← Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches
Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast: Agile storytelling from the trenches
BONUS Agile Tour Vienna 2025: Building Community-Driven Agile Excellence With Robert Ruzitschka, Sabina Lammert, and Richard Brenner
00:30:35
BONUS: Agile Tour Vienna 2025—Building Community-Driven Agile Excellence In this BONUS episode, we explore the upcoming () with three passionate organizers who are bringing together the Austrian agile community for a day of learning, networking,...
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A
Hey there, Agile adventurer. Just a quick question.
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What if, for the price of a.
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B
Hello everybody. Welcome to this very special episode of the Scrum Master Toolbox Podcast. In this episode we'll talk about a great event happening in Vienna, Austria in September. Details in the show notes and to describe this event, why it's important and what to expect, we have with us three organizers. Let's start with Robert, who's a senior principal engineer at Tri Pheisson Bank International and leads a team of engineering coaches. Robert, welcome to the show.
- [01:44]
C
Hey. Hello. Good to be here.
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B
Also here is Sabina who's a founder and Agile coach at Lead Venture and supports teams and organizations to improve their way of collaborating. Welcome Sabina.
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D
Thanks for having me.
- [02:00]
B
And also Richard, who's a previous guest. The link to his previous episode is in the show notes. He started as a software engineer and is now working as an Agile coach, helping clients to adopt agile ways of working. Richard, welcome to the show.
- [02:17]
E
Hi Pasco, thank you for having me again and having all of us doing this special episode today.
- [02:22]
B
Absolutely. So Agile Tour Vienna is the topic of our conversation today. Not just that event, but also why it exists, what to expect and how important it is to create and foster communities locally. So let's take Agile through Vienna as an example. Richard, let's start start with you and what brought you to be part of the organizing team? What's the core mission for this event?
- [02:50]
E
So my, my experience with Agile Tour was that I working as software engineer for years in Vienna and also agile and I knew the Agile Tour long before I became part of this organizing team, also as just participant and then later speaker and then when I joined tech Talk, which is the company who is also organizing the tour. It was kind of an honor to join this organizing team because I knew the tour so long, I thought it's a really cool event. And when I joined this, it was like a great thing for me to now give something back to the community and be part of this organizing team.
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B
Sabina, let's continue with you. What is the core mission of Agile Tour Vienna?
- [03:44]
D
Wow, that's a very intense question. I don't know if I can represent a core mission like how everyone sees it, but I can say what it is for me. And for me it's really about creating an event from the community for the community. So at the Agile Tour Vienna we really pay a lot of attention that the contributions are made by community members. And compared to other conferences where there are a lot of companies representing themselves, where there's a lot of, I don't know, like selling sales involved, it's really about sharing different experiences and also connecting the people among each other. So what I love a lot about the Agile Tour Vietnam compared to other conferences in other countries like France or Germany who have participated a lot, is that it feels always like coming back to a family and everyone is really.
- [04:38]
B
Supporting each other, the family and community feeling. How about you, Robert? How do you see the core mission of the Agile Tour Vienna?
- [04:49]
C
I can only agree to what Sabina said. I think the very special thing here is that it is kind of, it is fostering the local community that's super important. I mean, Vienna is a big city, there's a lot of stuff going on. So there are many people who are active in this, in this scene, working as coaches, grandmasters, but also in the engineering area. So it's a great opportunity to bring people together here. Also from Vienna, plus, you know, having speakers from outside all of this creates this very special atmosphere. I think it's this, this local aspect is very important, but then it needs to be enhanced by bringing in ideas from people from the outside world. So I think this is really kind of special here with YoGL too.
- [05:29]
B
One of the core things that I hear in all of your answers is this focus on community, bringing people together, creating those connections, exploring what others have learned. So Sabine, let's start with you on this next question. What do you see is the biggest benefit of having this community focus versus this, versus other conferences, pardon me, which are not so community oriented? What's the big benefit for the people that come in and experience this community focused and community driven? Agile Tour Vienna.
- [06:07]
D
Participated already as participant at the Agile Tour Vienna, but also a speaker and I was also coached as a young talent. So I have participated in various ways. And for me, when I participated as a participant, it felt like my topic had some space to be discussed. So it doesn't feel like as a participant that I'm only consuming, but that I can also like in the breaks, support others with their current challenges and that I also get support from other participants. And this is what I like a lot. So the way the conference is designed, there is enough space to get in touch with others and to have some sort of peer coaching between the different input sessions. And this is what makes it for me unique.
- [07:00]
B
Robert, from your perspective, like, what are you as the organizing team, preparing to bring some of those ideas to life that Sabina just mentioned to?
