Women in Agile

The Power of Local Networking - Riddhi Gupta | 2002

Riddhi Gupta has a 12-year career in Agile under her belt, but she didn’t attend her first Women in Agile breakfast until a year ago at the Global SAFe Summit. She was so inspired that she launched a WIA local chapter in Charlotte, NC.
Under her lead, the Charlotte chapter has flourished, seeing 40-50 attendees at each monthly meeting. Gupta has even witnessed 5 different women gain career opportunities from networking at the events.
Riddhi Gupta’s words of wisdom:“We needed a platform, the women as well as our allies, where they could come in, feel protected, and feel candor, and have conversations about growth and opportunity.”
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts at the Global SAFe Summit 2019 in San Diego, CA.
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.solutionsiq.com/womeninagile

Women in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
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LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Newbie at an Agile Conference - Mary Bobbit and Sabine Khan | 2001

First time Agile Alliance conference attendees Mary Bobbitt and Sabine Khan share their experiences at Agile2019. If you’ve been on the fence about experiencing the largest annual Agile conference in the world, don’t miss this episode.  
Bobbit and Khan give tips for navigating the conference, meeting others, and how to make yourself memorable in a crowd of nearly 2,000. They emphasize the sense of community and comradery among other agilist at the conference: “Going to Agile2019, our context may be different, but our problems are so similar, our opportunities and wins are so similar.”  
The duo also attended the Women in Agile session and discuss how the movement has impacted the community at large: “It wasn’t just women talking about women’s issues, it was ‘how do we encourage honest dialogue about diversity, and specifically gender diversity, in an industry that has been historically dominated by men.” 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts.  
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.solutionsiq.com/womeninagile Women in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media! LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Calling Out the Haters - Em Campbell-Pretty | 1922

Em Campbell-Pretty is the Managing Director of Pretty Agile and the author of “Tribal Unity” and “The ART of Avoiding a Train Wreck.” She was the keynote speaker at the Women in Agile breakfast event at the SAFe Summit where we caught up with her.  
Campbell-Pretty chats about her non-negotiables, including “[if] you won’t train people, I won’t work with you”. She also gives advice to coaches who find themselves in a less-than-ideal work environment.  
Finally, she calls out Agile thought leaders who judge others’ methods of coaching: “I thought this was a community. I thought this was built on people sharing ideas of what works, and what I’m looking at is thought leaders attacking each other.” 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts at the Global SAFe Summit 2019 in San Diego.
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Failing at Agile Transformation - Kelly Geyer | 1921

Since 2008, Kelly Geyer’s focus has been coaching organizations and teams by discovering new ways of working together and avoiding the common pitfalls that hinder their progress. 
Geyer’s recently published book, Failing at Agile Transformation, discusses several areas where agile transformations get derailed. She talks with us about the origins of both the book and her own Agile journey, while also speaking on gender differences and her own professional growth. 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts. 
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Staying Present with Mental Toughness - April Jefferson | 1920

April Jefferson is a self-defined “experienced craftswoman and mindset harmonizer that nurtures the journey to nurture yourself”. She values connecting people and teams to ownership of their needs and goals.
Jefferson recounts her Agile experience and the challenges she’s had to overcome to become her full self as a woman and a leader in the Agile space. She shares that “the weaknesses that others perceived in me were actually my greatest strengths” and “as a woman in this space, sometimes we need that mental toughness to stay present.” Jefferson emphasizes the positive impact women helping women through sponsorship and mentoring relationships has on their success.
April Jefferson’s Words of Wisdom:
“Stay curious and invite others in.”
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts.
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

The Impact of Culture and Purpose on Agile Transformation - Alize Hofmeester | 1919

Alize Hofmeester is an Agile leader, owner of TwinXter, and founder of the People Journey Circle. Hofmeester shares her Agile journey, and the importance of defining and staying aligned to her purpose. She emphasizes the need for teams to not only know the way they work together but also with whom they are working in order to establish trust. 
Alize also recommends the following read to better understand how different cultures work together: 
The Culture Map: Breaking Through the Invisible Boundaries of Global Business by Erin Meyer 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts. 
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Change is an Opportunity - Laura Powers | 1918

Laura Powers is an Agile trainer and coach, conference speaker and the founder of Powered by Teams, but it wasn’t always that way. She shares her journey from mechanical engineer to release manager for eBay to a career in real estate and back into tech, this time as an agilist. Now she is committed to changing the world of work by creating high-performing teams. 
Powers shares her experience as a mentor for the Women in Agile “Launching New Voices” Program and her passion for expanding the good work being done in the Agile community into other, adjacent industries like change management and business culture. 
Laura Powers’ Words of Wisdom: 
Change is an opportunity. 
At the end of the day, when deciding whether it was a good day, ask yourself, “Who did you interact with… did you lift them up, did you give them a new idea, did you inspire them in some way. Because if we each do a small something in that way every day, we will transform the world.” 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts. 
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg

Giving up Control to Gain Agility - Marsha Acker | 1917

Marsha Acker is the CEO of Team Catapult, a leadership development/organizational change firm and the author of “The Art and Science of Facilitation: How to Lead Effective Collaboration in Agile Teams”. She shares stories of working in a huge corporation and a tiny startup and the learnings she’s had – including how to give up some control to let agility emerge naturally. Her passion for facilitation was her entry point into Agile, and the need for it is as strong as ever: 
“To truly facilitate requires this unbiased, neutral perspective where you’re not taking sides... When the group gets stuck, you’re helping them get unstuck; you’re not solving something for them.” 
Marsha Acker’s Words of Wisdom: 
Find your own voice. “It’s not that I didn’t have it, it’s that I would have these moments of insights or thoughts, and I didn’t always share it.” 
Accenture | SolutionsIQ’s Leslie Morse hosts. 
The Women in Agile community champions inclusion and diversity of thought, regardless of gender, and this podcast is a platform to share new voices and stories with the Agile community and the business world, because we believe that everyone is better off when more, diverse ideas are shared.
Podcast Library: www.womeninagile.org/podcastWomen in Agile website: https://womeninagile.org/
Connect with us on social media!LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/womeninagile/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/womeninagile/Twitter: https://twitter.com/womeninagileorg