For 1st Conference this year, we're looking to develop content that isn't simply promotional material for the event. What you'll read and watch here is not a copy of what you'll be hearing from Joanne when she's here in Melbourne on the 26th & 27th February 2018, it's original content for you to learn from.

This is supplementary content to the Joanne's talk as a keynote on the day. The conversation gives some excellent context to the challenges we face in the workforce right now and will really help prime your thinking for 1st Conference in Melbourne in February

Joanne, who is primarily based in Canada, is a key member of Thoughtworks' TechOps Management team, with responsibilities for IT Governance Risk and Compliance. Her passion is for finding ways to reduce risks to the organisation related to software delivery and use without compromising creativity, experimentation and learning. She currently leads the global InfoSec team for Thoughtworks.

Have a watch or a read, and let us know what you think!

This is a continuation of our series promoting the experiences and ideas of participants who have consistently attended and interacted with 1st Conference over the years. In the first post, we spoke with Zoya, a Business Analyst and Coach. Today we speak with David Williams.

David comes from a Project/Product Management background. He's been in and around the traps of agile for quite some time, however as a strong advocate for learning and trying to challenge your natural assumptions, David believes there will always be an opportunity to get value out of a conference like 1st.

This year, we want to make sure that you are able to understand the types of people you might meet at 1st Conference. We think that this will help you to understand the context of the event and its benefits.

In this first of three posts, I had a chat with Zoya Roytblat, a Business Analyst Practice Lead/Practitioner, who works with Belong, a telecoms company. With a strong grasp of the principles and practices of working in an agile way, she's worked in organisations where new ways of working weren't just handed to her, so she understands the challenges you face in trying to adapt.  She has some interesting thoughts about the conference and about organisational agility and about why 1st Conference is inspirational and conducive to learning.

Phil Gadzinski has spent the last 11 years working with Agile delivery teams in a variety of industries. His passion from early in his career has been (in his words), working with people to help create cross functional self organising high performing teams.

In this work, he spent a few years leading an Offshore Tech Companies Australian Agile practice. Right now, he is the Executive Agile Coach for IQ Consulting, on an engagement with a major Australian Bank as their Acting Head of Agility. His goal is creating the framework and services to create a consistent approach to agile adoption for the organisation, helping the organisation to improve how it responds to change in our complex world.

Phil presents a fantastic opportunity to hear from someone invested in the Heart of Agile framework,  he has a vast experience and wants to share some insight about how he has gone about implementing it in his work.

Take the opportunity to understand the applicability of Heart of Agile in what you do.

Ange is the Group Managing Director, Asia Pacific for ThoughtWorks. She works with customers to obtain a sustained competitive position through the innovative application of technology. 

The thing she loves most about her work is that she works with curious, passionate people who love what they do, have actively chosen to do it and love taking that passion and curiosity to every situation they find themselves in.

We're lucky to have such an established guest contributing to 1st Conf, so we decided that we'd ask her a few questions and gather some insights to share with you

Andrea is an Agile Coach who is passionate about ways of working that support self organising teams and enabling organisational agility.

She is focused on coaching others to explore diverse perspectives, and make effective decisions informed by these, and is interested in how to facilitate ongoing and sustainable change within organisations. She is currently working with Sportsbet.

Andrea is teaming up with Pru Gell to speak about psychological safety in teams using the Lewis method of Deep Democracy.

I took the opportunity to interview Andrea and ask her some questions about her upcoming talk at 1st Conference, and general advice on embarking on an Agile journey.

1st Conference is being held on 2-3 March. Registration is available now.

Eduardo Nofuentes has strongly solidified his position in the Melbourne Agile community through a passion for what he does and a willingness to share his experience.

People have been captured by his story of how he has applied Agile principles to business issues beyond software development, and he has spoken previously at 1st, LAST, Agile NZ as well as receives requests for his consulting services around the world.

Eduardo has recently set up The Agile 11, offering his expertise as a service to help entire organisations and non-software teams discover better ways of working; and he continues to be actively involved in the community.

I took the opportunity to interview Eduardo, ask him about his talk, ideas and how people best prepare themselves for 1st and any upcoming Agile journey in their own businesses.

1st Conference is being held on 2-3 March. Registration is available now.

Gabor loves the agile principles and value statements - but more importantly he loves working with people and helping to get the best out of them. He is an enthusiastic person with 20 years of work experience across different business areas and industries. He's a helpful and kind character who is an active participant in the Agile Community in Melbourne.

I asked Gabor what his talk was about and for some insights into what starting your Agile journey can really mean, read the insights below!

1st Conference is being held on 2-3 March. Registration is available now.