- [07:10]
C
As I said, I think it's super important to have this kind of good mix of practical experiences, all coming directly from the folks in the trenches who work with teams companies here in the local context of Vienna, it's super nice. I mean, just getting people together, allowing enough space for people to just mingle, communicate and talk about the stuff. Besides, the regular conference track is quite important. So I think this is very nice, nicely set up also with the, with having this joint lunch in very big and nice area. So I think this all contributes this kind of feeling that besides the regular conference track you tracks, you can also have good conversation with peers all around the community. I think that's, that's, that's quite important. I mean, as I said, I mean this, this kind of local focus is something that's, that I like really, really very much. I mean, there's always this kind of local context in a way. Yeah, I mean, we're doing the same stuff all over the world, but still there is this kind of local, special context, you know, the people from the other companies. So that really is, I think, something that's, that's quite useful and interesting.
- [08:18]
B
Those interested in attending Agile Tour Vienna, what can they expect? Are all the talks in English? Are some of them in German, others in English? What can they expect? Richard?
- [08:30]
E
Well, we, as Robert and Sabina already mentioned, we take a lot of effort in finding a good mix and a good balance of the program. So what we do is always have one track that has an English talk. So for, for international people that also work in Vienna, they can always have a talk in English throughout the day. So we make sure we have this and of course we also have German talks. We also take care that we have a good diversity within the speakers. We make sure that there is also topic wise, a good mix because for me Agile started with engineering practices. So we always still have the engineering track. We have tracks for teams, team coaching, we have business. So there is a really broad mix of topics nowadays. But for me still the most important part is that we don't force people to certain topics. We just want to hear what's going on in the community and bring people on stage talking about what's going on currently in Austria and Vienna and also around the world with our keynote speakers.
- [09:55]
B
One of the things that you've been talking about and even have on the website is energy, lots of energy. This includes surprises you talk about having maybe Comic Agile storytelling workshop, three world class keynotes. Robert, which of these aspects do you want to highlight? Tell us a little bit more about what you have already planned for agile Tour Vienna 2025.
- [10:23]
C
So I think as always there is a great mix, you mentioned it, of high class, internationally renowned keynote speakers and workshops, plus talks and workshops from local experts. I mean coming from an engineering background, I'm really looking forward to the keynote by Dave Farley. I mean Dave Farley is one of my all time heroes. I've been in touch with him a couple of times. He also has been working as a trainer for our company. But I, you know, I didn't meet him personally so I'm really looking forward first to his keynote and second, I think it will be a great opportunity to see him personally. So really great stuff. So I'm looking forward to this. You see, I'm a bit excited about this. Yeah. But I think also the other keynote that we have, plus the workshop from Comic Agile, that's something, you know, everybody talks about AI all of the time. But this will be like a great opportunity to see some creativity from real human beings. Beings and this is also something that I really appreciate. So yeah, I think great mix of contributions and super interesting keynotes. I'm really looking forward to this. I'm already excited.
- [11:40]
B
Sabina, what would you highlight from the program and the activities and maybe even some surprises you have planned for this year's event.
- [11:49]
D
So one thing for all the coffeeholics there, what I like a lot about Agile Tribuna, there's always a barista bar. I hope it will be there too this year. Of course it will be. Which is something, it's a small thing but you know, it just transforms everything to a high class experience. And last year we had even a fast lane for the, for the people who need like fast, not so good coffee, like not Quality coffee. So it's quite cool how every year we improve like also on those details and. And yeah, also the location, the event location is stunning. So I don't know, the Vienna people have to support me there. What's the name of it? Europa House, isn't it?
- [12:36]
E
Yeah. And it's an old castle.
- [12:39]
D
It's an old castle. It's magic. And we have these three different conference rooms. And what I also like a lot is never aiming to go big, but to stay small and familiar. So we are at the end of the day, you know, new people, you meet new people because it is so small. So you have a lot of opportunities to get in touch one with another. And this is what I like a lot compared to other conferences that try to get bigger and bigger and bigger each times and end up with a thousand participants. But in the end of the day you're just overwhelmed and you don't have like this intimacy. And this is something also that you can expect that by the end of the day you have some really valuable contacts.
- [13:25]
B
That's really one of the key advantages of focusing on community because these are the people we will be interacting with day in, day out, whether remote, if they are from far apart or maybe even having a coffee meeting in one of those famous cafes of Vienna. Richard, how about you? What do you want to highlight from this year's program?
