Day 2: Reimagining Human Factors ​
The insights you need to understand to better understand your people

This day is to explore the disconnect between principles and practices in creating excellent workplaces. Our expert speakers will examine team problems related to key factors like Psychology Safety, Leadership, Neuroscience, and Communication Skills. Gain valuable insights and tools to create a more positive and productive workplace.​

I want to b​​​​e part of this!​

Our Guests for this day

Delia McCabe

Neuroscientist, Author and Researcher. Speaker on Neuroscience, Psychology & Nutrition

Thomas Friend

Agile Coach and Executive Consultant 

Nigel Thurlow

Organizational Coach and Consultant. Co-Creator of The Flow System

Carol McEwan

Agile Program Director at iObeya

Pete Behrens

Trainer, Founder and Leadership Coach at Agile Leadership Journey


René Massatti

Co-Founder, Director at PLAYROOM by Edding. Keynote Speaker & University Lecturer

Shannon Ewan

Managing Director at IC Agile

Ivar Jacobson

International Speaker, CEO of Ivar Jacobson Intl, PhD in Computer Science

Chris Bramley

Executive Coach. Director @Finding Shores & Coaching @Mozaic. TEDx/Public Speaker


Join this group of experts and practitioners in Lisbon this September
Boost your company skills and Human awareness at the World Agility Forum.

What talks are going to be featured?


TALK
Cultivating Complexity Fitness
with Sonja Blignaut
 10:00 AM

Complexity is more than a buzzword. It is more than one letter in the VUCA acronym. Complexity impacts every aspect of our lives: our relationships, the decisions we make, our mental well-being, and our work.

All of us already know how to be in and navigate complexity. However, because we crave certainty, control and comfort, we have created environments and structures, especially at work, that we hope will insulate us from that complexity. This no longer serves us, and to find our way and remain relevant in today's world, we need to reconnect with our innate ability to navigate and even thrive in uncertainty and ambiguity: to be COOL in complexity.

  • How does complexity impact humans (mentally, physically & emotionally), and what can we do about it? 
  • How do we create environments where people can thrive and creativity, resilience, safety and agility can emerge naturally? 
  • What can we learn from gardeners and ecologists? 

  • These are some of the questions we will be exploring in this session - with a focus on getting really practical to ensure that you can immediately implement the insights provided by this session.

WORKSHOP
Diving Deeper into Complexity Fitness
with Sonja Blignaut
 11:45 AM

Agile organizations often find themselves playing two games - the game played by agile teams and transformations, and the game played by the leaders. While Agile ways of working change the rules of the teams' game, it typically has little impact on the leaders' game. 

This creates problems. Business Agility requires changing the game leader's play.

TALK 
The Games We Play
With Pete Behrens

 2:00 PM


WORKSHOP 
Changing the Games Leaders Play 
With Pete Behrens
 3:15 PM

If leaders are unwilling or unable to undergo their own transformation, no organisational transformation will occur. Organizations are human systems and mirror their leadership. So for organizational transformation, leaders must change their game. This workshop explores the impacts of organizational change when the most senior leadership team has the courage and commitment to change themselves. We explore a 4-year case study of shaping the culture of innovation at an insurance company and the courage, openness, focus, and commitment it took to accomplish that goal.


TALK 
Optimally Functioning Organisations Need Optimally Functioning Brains 
With Delia McCabe
 2:20 PM

We live in a challenging, complex, and constantly changing world, where we're faced with events that we're unable to control, and bombarded with an avalanche of information that may or may not be useful. A sense of overwhelm can paralyze us. However, organisations need to embrace agile thinking and change if they want to flourish. To do so they need to support the cognitive well-being of their teams because human brains make decisions around rapid change, and humans need optimally functioning brains to make good decisions. Humans also need to deal with stress effectively, so their brains can perform well. If you rely on agile, creative, and flexible thinking for your livelihood, and want your organisation to thrive, it is critically important to focus on the neurophysiology and chemistry of cognition in relation to decision-making.


