2021 SustainAgility Conference
Key Highlights and Takeaways
The Idea
Since the publication of the Sustainable Agile Manifesto on 11th April 2020, many of the community members were discussing the topic of a conference on and off. We had few community events in 2020 where we discussed the values, opportunities, challenges, etc. However, no concrete discussions done around organizing a big-scale conference. It just so happened that during the week of March 2021, few impromptu meetings with the Core Team members pumped the conference idea. We thought of celebrating the 1st Anniversary of the Sustainable Agile Manifesto as a milestone event & conference. With the core team’s help, we were able to put together a highly successful and memorable 2021 SustainAgility conference in less than 4 weeks. An amazing story of purpose, teamwork, and collaboration. A BIG THANK YOU to all the Core Team members. You all are incredible!
The Conference
The conference ran over 3 hours each day for 2 days (15 and 16 April). These were 2 action-packed days filled with pragmatic talks, fun games & interactive conversations.
There were a few common themes & key takeaways through these two days:
1. Lean & Alive organisation structures are key to sustainable agility
Our Day 1 Keynote speakers Paul and Amy shared their amazing start-up journey and story of ZING. How they are adopting and drive Sustainable Agility in action. It was amazing to hear how they manage a globally remote team, maintain empathy and trust, connect & collaborate to drive collective outcomes, use technology to collocate minds and prioritize value over speed.
Paul Cameron and Amy Burke
SustainAgility in action - what it looks like from the frontline at ZING
“You can achieve sustainability and agility if you are willing to make your organization flat and human-centered.”
2. Dysfunctional Management makes command and control sound negative
Steve Tendon challenged our thinking around the CORE value of Empathy and Trust over Command and Control. He shared a great reference to how a balanced view of command and control is essential for scale, structure, and rhythm. Truly insightful and thought-provoking session. Love the way Steve shares his wisdom with the Herbie character.
Steve Tendon
How to really address the prevalence of Command and Control ?
“Dysfunctional Management drives the negative effects of command and control.”
3. Ethics are essential for holistic & sustainable coaching outcomes
Our Day 2 Keynote speakers Shane shared about the agile coaching ethics initiatives and scenarios which makes it essential for holistic coaching outcomes. The lack of consistency in the discipline of agile coaching makes it harder to sustain transformations. The ethical code of conduct is the need of the hour.
Shane Hastie
The ethics of agile coaching
“Ethics drive consistent and holistic outcomes. As agile coaches, we can create an ethics-driven world around us and inspire sustainability.”
4. Leadership is responsible for driving culture
Amol Pradhan shared a great tool, he calls as SustainAgility Trio. The 3 pillars that drive holistic and sustainable transformations – people & culture, process, technology. He shared how talking is easy, doing is hard, and sustaining is harder. A must-watch talk for leaders who’re aspiring to transform their organizations.
Amol Pradhan
How to sustain your enterprise transformations?
"Leadership is responsible for driving culture. SustainAgility Trio is essential for sustaining and driving transformations."
5. Changing values require relentless and structured efforts
Erich shared the psychology behind how people perceive change and how difficult it is to change the values of a person. His interesting and unique characters were super engaging and fun to learn through. The pragmatic framework he shared towards changing individual values is simply fantastic.
Erich R. Bühler
Building Values from a Scientific Point of View
"You need relentless focus and structure approach to change values."
During panel discussions on both days, our elite panel members literally poured golden nuggets continuously. Some of the key takeaways are listed below:
6. Future of work is hybrid and requires an open mind
Brittney Gray
"The future of work is hybrid and keeping an open mind towards challenges can turn them into opportunities."
Zohair Saif
"Future of work is hybrid, personalized and will require the partnership of business, governments, and society as a whole"
Sandeep Joshi
"Distributed work is not difficult, distributed teamwork is. It requires collocated minds! "
7. Change your perspective to sustain the change
Thomas Bookhamer
Leadership is all about Influence over Authority. You need to connect first, truly care about them and that’s what transpires transformational outcomes.
Paramita Debbarman
"Ensure Continuous Application of what you learn, continuous learning is not enough."
Prasanna Sankaran
"You must prioritize value over speed. It’s the secret to sustainable transformational outcomes."
The Games
One of the highlights during these 2 days of the conference was, the games facilitated by our Core Team Member Rajaram Kannan.
- On day 1, we played the “boggle game” where the participants were asked to create words from letters. The facilitation, instructions, and reflections were all crafted well to stir the minds of the participants. This resulted in great insights and conversations.
- On day 2, we played the “value wheel” game – the participants drew an image for each core value of the sustainable agile manifesto. It was amazing to see the artistry, innovation, and unique ideas that attendees have shown during this game. It’s simply a great way to build shared understanding and visualize our thinking clearly. Special thanks to our Core Team Member Ms. Brittney Gray for creating the value wheel.
Both games, drawings, and the value wheel are made available through our Download Page.
Rajaram Kannan
"When you create a psychologically safe environment, you can achieve high performance. We designed the instructions to ensure participants are forced to look beyond individual gains & focus as a team to achieve more. It is about getting collective outcomes over individual outputs.
Join the Sustainable Agile Community and Be part of the global movement!
Wonderful stories and experience sharing
Our 1st SustainAgility conference has been a fun-filled event with multiple takeaways for everyone. We thank all our speakers, community members, CORE Team Members, and well-wishers. We look forward to welcoming you to our next community events really soon.
Cakes, Best Wishes, and much more...
Celebrations
Celebrating the power of community, the passion of our core team, and the encouragement & support of everyone! More power to the community
On Day 2 of the conference, we celebrated a virtual e-cake cutting and participants provided their support and best wishes for the community through a menti poll.
After all the super hard work over 4 weeks, we all decided to celebrate the 1st anniversary of the sustainable agile manifesto with a real cake-cutting ceremony. The Core Team Members from Singapore met on 23 April 2021, at a beachside restaurant with all safe distancing measures in place, we cut the cake together and celebrated the milestone. With a yummy cake and super yummy food, it was good to catch up with all local Core Team Members. You all can join our vibrant community and becomes part of this amazing team.
What's next?
Sustainable Agile Community is a global movement. It is time we take this to next level and involve people from all walks of life to grow this community and help spread the word around the manifesto and how combining sustainability and agility together can help define the new normal.
Sustainable Agility Chapters
Sustainable Agility Chapters (SACs) are local non-profit organizations that share the global Sustainable Agile Community mission. SACs provide an essential vehicle for carrying out programs at a regional level. SACs organize and facilitate their operations, programs, and community activities through local networks.
Sustainable Agility Meetups
Sustainable Agility Meetups are regional groups organized by local agilists and empowered by the Sustainable Agile Core Team. These meetups are essential to support and grow the Sustainable Agile Community.
If you’re interested in setting on a local Chapter and Meetup, please submit the request and we can work together to launch the local community in your region.
Contact us today!