- [13:51]
E
Of course I'm also high finance engineering background, so Dave Farley, I'm really much looking forward to. But also the second keynote by Mirela Moose about product operations because in our clients world, product management having good product ownership. And also the topic of product ops is coming and so I'm looking forward to this talk as well. And of course I'm a big fanboy of Comic agile, so this is great. But also our workshops, we always have also workshop formats which are cool because you have more time there. You can dig into a topic, you can really experience it. Like for example, building a delivery pipeline with a game. So it's like a DevOps workshop which I also experienced already, which is great. So to be honest, I have a big fear of missing out already because I would love to listen to all of the talks. But the cool thing is we record all of them so you can also listen to them later.
- [14:58]
B
It's the second best, right? Like best is to be there live, but if you can't, there's always the recordings and where can people expect to get the recordings? Is that like part of the ticket or is that already free on the, on YouTube or something like how, how do people get the videos from this year's event?
- [15:17]
E
Also like a great, I would say giving back to the community. We publish them on YouTube, free. We make a lot of noise on LinkedIn, so you will probably notice when they are published and you will also see them on the website of the Agile Tour. There's a big archive of all the past Agile tours with references to, to the talks as well. So you will find it, check it out.
- [15:41]
B
We'll put the link in the show notes so you can check last year's and maybe even older. But of course then you can follow Richard, Robert and Sabina on LinkedIn. The links are in the show notes and then you can learn when the new videos are available. One of the things I wanted to kind of end our conversation with is you are all involved in organizing an event, an agile event, which has the responsibility to bring the community together, as you already said many times, but also to drive the community forward. It's important to also understand what's your vision of what are the biggest challenges that we have today, especially this year, when we had, I think, a very impactful piece of news at the start of the year with pmi, one could say acquiring some might even say a hostile takeover of the Agile Alliance. What do you guys think are today's biggest challenges for the Agile community? Richard, let's start with you.
- [16:44]
E
Okay, well, I thought a lot about this all the time because there is a big shift that we also see in how Agile coaches hired or fired from companies and also Scrum masters, big layoffs. And so I think for me, to sum it up, the biggest challenge is that we go from concept based agility to context based agility. So companies realize the world is complex, there is no one framework to rule them all. And Agile moved from being like an underground movement and movement against the establishment is now just there, it's established. So we go away from the big transformations in solving concrete problems. And I think that's actually a good thing. And that's for me the challenge is how do we solve the nowadays Vuca world problems and not introducing Agile for the sake of Agile, but solving real business issues.
- [18:00]
B
So this is a very good point and I just want to interject before Sabine and Robert come in, that although I find it commendable that we don't want to introduce Agile just for the sake of Agile, I do want to raise our awareness that there's probably hundreds of thousands of people right now introducing project management just for the sake of introducing project management. So let's not lose side that there is a clear competition between different models of how to run software development deliveries. There's the project model and on the other side there's the Agile model which includes product and continuous Delivery, continuous development, DevOps and all of those things. So let's not forget that I would be very sad if we would only work with companies that really, really want to be agile because there's a lot of other companies on which our countries depend, for example developing software for our healthcare or train system that need Agile, even though they probably are introducing project management just for the sake of introducing project management. Sabina, what's your take on the biggest challenge that our community, our Agile community is facing today that you want agile Tour Vienna 2025 to contribute to?
- [19:23]
D
So I hear quite often the sentence and it's sometimes also the name of some session like Agile is dead. And I cannot quite agree with that because the question is what was Agile, that it died. And for me it's a lot of value based working and not so much about methods. So also getting back to Richard's response that basically it's not about winning over something if you ask me, it's about using common sense, getting into interaction and try to find also sometimes complex solution for complex problems. Because we have the challenge nowadays that we try to find easy solutions for complex problems and people stop thinking and reflecting truly about does this what we do still make sense and to empower people and also to get rid of this fear that there is one way but that it must become normal, that we constantly have to re evaluate a situation and to adapt. So inspect and adapt the way of how we solve something. A solution from today might not be the right solution in three weeks or three years. So we have constantly to challenge ourselves to reflect and that this is the new status quo and this is what I would like to set the focus on and what I think currently is the challenge.
- [20:44]
B
Looking at the complex solutions that need to be implemented right now, establishing the right ways to validate that they actually work. Because it's not about introducing solutions in the end, it's about having the impacts that we hope to get. That's a great topic and a great mission to have for this year's Agile Tour Vienna. And how about you Robert, what is your thought on or what are your thoughts rather than on the biggest challenge that the Agile community faces today?
