essence, the four chords are “Let your speech be impeccable”, “Whatever happens, don’t make it personal”, “Don’t make assumptions”, “Always do your best”. More details coming soon.

More focused on daily life, Jean Dupuis and Emmanuel Hervé introduced us to their seven keys to a successful agile project launch. In a nutshell, the seven keys are Engage, Equip, Cultivate, Exhibit, Estimate, Prepare and Deliver. More details coming up in a future article.

Then a session hosted by Alice Barralon and Vanessa Humphreys about the eight nuances of the Scrum Master role, the principles of Management 3.0, and the importance of emotions in this role.

We concluded the day with Patrick Pouchot and Jean-Philippe Gillibert, who who highlighted the need for a clear communication and a common language in order to achieve a successful project through a rescue adventure.

L’Usine à confettis was the most powerful session in this category. This session, which can be held both internally and with clients, perfectly illustrates the harm of multi-tasking and strongly encourages its participants to keep the process focused and sequential.

“But the second customer is going to be waiting in the lobby …!
Yes, but more importantly it will be delivered faster and predictably, and we have stopped doing useless (worthless) things for the customer.”
— L’Usine à confettis

Management / Facilitation / Coaching

Apart from “The agile transformation of which you are the hero”, hosted by Johan Bonneau, Mael Morel and Séverine Luzeau, which was a perfectly orchestrated role play, and “4 interactive techniques for managers and meeting facilitators”, hosted by Esther and Matthew Richter, which was an experimentation for the participants, the sessions in this category were either lectures or feedback.

During “If table football doesn’t work, how do I motivate my team?”, David Laizé told us about collaborators expectations, demotivating factors and main requirements (vidéo).

Then Aurélie Le Guillou made us discover “The 20 questions that “click” in his workshops”, raising our awareness on our point of view as judges or as curious people.(vidéo).

Aurélien Wille focused on the “Solution Focus” technique in “How did I switch my brain”. A technique that allows you to focus on the future and solutions, rather than the past and the problems.

Anne Gabrillagues spoke in the auditorium to tell us about the Toyota Kata, and in particular how to “make continuous improvement a daily habit”. A session full of practical tips that can be quickly implemented in your teams. (vidéo).

Nicolas Ploquin came back with a second session, this time to ask this question… “What if our managers were indispensable?”. Spoiler alert : Yes. But in a somewhat different role from what we usually encounter. A good way to open your mind and see your role in a different light… (vidéo).

“Dans la gamification, il ne faut jamais perdre de vue le message.”
— Nicolas Tondeur

Finally, the session I would like to highlight is Nicolas Tondeur’s one, a big fan and games lover of all kinds of games, who told us about his attraction for gaming in a session “Let’s hack the board games”. This session was an opportunity to discover in real-life experiences the main goals, the usage moments, the constraints of gamification, and above all to evaluate the levels of “hack” (or diversion) that can be made of a game. A very important watchword to remember from this session: The game is only a pretext, a means to solve a problem or to pass on a message, and the debriefing is the most important part of this moment.

Conclusion

There is a good reason why the Agile Grenoble conference has become over the years the most qualitative agile conference in France. The quality of the sessions is equalled only by the quality of the exchanges between participants. Speakers participate to each others’ sessions, everyone brings and receives. We take a week’s worth of them and it’s a real breath of fresh air.

I would like to thank all the people with whom I was able to exchange during this event, exchanges that were all very rich. I would like to thank my conference partner, Stany Ferer, who is not to be outdone in terms of the quality of his words and deeds. Finally, I would like to thank Idean for allowing me to make this beautiful discovery.

I look forward to discussing it for more information and see you next year.