"How do you deal with resistance to change? While it's a question I often get, in my experience resistance is usually a symptom of something else. To find out what lies at its root, we need to ask different questions. I like to start by going through these three steps." - Renate Cremer, trainer at Gladwell Academy

We are strengthening our leadership team with SPCT and SAFe Fellow Michael Stump, who will now oversee our operations as COO. Because innovative companies from all industries are increasingly using the Scaled Agile Framework, Gladwell Academy is seeing substantial growth in all domains, including operations. We had a conversation with Mr. Stump about how he intends to facilitate that growth with us.

SAFe 5.0 was launched a little over a year ago. A new version dedicated to business agility: making whole companies more flexible and agile, ready for change at a moment's notice. Because the world is constantly changing, and you need to change with it if you want to be able to compete. 2020 gave us a perfect example.

Live, from the studio in Loosdrecht: Agile@Scale Global. An event organized for people not just interested in working agile, but at scale – with hundreds of employees at the same time. Hosted by Eelco Rustenburg and Laurens Bonnema, over 50 participants from all over the world took in presentations, breakout room workshops and roundtable sessions, and enjoyed some comic relief during PowerPoint Karaoke.

One of the key topics in the Agile community is leadership. What kind of leader motivates people to get up every morning and give their all? Here are 10 ways to improve your leadership skills and help your team reach new heights.

If you’re a Dutch citizen and you have a mortgage, there’s a reasonable chance that your case file runs on a Florius platform. To reduce time-to-market and increase customer centricity, the company put together its first Agile Release Train about three years ago. Several prize-winning innovations later, there’s reason for SAFe Agilists Maartje van der Veen and Patrick Wijsman to look back and share the learnings at Agile@Scale.

Aspiring SPCs that want to improve their game should seriously consider the triple-deal ‘SPC in a week.’ The subtle work of the SAFe Program Consultant (SPC) requires a lot of what the Germans call ‘Fingerspitzengefühl’: in other words, experience is key. So, what better way to boost your beginnings as an SPC than with our ‘SPC in a week’ offer? Immerse yourself in a full week of mentorship, knowledge exchange and training by one the world’s most experienced SAFe trainers, SPCT Eelco Rustenburg with Marijt Weerts. From January 25^th ‘til 29^th… it’s all about the ART.

Agilists focus on program performance; line management focuses on functional excellence and control. Agilists preach a focus on product outcome, while line management tends to maximize output. Just two obvious stereotypes between the two groups. Sander Nienkemper looks forward to visiting Agile@Scale, because he combines both roles (as well as a third!) at insurance company Vivat.

The first speaker to present a case on January 25^t, 2021 at our upcoming event Agile@Scale is Rick van Benten, of telecoms conglomerate VodafoneZiggo. Offering a peek into his planned narrative, he says: “I wanted the desired outcome to lead us, rather than just unbox a method.”

My personal highlight of the RTE Summit Global: seeing the conference’s chairman Ali Hajou wearing a black braided ‘hippie’ wig for a themed presentation halfway through the second day. That, and seeing so many seasoned RTEs share their stories of failure, struggle, strength and success at the end-of-day online roundtables. What was yours?

Chris James expresses a deep appreciation for the Release Train Engineer. He has to, in a way: as CEO of Scaled Agile, RTEs are his bread and butter. But as CEO he’s also a Business Owner himself, working with the RTEs of Scaled Agile’s own ARTs – and from that perspective he’s seen some room to improve for many who drive that Train. So, Chris James’ keynote for this year’s RTE Summit on November 9^th… dives into the business-RTE relationship.

It’s a wrap! On October 28^th we received over 100 Agile coaches on our virtual online platform for the first edition of the agile coach conference. Over the course of an entire day, these enthusiastic professionals followed more than 8 presenting speakers, 3 keynote speakers, and 2 rounds of 6 workshops each, and many exciting ideas exchanged.

Eelco Rustenburg and Niels Groen,  SAFe Program Consultant Trainers (SPCT) and twin driving forces behind Gladwell Academy’s Agile @ Scale Global, explain why you should Save the Date of January 25, 2021. 

Jenny van Rinsum and Larry Anderson are both witty personalities who like to share a joke. They also share the responsibility for a monumental undertaking at Nike: the replacement of its huge legacy ERP platform Island Pacific with SAP CAR and S/4HANA. And that’s no joke, especially because it involves a cross-continental ART that has several complex dependencies with other ARTs.

They are a recurring voice in most Agile trainings, as they are in the workplace: the skeptical onlooker. I’m referring here to the voices that, while agreeing with the benefits promised by the transformation, they expect it will fail. I welcome such voices because their words hold a sad truth that is often left unsaid: many transformations do fail. And when they do, it’s usually because of precisely what the skeptics warned against.

Let’s look at the following scenario. You are a business or financial controller, in an organization that has adopted Agile principles and practices. Let’s assume there are obvious positive effects on product development and customer satisfaction. One thing bothers you, though…

Look into the ‘behind the scenes’ of the work that keeps the trainings running at Gladwell Academy, with Global Business Developer manager Geertje de Jong. Geertje talks about how she tries to offer her clients more than just a training: she offers them knowledge and peace of mind.

Seasoned Scrum Master Afra Shamshiri and Agile Coach Mark Heistek will present at the Agile Coach Conference about their work to transform business departments at the Dutch Employee insurance Agency (UWV) into more Agile Value Stream oriented lines. Here’s a peek at their plans for the conference.

Design thinking isn’t rocket science, says Riekes Beelen. “To get good at it does take some experience. What we teach in the new course, Design Thinking and Customer Journey Mapping is a great start, but you’ll get better over time – it’s a hands-on sport!”

RTE Amy Doerflinger of Boeing, a self-described “recovering project manager,” is planning a discussion at this year’s RTE Summit Global. Her activity will be based around how through increased awareness of diversity and inclusion she was able to facilitate improved unity, cohesiveness, and performance throughout her Agile Release Train.