Speaking

Looking for an independent speaker for your internal conference or management off-site? One who inspires both technical and non-technical audiences, and who customizes content and delivery for maximum value? Contact Gil Broza. Your attendees will enjoy interacting with a passionate, dynamic speaker who gives them a lot to think about.

Popular talks

Being Agile: Having the Mind-Set that Delivers

Are you excited about adopting Agile? Have you put in place the roles, artifacts, practices, and tools? Are you then realizing the promised benefits – happy customers, quality product, reliable delivery teams, and faster releases?

If instead of an emphatic “yes,” your honest answer is “only some of the benefits,” “inconsistently,” or “we did, initially”, then you’re not alone. Most organizations experience this due to an Agile implementation that is mechanical, rigid, driven by tools and so-called “best practices.” But Agile is much more than a process; it’s first and foremost a mind-set that permeates your actions. Without the mind-set, the practices don’t matter, and you won’t achieve and sustain great results.

In this talk, Gil Broza will guide you through an exploration of the values, beliefs, and principles that define Agile thinking. You’ll learn how to choose Agile-minded methods, process, and practices for your needs and context. And with the deep understanding of what makes Agile work, you’ll be able to support mindful implementation and the necessary culture change.

Practice Does not Make Perfect: Why Agile Transformations Fail

These days, almost every organization is showing interest in Agile. We seem to have all the ingredients for effective transformations: well-known practices, detailed processes, ever-improving tools, extensive literature, myriad certifications, and many consultants. How is it, then, that so few organizations are truly agile?

Gil Broza, author of “The Agile Mindset” and “The Human Side of Agile”, thinks that one particular ingredient has been overlooked in the mad rush to adopt Agile. In this session, he leads us on an exploration of that ingredient and its place in an Agile transformation.

Individuals and Interactions: Ten Lessons from Putting People Before Process

For decades, most technology businesses have considered standardized processes to be a key ingredient to their success. Other enterprises made a different assumption: that cultivating their staff and growing teams, who would own their processes, was a better enabler of success. Agile, which has been in substantial use for the last 15 years, is an example of such a mind-set. Truly valuing individuals and interactions over processes and tools is challenging, yet many organizations have made it work. Along the way, they’ve discovered necessary conditions for sustaining people-first environments, as well as a host of surprising benefits that carry over to all forms of knowledge work. In this talk, Gil Broza will share the top 10 lessons of putting people before process, learned from real-world Agile implementations.

Are your product owners and ScrumMasters empowered, yet they still run decisions by an authority? At standups, do team members focus on work they “have on their plate” or say “my part’s done”? Are they dedicated, motivated, and busy, but not concerned when half the sprint’s work isn’t finished?

These questions expose attitudes that don’t destroy Agility, but do hurt a team’s outcomes. The particular trouble is with hold-over attitudes: pre-Agile ones that are so familiar, standard, and seemingly common-sense that they’re in everyone’s blind spot! Gil Broza, author of “The Agile Mindset” and “The Human Side of Agile,” shares in this talk the top 10 attitudes to shake loose. Examples include “tasks should be done by experts”, “do as much as you can”, and “everyone should focus on their part.” Come to this session to improve your Agile implementation through expanded perspectives and thinking tools.

Sample testimonials from previous audiences

“Loved everything about it! Good, practical tools and information, excellent delivery, good sense of humour.”

“I can count on one hand the number of presenters I have seen who were confident, professional, comfortable, and left me wanting more. Gil Broza, you inspired me. I really liked how you illustrated a facilitation technique. Many takeaways from this presentation.”

“I recommend Gil Broza as a speaker on the topic of creating lasting transformational change. Gil gets his message across clearly and enthusiastically. He takes the time to answer questions fully. Gil’s goal is to make his audience feel comfortable and equipped to take a different view on what was previously axiomatic. He succeeds.”

“I loved the presentation. I promise not to use the word ‘resources’ in respect to people from this point on!”

“Excellent topic and well presented. Great interaction with the audience!”

“Great content that was delivered well. There was a lot here I will take back to my teams.”

“Very thorough, super organized, good message and points.”

“Great to see Agile through people and not process as too many presentations do.”

“Very good and entertaining presentation — useful ideas on what works and what may not work.”

“A true pleasure to listen to your talk… your emphasis on the human aspects of Agile is so important.”

“The presentation was clear, concise and valuable.”

“No boring moments. Provided ideas I can apply today.”

“Great talk. It resonated with many of the people who attended, and this is exactly what we want: to get more people become aware of how agility can make their business life better.”