Yesterday I attended an Agile Barcelona open space at Netmind
Format
On arrival, attendees where welcomed by an Agile Coffee.
At 10:00, the introduction started: a warm welcome to everyone, including first-time attendees to an open space, explaining what it is, the few rules and laws and making sure everyone had fun. Some time later, the marketplace happened and everyone presented their sessions. A curious thing to see was the effect of a session that everyone wanted to attend (dubbed a ‘black hole’). Nobody dared to plan another session in parallel to that.
As the day went by, the sessions were happening. By lunch time, everyone self organized to have lunch. I had the opportunity to catch up with Jordi Falguera and Victor Fairén. It was a very enjoyable conversation. It had been a long time since we didn’t meet. Hello to both from here :)
On the evening, two more slots for sessions, followed by a cross-pollination session.
After that, some left and some went for a closing beer.
Sessions
This does not cover all sessions, including the one I facilitated, but the ones I liked the most
La formula de la cocacola
In this session, Jaume Jornet and Pablo Domingo explained flow efficiency and resource efficiency to us, using simple terms and compelling stories, without using any specific jargon. Explaining the efficiencies using games (with volunteers).
They mention that this format works very well with C-level employees and other executives.
Teaching from the back of the room
In this session, Miquel Rodríguez explained a few concepts he learnt in a training by Sarah Bowman “Training from the back of the room”.
He explained the six concepts for training to be effective:
- Movement trumps sitting
- Images trumps words
- Talking trumps listening
- Writing trumps reading
- Shorter trumps longer
- Different trumps same
And the four Cs (or phases in a training):
- Connection
- Concepts
- Concrete practice
- Conclusion
A few pointers for further reading:
- Training from the back of the room, by Sarah Bowman
- Using brain science to make training stick, by Sarah Bowman
- Neurociencia per educadors, by David Bueno (Catalan)
I really liked this session, as it helps us deliver more effective trainings, both in formal session as in more ad-hoc / informal ones.
Conclusion
These open-space events leave me full of energy, after having shared thoughts and happiness with the rest of the community.
A big thank you to the organizers (the community of Agile Barcelona), the facilitator (Andres Mumenthaler) and Netmind, for hosting the event
PS: This post is categorized as ‘We were there’, in reference to the awesome ‘Estuvimos allí’ posts that Carlos Blé (and Codesai) write about events. Also ‘Notes’ for the ones that Eduardo Ferro writes about events he attends
Fulgencio Jara as graphic reporter from my session :)