- [21:16]
C
I think, I mean we're living in challenging times, so there is no denying it both from a political perspective but also from an economic perspective. It all is related and what we see many times, and that's not something new, is that in times of crisis, people fall back to very old school patterns of behavior, of deciding how things are done. So I think it's also part of, how should I say, the challenge that we face, that we need to keep the ideas that made us work in a specific way. We need to keep them alive. So having these community events, just making sure that these ideas are spread and we always renew the knowledge, I think this is very important. As I said, especially in times of crisis. This is super important because people tend to fall back to all patterns of behavior. We all know working in these ways is not simple, it requires discipline, it requires effort. But we do this because we want to achieve good outcomes and we just need to keep up the spirit. I think that sounds pretty basic, but in times of crisis, I think this is not something that we can take for granted.
- [22:31]
B
And that point about keeping the discipline is very important. Very long time ago, Barry Beam, one of the big thought leaders of software development, talked about bringing discipline into software development. He called it, I think it's called balancing agility and discipline or something like that. I forget the name of the book, but he was clearly making a contrast between what he thought was discipline and what he thought agile was, which was not discipline. And having worked with agile teams and engineering leadership teams, not just engineering, for what is now 11 years. No, sorry, 21 years, because I started in 2004, I have to say that I've never seen so much discipline as I've seen in Agile teams. I mean, think about this for a minute. Continuous integration. Think about the amount of discipline that you need to have to have your software running every single day. And then we have continuous experimentation. So market driven feedback, collection and reacting. Imagine the amount of discipline you need to be able to organize your work as experiments, collect information from the market, feed that into the process and have that translated into product changes. You need an enormous amount of discipline compared to the traditional software project management that we used to have, which many of us also known by the affectionate name of cowboy coding. So I think we really need to be honest and also like really acknowledge to ourselves how much more discipline, coherence and predictability Agile has brought to the world of software. So I think this is a very important point and not a point that we need to, to ignore or even sometimes apologize for. No, the discipline that we're bringing to software organizations is also bringing the ability to adapt, which is one of the core promises of agile software development. Right. So I think it's very important for us to acknowledge that we brought the right kind of discipline. A discipline that acknowledges that the world is complex, that is focused on generating feedback opportunities and reacting to that feedback rather than generating planning opportunities and severely following a plan that we already know is going to be outdated the moment we start executing. Right. So let's not apologize for that. The discipline we brought is also a discipline that is much more humane. Plans are not human. I mean, they are human when they're being developed, but the moment you start implementing, they forget about the humans implementing it. Right. The ability to adapt is what is human, is what allows us to work within that discipline. And I think very often we forget about that.
- [25:26]
C
It seems my usage of the word discipline triggered some substantial reaction. Thank you very much, Roscoe.
- [25:33]
B
And one that we shouldn't apologize for. Right?
- [25:36]
C
Totally. Totally. Yeah.
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B
And I mean, Robert, you have an engineering background. Like if you go back 20 odd years before Agile was a thing in the organizations where you worked and you look at how software engineers and testers work now, there's a lot more discipline now than we had back then.
- [25:54]
C
Well, at least there is a different kind of discipline, one that I would consider enabling us to do better things in a more sustainable way and also better for us in engineers. So obviously there are different kinds of discipline. The one that's coming from within and the one that is forced on you. I'm happy that we were able to get rid of the second one that is forced upon us.
- [26:18]
B
Been a wonderful experience to have you all here on the podcast. Everybody check out agile Tour Vienna 2025. The L is in the show notes. It's happening soon, so check out, get your tickets and start going there. If you haven't planned that yet in your conference attendance plan, let's do a quick round telling people where they can find out more about you and the work that you're doing. Starting with Richard.
- [26:47]
E
Yeah, thank you for the podcast and promoting also our community events so people can find me on LinkedIn. Basically. So there's where I'm usually posting things.
- [26:59]
B
Richard Brenner on LinkedIn. I'll put the link in the show notes so that everybody can easily check out Richard and why not ask a few follow up questions, continue that conversation. And Sabina, how about you? Where can people find out more about you and the work that you're doing?
- [27:15]
D
Same as for Richard on LinkedIn. And we have a website called leadventure.de where we have a huge amount of freely available downloads. It's visualizations that you can also use for your own retrospectives, for your own workshops. They're quite useful. So just go there and download whatever you need. We're happy if people are using it.
- [27:37]
B
And finally Robert, where can people find out more about you and the work that you're doing?
- [27:43]
C
Yeah, so of course I also try to be visible on LinkedIn, but I also have a small substack so if you want to check out what I write from time to time. So feel free to check out my.
- [27:55]
B
Substack and all the links will be in the show notes. Everybody check out their work and why not engage, ask follow up questions. Let's continue to build the community. Thank you very much everybody for your generosity with your time and your knowledge.
- [28:11]
E
Thank you Vasco.
- [28:13]
D
Thank you so much for the invite.
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A
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