Speakers

THIS conference is about executives telling their stories, describing how they achieved surprising and even stunning results by using Open patterns and Invitation-Based Change to achieve great success in enterprise-level change. You do not want to miss this conference !

Our executive plenary speakers include:

EXECUTIVE EDDIE WILKINSON, Agile PMO Vice President at Bendix Commercial Vehicle Systems

With DAN LEFEBVRE, Executive & Scrum-At-Scale Coach at SCRUMINC, Cambridge MA

Eddie is responsible for the entire transformation across all of Bendix Engineering. He will describe how he has INVITED and ENGAGED over 90 volunteers who are the champions of change who are scaling positive change across the entire organization. He plans to explain how it started with a conversation with executive coach Dan Lefebvre and how the momentum is still building 2 years later! Eddie also plans to describe the amazing results and outcomes over the past 2 years that this “volunteer army” has achieved.

Here is the story:

Using an invitational leadership approach for the transformation of engineering, Bendix Commercial Systems is scaling Scrum across the organization. At the same time they are using Kotter’s “dual operating system” model, where the executive team handles authorizing budget and the management of non-engineering operations.

Eddie plans to explain this 2-year journey, and how the Invitation-Based Change approach continues to be essential to the transformation of Bendix Commercial Systems.

It recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:

EXECUTIVE HEIDI HELFAND: Former Director of Engineering Excellence, Procore Technologies

Heidi was instrumental in helping to lead the PROCORE TECHNOLOGIES Product & Technology organization through new ways of working. She leveraged Invitation-Based Change™ (IBC) to help make that effort a huge success.

You’ll hear how the specific use of Open Space Technology events which led to the identification of enthusiastic champions who then led important change initiatives. Those initiatives made a huge & measurable impact on the organization’s overall health, morale, and growth.

Here is the story:

Procore Technologies conducted a 3-day, 350++ person offsite event with the goal of advancing operational excellence. They used Whole Group Process activities over all 3 days, to align the entire organization and gather actionable feedback on on how to improve.

This event included a 1-day Open Space event, preceded by the Authority Circle activity (a modified Fishbowl meeting structure in which executives openly discuss hot issues and then invite participants to “take the Hot Seat” and speak their mind.)

The 3-day event implemented Invitation-Based Change and led to genuine and lasting improvement across all of engineering, during a time of tremendous company growth.

It recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:

EXECUTIVE JAN VAN DRAVIK, BNP PARIBAS/Paris

With PABLO PERNOT, Executive Coach BENEXT Company, Paris France

Pablo Pernot (CEO, BeNext, Paris France) pioneered the use of Open patterns and OpenSpace Agility in Europe beginning in 2013. He leveraged OpenSpace Agility (OSA) and achieved lasting successes with many different kinds of enterprise change well beyond the typical Agile transformation.

Mr. Pernot then began introducing client executives in France to the power of this approach for Agile and digital transformation. Jan Van Dravik is an executive leader at BNP Paribas S.A., the French international banking group. BNP Paribas S.A. is the largest French banking group, the largest bank in Europe, and world’s seventh largest bank by total assets. At the conference, Jan and Pablo will tell their story of enterprise-wide success at BNP Paribas S.A. using Open Patterns and Invitation-Based Change.

Here is the story:

“BNP Paribas is a very large company. In 2015, our IT teams (500 FTE) were based in Casablanca and Paris. In Casablanca, these teams were focused on time and budget constraints. They were not focused on strategies, results and value delivery. In Paris also, IT practices and “solutions” were outdated and obsolete. The cost of this was huge.

“In 2019, we encouraged a major shift, from an “internal supplier” mindset to a “strategic partner” or “I.T. digital leader” mindset. We set out to help make I.T a true strategic center of innovation, rather than merely a “center of cost” or cost-center.

Question: What specific techniques did you use? Open Space? Something else? OSA?

Answer: Open Space and a little a bit of OSA (periodic Open Space events)

Question: What are the steps that BNP did, step by step? Over how many years?

Answer: Over 4 years, our primary objectives were:

  • To transfer and centralize all of our Parisian activities to Casablanca
  • To create a real culture oriented towards results and value creation 
  • To change IT practices in order to put in place the conditions allowing us to deploy a completely new system across 10 banks in the region

The invitational approach was used on 3 topics in particular:

  • Change of practice (agile mindset) – the leadership-invited workshops involved about 100 engineers in Casablanca over 3 years
  • Networked “tribe” structure for engineering– executives encouraged and invited a new networked-structured Agile organization (tribe & guilds structure) for engineering in Casablanca, over 12 months
  • A Dev Ops transformation; these invited workshops involved 50 people over 3 years

These 3 domains for which we used the INVITATION, did not necessarily have the same steps. The agile culture and DevOps parts were backed up by a more classic program, with quarterly follow-up committees with executive leaders in a demo format (by videoconference between Paris and Casablanca). Engineering Backlogs were fed by the invited, participatory workshops (2 per year).