Decision-making is something we take for granted because we make many simple decisions every day. However, in modern organizations, we’re faced with making complex decisions, based on more information, some of which isn't reliable, with little certainty around outcomes. Our ability to use the information to make good decisions impacts our lives directly and for some occupations, decisions can carry life-or-death consequences. Making decisions demands coordinated brain activity from several regions and systems, including but not limited to the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and working- and long-term memory. Neuronal structure, energy availability and usage, along with connectivity capacity, and stress resilience are dependent on specific nutrients, and other lifestyle choices, which directly impact neuronal function. Making decisions optimally, therefore, relies on the brain functioning optimally. Paying attention to the neuro-physiology and -chemistry of the brain is therefore critical if you want to thrive in an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world.


WORKSHOP 
Rapid Change Requires Optimal Decision-Making
Capacity
With Delia McCabe
 3:15 PM

What workshops are going to be featured?


WORKSHOP 
Human Factors in Software Engineering

With Thomas Friend
 3:15 PM

Join us for an interactive workshop on Human Factors in Software Engineering. This session is designed to educate agile practitioners on the importance of human factors in software development. Through presentations, hands-on activities and group discussions, participants will gain practical knowledge and tools to incorporate human-centred design principles into their software engineering processes. The workshop will cover key concepts, such as identifying human factors issues, creating user personas, and conducting usability testing. By the end of the session, participants will have insights and strategies to enhance user experience and software quality.

Learning Objectives for this session:

1. Understand the concept of human factors in software engineering and its impact on user experience and software quality.

2. Identify common human factors issues in software development and learn techniques to mitigate them.

3. Explore the principles of human-centred design and its application throughout the software engineering process.

4. Develop user personas to better understand user needs, preferences, and design considerations.

5. Gain practical experience in conducting usability testing and leveraging user feedback to improve software interfaces. 


WORKSHOP  
Get a room, and let's get visual!

With Carol McEwan

Design for Communication and Collaboration - the secrets to achieving Business Agility!

Positive and productive workspaces are something organizations strive for. And yet, despite the abundance of principles and practices to choose from,  most companies still struggle with creating an environment where people feel valued, and they are contributing to the company’s mission. The focus of this workshop is Obeya; a safe, collaborative workspace that offers an approach to aligning teams throughout the organization and is aimed at promoting transparency, improving communication and collaboration, and enabling effective and efficient data-driven decisions. 

Join us for this fun and engaging hands-on workshop. We will discuss how the Obeya concept, combined with your principles and practices, can break down silos, foster cross-functional collaboration, empower teams to collectively solve problems and accelerate value delivery. You will also be introduced to iObeya, a Visual Management Platform that brings your Obeya workspace to life throughout your organization. 

You don’t have to choose: It is possible to leverage the principles and practices necessary to achieve Business Agility and provide a positive and productive workplace where people feel valued, and they are contributing to the company’s mission. Come see how. Join us in our room! 

 

The new approach to an assembly is disassembly. Why the lowest level of coherent granularity is essential for scaling solutions for better agility. Join Ivar Jacobson and Nigel Thurlow as they show you the essence of decomposition and recombination as the future of managing methods and tools effectively in a complex world.

WORKSHOP
The Flow System & Essence - Pieces of the Puzzle

With Nigel Thurlow & Ivar Jacobson 



 


WORKSHOP  
Navigating too Close to the Sun

With Chris Bramley 

 
It can be very hard to navigate our way when we are too deep within a context we've been conditioned to; we simply can't see new paths and opportunities clearly, and the old ones may no longer exist - if they were ever the best! More than ever before, modern organisations and leader struggle to perform optimally in and adapt to a vastly different business landscape.


Join Chris as he gently explores the edges of a combination of interlinked, ecosystemic factors which affect this - the need for real coaching, demands for certainty and control from discomfort a fear, defaulting to lowest energy-cost solutions, devaluing of people, misunderstanding how and where to (or not to!) apply tools and frameworks, inappropriate language and inaccurate decision making, poor communication and collaboration, a lack of intent and direction, escalation of commitment, complex human spaces requiring curiosity, learning, and exploration, and more - an then participate in a game to understand how we can begin to communicate and decide better, a discuss collaborative ways forward to consider and apply these in our own stories, lives, and organisations.


Check out related talks from previous years

 
 


Building Networks of High-Performance Teams | Brian Rivera & Chris Alexander | 25:30 

 
 


Everyone Shapes Culture! How to Shape Culture from any seat in the Organization | Pete Behrens | 13:40

 
 


Human Factors in Agile | Keith Ellis | 14:19