On a cold, blustery Tuesday (1/28) night, Tana and I got the opportunity to attend Lean and Agile Learning Network’s meetup in Chicago hosted by Kasey Whitmer and Swoon.  Tana presented our Culture Eats Agile for Breakfast talk.  The experience level of the folks in the room varied from those just starting their agile journey to a few seasoned veterans.  The theme of Tana’s presentation was that organizations wanting to transform their business into an agile mindset have to acknowledge that more than just process has to change for a transformation to be successful and sustainable.  We’re proposing the more, in this case, is the organization’s culture.  As the hour ticked down, it was great to see smiles and nods of agreement as Tana moved through the key tenets and then tied the tenets with our experiences together at Thrive HDS/IHIE, Blue Pillar, and Stratice Healthcare.

As you can imagine, a lot of good conversation ensued after the presentation wrapped up.  It was obvious that others in the room had similar challenges at current and past employers.  I am glad the topic of culture seemed to resonate with the those who were in attendance, and I hope they left feeling as though giving us their evening resulted in something tangible they can take back to their organizations.

Because of our schedules, we went up and back in the same day.  Long day!  Well worth the trip to have the opportunity to share experiences with fellow Agilists.

Anthony Mersino and Lean and Agile Learning Network – thanks for the invitation.  We’d be glad to come back any time.

Chris