GOTO Berlin is a vendor independent international software development conference with more that 60 top speaker and 400 attendees. The conference cover topics such as Java, Open Source, Agile, Architecture, Design, Web, Cloud, New Languages and Processes.

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Katherine Kirk, Independent Consultant & Researcher

Katherine Kirk

Biography: Katherine Kirk

Now an independent consultant and researcher, Katherine has solid experience contracting and freelancing in a variety of roles within the IT and Media industries: from blue chip investment banking to media conglomerates. Most recently she spent time as an Agile Coach at Rally after a period consulting as Delivery Improvement Specialist, Project Manager and Agile Coach at the BBC in the Future Media division in London. Katherine often finds herself specifically tasked with working with really "troubled" projects, where simplistic solutions don't quite cut it.

She is an active participant of a community of Lean and Agile practitioners in Europe who explore and challenge the status quo through experimenting and collaborating and is particularly interested in contextually driven edge-cases and the cultural interaction between hierarchical management and Agile teams. She supports this interest by studying an MSc in Software Engineering at University of Oxford, specializing in Process Improvement, Managing Quality and Risk, and Software Systems Security. Katherine also holds a first class BSc (Hons) Multimedia Computing.

Twitter: @kkirk

Presentation: Navigating Politics in Agile/Lean Initiatives

Track: After Agile: What next? / Time: Friday 10:20 - 11:10 / Location: Hall 6

When implementing Lean/Agile, have you ever wondered why politics (in the company or internally in the team) sometimes escalate rather than decrease? Have you ever sat there in meetings frustrated and exasperated at the seemingly unnecessary dramatics some participants go through? What’s going on? Despite your best efforts, why doesn't pure data, logic and transparency always work?

Exploring why this happens, Katherine and Olav will draw on their toughest, on-the-ground experiences and combine it with eastern and tribal philosophy in order to illuminate practical and realistic ways of dealing with it.