Agile and Beyond - 13: Starting From Where the Learner Sits - Part 4 - Erika Lenz

13: Starting From Where the Learner Sits - Part 4 - Erika Lenz

08/30/16 • 22 min

In the final episode of a 4 part conversation with Erika Lenz, Scrum Master, former poet, evolutionary biologist, and tutor, we discuss what makes Erika unique, comfort with the creative process, the prevalence of mental illness in the arts, grounding others in difficult situations, the power of divergent thinking, building bridges, social dancing, choreography, and floorcraft, helping others to pivot in order to change the behavior of a team, the benefits of adding emotional content in tech environments, the benefits in valuing everyone, and kinesthetic intelligence.

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12: Experimentation, Innovation, Managing Risk - Part 2 - Chuck Durfee

In episode 2 of a 3 part conversation with Chuck Durfee, Agile Coach, Development Manager, Agile Denver Board Member Emeritus, recent MBA graduate, recovering developer, and friend of neon tapirs everywhere we enjoyed a far-ranging conversation.

We discussed the following:

the spreading of ideas,
developmentally driven organizations,
people innovation,
the agile mindset,
Montessori education,
language learning,
design patterns,
Conway's Law,
organization designs,
the scarcity mindset,
the limits of the industrial model,
exploratory play, and
how structure relates to creativity.

And now welcome to the second episode of a 3 part conversation with Chuck Durfee.

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14: Experimentation, Innovation, Managing Risk - Part 3 - Chuck Durfee

In the final episode of a 3 part conversation with Chuck Durfee, Scrum Master, and Agile Denver Board Member Emeritus, recent MBA graduate, recovering developer, and friend of neon tapirs everywhere, we discuss the following.

Why he got his MBA.
How he moved from a fascination with computers and software to process and people.
Leadership Styles.
Agile, ethics and the making of morally just decisions.
Power distribution in Agile organizations.
Incurring technical debt ethically.
Political correctness, and the stunting of healthy conversations with the other.
Lowering thresholds of pain and sensitivity.
How the Political Correctness movement went to far.
Avoiding Cargo Cult Agile, and why the process needs the mindset.
The failure to teach Millennials good skills for handling conflict.
The creative process, and the need to explore failure.
The way Agile is transforming the world of work.
The problems with matrix management.
Allowing Agile to flourish, by eliminating constraints around teams.
Chuck's workplace Nirvana, the kind of organization Chuck would like to build, his Dream Team, and his role.
How diverse ideas and even conflict help a team to make a better product or service.
NANO WRIMO (National Novel Writing Month), and his often humorous experiences in writing fiction... including a romantic drama.
How early design choices shape the final product.

And now welcome to the final episode of a 3 part conversation with Chuck Durfee.

If you wish to learn more about Agile Denver. You can connect with the organization on LinkedIn, and follow Agile Denver on Twitter at @agiledenver. To learn about future meetings, search for Agile Denver on meetup.com at Meetup.com/AgileDenver.