Community is what grows a strong tribe
The first seeds…
Shortly before getting to know the awesome agile community at Agile Coach Camp DE #accde16 I already felt full of energy and motivation to start connecting with the community. So I started locally, took one day off and attended the next Agile Breakfast on the other seaside in Konstanz. It was actually fun and I really enjoyed meeting like-minded people there for an impulse talk on “Agile Release Planning” and some discussions afterwards.
While I praised my “journey” over Lake Constance which gave me the feeling of a short holiday, the Konstanz agile people told me that “in the past” there were even people coming from Tettnang (which is also on the other lakeside and some 10 kilometers away from the “coast”) or Friedrichshafen. But to be honest: if I had a workday I would not have been travelling two hours for a two hour breakfast.
Sun & water for growing (agile)
Then the wonderful days at #accde16 in Rückersbach came and they really boosted me in so many ways. Packed full of impressions, ideas, thoughts, energy and motivation I got back to the lake. Some days later a former colleague asked me if I knew any meetings or usergroups for Scrum Masters in our area. Yes, I knew one – Konstanz – but this also was too far away for him during a normal workday.
So I suggested: why not starting a group on “our” seaside? And after some days, we started the ScrumTisch & AgileTable Friedrichshafen group on XING.
The tree starts growing
We planned the first get-together in a lovely garden restaurant, invited people we knew and ordered sun from the weather gods :). And last week it took place: our very first ScrumTisch & AgileTable. We were 8 people from three different companies including Gitte Klitgaard from Nativewired as a freelancer.
After introducing ourselves to each other and enjoying good food for dinner we had a really nice exchange on different topics like retrospectives, mixing disciplinary roles with agile “hats”, introducing (more) serious play at work and what may hinder… and many more. Even talking English because of Gitte being with us was almost easy after a couple of minutes and we even continued when she left the table for a couple of minutes.
Want to grow further?
Of course we want our group to keep growing. So we will meet every two months either for a Lean Coffee like networking evening or having a talk/workshop setting impulses for the evening. Daniel Hommel, who I met first at #accde16, already offered visiting us for a workshop. I really appreciate that and all the wonderful stuff happening around the Agile Table. We are such a strong agile “tribe” and community is what nourishes this tribe and keeps us all growing.
So what story from the community do you like to share?