AgileNCR: Empowering Knowledge Sharing and Business Agility

AgileNCR, Xebia’s flagship knowledge-sharing community event, successfully concluded its 14th edition on December 1st and 2nd, 2023. This year, the conference took place virtually on the vFairs conference platform, attracting over 350 registrations from Agile enthusiasts, speakers, and volunteers from around the world.

The primary purpose of AgileNCR is to foster a culture of knowledge-sharing and learning within the community. The conference has always focused on industry trends, best practices, and challenges, empowering enterprises on their journey toward business agility. In the 2023 edition of AgileNCR, we focused on three tracks: Digital & Generative AI, Agile Leadership & Transformations, and DevOps & Platform Engineering.

Key discoveries from the Digital & Generative AI track during AgileNCR 2023 include:

• Generative AI empowers Agile roles rather than replacing them, enhancing team performance through collaboration between AI and humans.
• Success in AI lies in aligning organizational strategy and vision, enabling scalable achievements. Leadership direction is crucial in leveraging GenAI.
• Product management is undergoing a shift with the use of GenAI, as consumer touchpoints with products become game-changers.
• GenAI adoption will impact Scrum adoption, with teams that fail fast ultimately winning fast.
• Agile Leadership and Transformations: Leadership plays a vital role in driving and sustaining Agile transformations. Trust, communication, and unity are the cornerstones of effective leadership.

Key discoveries from the Agile Leadership & Transformations track include:

• Multilayer Leadership: trust is the cornerstone, and leadership revolves around communication and unity.
• Two critical aspects of leadership are setting direction and creating an enabling environment.
• The Flight Levels Thinking model helps navigate cultural, leadership, and framework challenges on the path to achieving business agility.
• Collaboration with experienced Agile coaches is indispensable.
• Rethinking gaps as bridges, and defining strategies to cross them as one team, leads to enterprise success.
• The BEAR (Beginnings, Exchange, Apply, Real World) approach boosts Scrum adoption for teams.

Key discoveries from the DevOps & Platform Engineering track include:

• DevOps is an art that combines culture, mindset, and engineering that requires a holistic approach. Developers need to adopt a broader perspective to embrace agility fully.
• Product, Program, and Technology (PPT) helps bridge the gap for better communication and collaboration.
• Developers must focus not only on events and roles but also on the organization’s overall agility.

We cannot wait to discuss Agile and make even more discoveries at next year’s AgileNCR. We extend our sincere thanks to Scrum.org, Scaled Agile, and Pro Kanban for their support in nurturing this growing community of agile enthusiasts.

Stay tuned for updates on AgileNCR 2024, where we will continue to empower the community with valuable insights, best practices, and networking opportunities.