My second Lean Coffee in a week, this one online with the Association for Software Testing . Here's a few aggregated notes from the conversation. Why do people want to speak at conferences, and can we support them to get what they need in other ways? Lots of noise recently on Twitter about people being rejected, and discussion of tactics for getting in. So why do people want to speak at conferences? Increase their brand. Be more employable. Be better known. Go to the conference for free. Company will only pay if they are speaking. Share what I've learned. Share my story. Challenge yourself. Because they see others doing it Personal access to "big names." Conferences always have the same speakers. Do people need better access to conferences? Can be a vicious cycle: accepted because we know you; we know you because you speak. Perhaps the return to in-person conferences has increased the demand for speaking slots. People don't know how to sell their talk to confere
What I particularly like about Lean Coffee are the timeboxes. At Agile in the Ether yesterday it was an hour for the whole event and just eight minutes per topic. At that level, the investment is low and the potential returns are high: some ideas for right-now problems and background for those that will surely come later. On top of that, the possibility that I can share something that will be a win for someone else. Here's my notes aggregated from the conversations. Ideas for agile coaching teams when you're in there on a very ad hoc basis. How to not disturb but still bring a value. Is it possible? The teams are typically overconstrained which makes change difficult. It's common for the coach to suggest an approach but not return for a couple of iterations. They don't know whether it landed. Can you build a relationship with someone in the team and have close communication with them to get the feedback? Ideally this would be with someone who cares about improvements