Carlo(z) a #ALE2011 – Berlino. Ecco why.

A Berlino, dal 7 al 9 Settembre, ci sarà la prima (un)conference di ALE – Agile Lean Europe. ALE è un network nato nella primavera del 2011, partendo da un’idea lanciata da Jurgen Appelo (http://www.noop.nl/2011/03/how-to-move-europe.html), consolidatasi attraverso una serie di incontri e scambi di idee e visioni (il più significativo, in occasione dell’edizione 2011 degli XP days, a Madrid). Tutte le info su ALE si trovano nel sito ufficiale - http://alenetwork.eu/ - da cui sono linkati anche il gruppo su LinkedIn e le altre risorse disponibili online.

A livello italiano, esiste un gruppo di riferimento (ALE Italy) su LinkedIn, c’è stato un primo scambio di esperienze / impressioni / idee in real life in Maggio, in occasione dell’Agile Coach Camp (http://accitaly.wordpress.com/), e poi ci sono stati alcuni rappresentanti a Madrid. La discussione continua online, e anche la preparazione per l’evento di Berlino.

E’ possibile segnalare sin d’ora la propria intenzione di andare a Berlino (http://ale2011.eu/), compilando il form di pre-registrazione. L’idea è di avere al massimo 10 persone per stato, inizialmente (con la possibilità di recuperare quelle/i in “lista di attesa”, se alcuni stati mandano comunque meno di 10 persone).

Il form è abbastanza ricco, come domande. Io mi sono pre-iscritto qualche giorno fa, e mi fa piacere condividere qui (= pubblicamente) le mie intenzioni, motivazioni, aspirazioni. Anche perchè non sono certo (non oggi, almeno!), un “nome”, nella comunità agile e lean italiana. E quindi è legittimo che qualcuno possa chiedersi: “Chi è costui?” e “Perchè va (anche) lui a Berlino?”. (Nel frattempo, a tanti altri, ovviamente, che io vada o meno a Berlino non interessa minimamente. Giusto e ragionevole.)

Why should you be a participant?

I’m an agile enthusiast … and a lean advocate! I really love this approach, applied to software development / IT projects management. I do all I can to be agile / lean, both in my work and in my life. I try, fail, learn, try again … I study a lot as well. I do a lot of sharing of my findings and limited knowledge (always trying not to preach).

I don’t have that much visibility in the agile community at an international level, but I’m used to such a scenario in other contexts (opensource world, online activism, …)

I’m ready to bring … all I have, in terms of expertise, case studies, determination, passion … and I’m ready to full my bag and mind and notebooks too … with what I’ll get!

Which are your expectations for the conference?

I expect to meet a lot of great people – see some friends once more, meet in real life some women and men I met only via internet so far, have the pleasure to know and talk with people who are currently out of my network of relationships.

I’m sure it will be a safe, creative, energized place, where I’ll have the chance to learn a lot … while having fun!

My main interests right now are:

- agile (and lean) methods in IT contexts / organizations, but beyond software development (I’ve been doing web development and sysadmin for the last 10 years, but in the last few I’ve moved to a team leadership profile – and I tend to enjoy more deal with people than with code )
- what can I give to the agile community, given my eclectic background ( graduated in communication, some years ago … semiotics and sociology were not relevant during my “pure IT” years – now I see, talking with fellow agile coaches, that cross-disciplinary pollination is potentially hot – ie the semiotic perspective on storytelling, or on the usage of metaphors …)

How are you connected to your local agile or lean communities?

I’m an outstanding member of a local community (almost town based) of developers and web enthusiasts (WebDeBS), with a discrete focus on agile and lean methods.
I’ve been attending Italian Agile Days for the last 2 years – and I’m trying to see if I can be of any help organizing this year edition.
I’ve been at the Italian Agile Coach Camp last May (that was a WOW weekend! – I made an informal retrospective of that for the webdebs guys in Brescia)
I’ve recently spoken of lean methodologies at the Italian Wordcamp of Milan.
I’m part of the Italian ALE Network LinkedIn group (for that group, I’ve just designed a partial map of Italian agile and lean communities http://maptini.com/maps/49640060-691a-012e-6f7e-12313d1a65d3).
I’m part of the Italian GrUSP (php users and developers), where agile and lean are also part of the conversation, both on lists and in events (phpday – I attended the last 3).
I’m interested in the Lean Startup Movement too (a few weeks ago we simulcasted in Brescia the Startup Lessons Learned conference from SF) and willing to network with others in Italy sharing the same vision / interests.
I’ve just formed a small group of organizers to make a local day of the Agile Tour 2011 in Brescia, next October.

What will you contribute to the conference (from your local community)?

From Italy, we’ll see, together with fellow participants, what we can bring, as a whole, and at individual level. At Agile Coach Camp, one great suggestion, imho, from Alberto (@ziobrando) was to bring the experience of “agile adoption in an hostile environment”.
My personal experience is rooted in freelance consulting and SMB contexts, so I’m more aware of the challenges, and pitfalls, in this type of scenarios (also: when I talk of agile adoption this is currently my usual audience, and I’m more aware of their issues / doubts than other profiles’ ones)

How do you want to support the ALE network in the future and in what way will your attendance of the ALE2011 help your local community in the European network?

I’ve taken part in the 1st ALE bathtub conference. I’m now helping to organize the 2nd one. This is something that I can commit doing on a regular basis.
I’ve also given my availability to help out with the community sofa for ALE (not sure how much I can help on that, but we’ll have a skype conf next week, I’ll find out more )
One thing I’d really love to contribute to ALE is my experience with consensus based decision making for internet based large communities / networks (I’ve gone quite deep on this in my past, both on field and on theoretical level – IMC movement and master degree thesis).
Another main thing I’d like to contribute (or at least explore!) is the possible relations and overlaps of agile communities and networks with opensource / free software ones (and of course what we can learn from each oher, and share).