The Time is Right for a Disciplined Agile Community Space

This week, I enjoyed co-instructing with Glen Little in the delivery of the newest Disciplined Agile certification workshop, the Disciplined Agile Scrum Master “DASM”. One of the concepts we covered in that course (which has been a part of the previous certification workshops) is the option that an agile organization can use to support cross-team learning. Another is to establish communities of practice. 

In this context, a community of practice is where people who share a common interest/experience/expertise learn from each other to help develop themselves and each other.

While coaching organizations adopting an agile way of working, setting up such communities is almost always part of our adoption roadmap. I have seen the value to individuals and the organization via the improvement in skills and knowledge.

The time is right (actually has been for quite some time) for a stand-alone place where a Disciplined Agile community is established and supported by the community. I am thrilled to be writing that such a place has just been created: All Things Disciplined Agile (www.AllThingsDA.com). 

Community bulletin boards have been around for a long time, and each forum on the board is very similar to a community of practice. The goal is to provide the DA community with a place for sharing, discussions, questions, debates, evolution ideas, and anything related to DA. It is an independent forum that is supported by DA partners, coaches, instructors, and practitioners. It is open to anyone, whether you are a DA practitioner or not.

As a “guest,” you can browse through the conversations and read them or join as a member to add to the conversation by posting a reply or start a new topic. Joining as a member takes about a minute or two and is free to do.

Discussion board functionality differs from social media-based platforms in that boards bring people together to form a community. The board centers around topics, threads of a single conversation that can be replied to by as many people as possible. 

The threads and corresponding replies posted are easy to find, follow, and search, another valuable difference in this forum vs. social media posts. Topics are not injected into an infinite scroll where you may or may not see it or be able to go back to it without much effort. 

What types of topics/conversations can be expected? Well, do you have a general question about DA? There is a forum for that. Are you interested in seeing some of the differences between DA and Scaled Agile (SAFe)? There is a forum for that, and it is moderated by one of the industry’s most recognized thought leaders. Have you taken a DA certification workshop and have questions on how to prepare for the certification exam? Yes, there is a forum for that. Are interested in Value Streams, agile for non-software work, how to choose your way of working, how to do your way of working, how to adopt DA? As the community grows, you can post a question, and experienced members will provide answers. As you experience using DA, you have something to share. Do you think there are better approaches than DA? Share your thoughts and debate with others to help everyone learn and think in new ways. 

 Based on the input from focus groups consisting of varying levels of expertise (from newbie to experts), the board has been set up with multiple forums arranged by categories. As the community continues to grow, forums or sub-forums can be added based on the members’ requests.

On behalf of myself and the partners that have provided the support to establish this community place, I want to personally invite you to join, contribute, and learn from All Things DA.

www.AllThingsDA.com