Balancing Act (Marc Evers, Willem van den Ende, Nynke Fokma)

The Agile Manifesto states: we have come to value individuals and interactions over processes and tools. Tools and techniques are not enough for running your projects, you need 'people tools' as well. We all know that for instance developers and customers fighting abouth who did what wrong doesn't make our projects finish early, yet it is hard to stop doing it. Especially when the pressure is on. This session provides tools and processes for individuals and interactions, to help you take a step towards peaceful, effective projects. The workshop is based on Virginia Satir's work.

About the speakers

Marc Evers helps developers, customers, and project managers in co-creating value through meaningful projects, by coaching, consulting, and developing software. Since 2000 he co-organizes workshops and conferences (XP Day Benelux and Agile Open) based on systems thinking, extreme programming, and agile values, principles, and practices.

You can read more about his thoughts on agile, software development, and other stuff in his weblog and on his homepage.

Willem van den Ende about himself:
Hi, I am currently working as an agile software developer and coach, based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. I enable organisations to continuously create and add value through software development and deployment. I make my living by giving courses on agile software development (xp, tdd etc.), and on the job training and coaching. I co-organize(d) conferences (e.g. xp days benelux and agile open) and workshops (e.g. on systems thinking, congruent communication, tdd, pair programming).

A workshop is succesful if I see lights in the participants' eyes, and I'm exhausted at the end (and brimming with new ideas for subsequent workshops). Take the work in workshops literal - participants do the work, I bring the shop.

I strive to do only those activities that really add value, to empower myself and others, and to improve teamwork, quality, and pleasure. I recognize that each organisation, team, and individual has a unique context and capabilities. I leverage these capabilities by looking at what works well, and adding to that.

See http://www.willemvandenende.com for contact details and information about my services.

Nynke Fokma about herself:
I like supporting challenging business goals and new efforts ahead, leaders with a compelling vision wanting to improve their effectiveness with honest feedback, key players wanting to increase their creativity and creative solutions generated, and all stakeholders wanting to move towards a more collaborative culture while not loosing their competitive edge in the market. My coaching and consulting focuses on addressing important, difficult issues and miscommunications, and facilitating resolution of counterproductive conflict, to build trust.

For reading more on me jiggling my self and others in friendly ways, I invite you to visit my website: http://www.moebius.nl.