“Since 2020, we have begun to remake I.T. at BNP Paribas. And as of 2020, we are now successful in beginning to roll out a completely new, large and strategic information system with all-new capabilities. It provides real-time data to the business and has a modern architecture. This is a huge investment for us; it is a program over 100 million euros.

“BNP Paribas remains a mix of classic top-down hierarchy and now, more and more, it is open to new ways of working. There is much more openness. We continue to learn and improve as we execute on this huge program with a budget of over 100 million euro.”

It recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:

EXECUTIVE: APALA MUKHERJEE, Executive Head of Agile Transformation Services, Tata Consulting Services USA

With executive coach DARREN TERRELL, Senior Consultant, Tata Consulting Services USA

TCS executive Apala Mukherjee will tell her story of authorizing the use of a technique called Inviting Vision, created by Darren Terrell. She will describe the journey of authorizing and sponsoring Open Space events inside TCS, a global consultancy with over 450,000 employees.

Apala will describe how TCS is transforming their Agile practice into a powerhouse of Agile change for both TCS internally, and externally for the very large global corporations that they serve globally.

It is recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:

EXECUTIVE: MS. HUYNH THUY HANG, CEO, VINH DUC REAL (of Vietnam)

With DR. CHERRY VU Executive Coach & Principal, TEAL UNICORN (of New Zealand)

Ms. Huyng Thuy Hang and coach Dr. Cherry Vu plan to tell their story of success transforming an entire enterprise quite quickly, using the Open patterns of Invitation-Based Change™. This is an executive testimonial you do not want to miss!

Vinh Duc Real is a real estate company. It was established in 2015 in Ho Chi Minh city. It is hard to overstate just what an amazing case study that Vinh Duc is.

Not only did Hang completely reinvent the operating model for a real estate agency of 40 people, so that they were self-organising teams completely fluid as to size, structure, and duration; but then when most of the staff realised what a dynamite model it was and decided to go off on their own to start a new agency, this didn’t create any hostility or friction. 

Hang supported them in doing so and maintained a business relationship so that they continue to share clients and properties, to their mutual benefit. As a result, Hang now operates with much fewer staff, has reduced her office space and all her operating costs, and still gets the same revenue as she did with 40 and makes much more money than she used to. Everyone has 3 times higher income than before. 

Consider just how advanced this example of management is – straight out of the best of contemporary management textbooks. Completely self-organising teams is the Agile that most organisations dream of. Growing staff until they fly free with their own business and remaining network with them is pure Green from the Laloux model – one step away from Teal. Hang has made it work with courage and conviction, through the support and advice of Dr. Cherry Vu of Teal Unicorn.

It is recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:



EXECUTIVE MARK KATZ: Former CIO of The American Association of Composers, Authors and Publishers

With DANIEL MEZICK, Executive & Agile Coach at IMPROVING AGILITY

Mark Katz led the transformation of ASCAP using Open Space and OpenSpace Agility. That effort led to the development of an innovative and mission-critical software system that led to ASCAP winning the CIO100 award for one of the best IT software systems in the for that year, WORLDWIDE. Learn how morale, software quality and customer satisfaction skyrocketed as ASCAP leveraged Invitation-Based Change™ and the Open approach.

Here is the context:

Mark was in the job for 4-6 months with a mandate to make big progress with re-writing and re-developing the main mission-critical business app upon which the entire business depended. As CIO, he inherited a kind of mess, which included items on a stakeholder-request backlog which were 5,6 8 years old. There were also a group of contractors who had been there for years who “owned” sections of the code; they were writing “career secure” code which was hard to understand and maintain.

He also inherited a great group of full-time employees who wanted to do great work. Mark had been through the “push” or “imposed” style of implementing agile processes, and he knew that it totally didn’t work. So he went the other way, towards Invitation-Based Change™ (IBC) and the use of OpenSpace Agility (OSA). He bet his career on it. He was OUT if he did not succeed.

This story has a great ending that includes winning the coveted CIO100 Award, honoring one of the best IT efforts in the world for that year. BUT: there were many challenges along the way, with developers, with the contractors, and especially with the executive team and the board. You’ll get the full story at the conference and also receive access to a short video testimonial you can give to your own executives in the company you are currently serving.

It recommended that you watch these videos in preparation for the Q&A segment of his presentation:


Each of these executive testimonials tells an undeniable story of success with Invitation-Based Change™ and Open patterns and practices.

This is the first Agile conference in the world in which every single speaker is an actual executive describing how Open patterns are the way forward.

Each executive is telling an undeniable story of success.

Question: Don’t you need to be participating in this conference?

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