Nordic culture as fertile ground for Agile: ScanAgile 2019

Nordic culture makes particularly fertile ground for Agile practices

There are a number of reasons why Nordic outfits are naturals at Agile if they put their mind to it: certain aspects of Nordic culture make fertile ground for agile practices. Typically, Nordic cultures are known for open discussion/getting directly to the point, compromise (proportional representation electoral systems can’t run without it), and at best, Nordic people dare to fail fast.

Spotify

Spotify is a case in point, and in many ways the culture demonstrated at the streaming service still represents the new wave of Agile development. Their approach has even been adopted in the banking world at big players like ING. Sure, their business environment differs from many other software companies – they only have the one product, or a very limited number of products compared to others. Still, the culture of open conversation, shared consciousness, how difficult issues are broached, and the speed of the changes that are made, are all Agile at its best, done in a Nordic way.

Enter Scan Agile 2019: Proudly Nordic and proudly Agile

ScanAgile is a yearly conference that’s been taking place in Helsinki for half a decade already. It’s run by a passionate group of volunteers from a range of vendors and companies, thereby representing the type of humble cooperation that the Nordics are known for.

In less than two weeks, the Nordic Agile community is coming together for ScanAgile 2019, and for Agile practitioners based in the Nordics.

The conference, flying under the banner of ‘What the Agile?’, is bringing together experts from around the world for keynotes, workshops and more. Program highlights include Christopher Avery, an expert on responsibility in organizations. He’s mentioned in the past how, when it comes to Finns in particular, as a rule the national psyche is very ‘nice’, a characteristic which has been proven to strengthen feelings of shame and obligation. These feelings do not further the taking of responsibility but have the opposite effect, of chaining you to the (perceived) needs of others. The discussion is going to be interesting!

Other highlights include Niels Pflaeging, who specializes in leading with flexible targets, and

Sonja Ängeslevä, a game industry activist and a key player behind the muscle power of the Finnish game industry.

Tickets for the conference are selling fast, so do get in there while you still can.

Eficode is a proud sponsor of Scan Agile which takes place from March 13-14 2019. Eficode's Agile coaches and scrum masters can provide training sessions and project management for your software development needs. 

As a sponsor, Eficode has a ScanAgile 2019 discount code we can give you! Please contact us to find out more.