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 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:
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.
“You can achieve sustainability and agility if you are willing to make your organization flat and human-centered.”
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.
“Dysfunctional Management drives the negative effects of command and control.”
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.
“Ethics drive consistent and holistic outcomes. As agile coaches, we can create an ethics-driven world around us and inspire sustainability.”
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.
"Leadership is responsible for driving culture. SustainAgility Trio is essential for sustaining and driving transformations."
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.
"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:
"The future of work is hybrid and keeping an open mind towards challenges can turn them into opportunities."
"Future of work is hybrid, personalized and will require the partnership of business, governments, and society as a whole"
"Distributed work is not difficult, distributed teamwork is. It requires collocated minds! "
Leadership is all about Influence over Authority. You need to connect first, truly care about them and that’s what transpires transformational outcomes.
"Ensure Continuous Application of what you learn, continuous learning is not enough."
"You must prioritize value over speed. It’s the secret to sustainable transformational outcomes."
One of the highlights during these 2 days of the conference was, the games facilitated by our Core Team Member Rajaram Kannan.
Both games, drawings, and the value wheel are made available through our Download Page.
"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.
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.
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.
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 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!