Flowcon SF 2014, September 3-4 San Francisco, California

Workshop: "Open Space Day"

Time: Thursday 09:00 - 16:00 / Location: Franciscan

After Flowcon 2013, our participants told us they would like more opportunities to meet people and talk about the conference topics. This year we’ve added a second day for workshops and an open space event.

At an open space event, people discuss things they care about with other people who share similar interests. An open space event promotes agile values of collaboration, conversation and self-organization. Open space events are used to surface common concerns, brainstorm solutions to a problem or simply to exchange information. At the start of the open space event, participants generate a list of potential conversation topics, choose what to talk about, organize into small groups, engage in conversation and then present their conclusions back to the larger group. The outcome of an open space event is a view into the hot topics that exist among your professional community, a chance to share your thoughts with peers, and learn what other people think. It’s also an excellent way to network and make new professional connections.

For more information about open space technology, see this article from wikipedia.

Esther Derby, Author of "Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great" and Program Committee Member

Esther Derby

Biography: Esther Derby

I started my career as a programmer, and over the years I’ve worn many hats, including business owner, internal consultant and manager. From all these perspectives, one thing became clear: our level of individual, team and company success was deeply impacted by our work environment and organizational dynamics. As a result, I have spent the last twenty-five years helping companies design their environment, culture, and human dynamics for optimum success. I’ve written over 100 articles, and co-authored two books–Agile Retrospectives: Making Good Teams Great and Behind Closed Doors: Secrets of Great Management. I write about management, leadership, collaboration, organizations and change (or another topic I’m currently exploring).

Twitter: @estherderby

Blog: http://www.estherderby.com 

Jez Humble, Author of "Continuous Delivery", Principal Consultant, ThoughtWorks / FlowCon Program Committee Member

Jez Humble

Biography: Jez Humble

Jez Humble is a Principal Consultant with ThoughtWorks, and author of Continuous Delivery, published in Martin Fowler's Signature Series (Addison Wesley, 2010), and the forthcoming Lean Enterprise, in Eric Ries' Lean series (O'Reilly, 2014). He got into IT in 2000, just in time for the dot-com bust. Since then he has worked as a developer, system administrator, trainer, consultant, manager, and speaker. He has worked with a variety of platforms and technologies, consulting for non-profits, telecoms, financial services, and online retail companies.

Since 2004 he has worked for ThoughtWorks and ThoughtWorks Studios in Beijing, Bangalore, London, and San Francisco. His focus is on helping organisations deliver valuable, high-quality software frequently and reliably through implementing effective engineering practices in the field of Agile delivery. He also serves as Product Manager for Go, ThoughtWorks Studios agile release management platform. He holds a BA in Physics and Philosophy from Oxford University and an MMus in Ethnomusicology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

Twitter: @jezhumble
Personal blog: http://jezhumble.net/
Github: http://github.com/jezhumble/javasysmon
Book: Continuous Delivery (Addison Wesley, 2010)
Company website: http://studios.thoughtworks.com

Lane Halley, Product Designer and FlowCon Program Committee Member

Lane Halley

Biography: Lane Halley

Lane Halley uses lean design & agile development methods to create Web & mobile products. Lane worked at  Carbon Five,  as a UX coach and trainer (LUXr), an in-house design manager (Liquidnet), an agency designer (Cooper, Hot Studio) a director of User Experience (SenSage) and a video game producer (Mindscape/Electronic Arts).

Lane seeks to blend the best practices of UX, agile and Lean Startup methods. She was the UX track host for QconSF 2012 and co-chair of the User Experience stage at Agile 2009. Lane is a frequent collaborator with Lean Startup Machine, Los Angeles StartupWeekend and StartupUCLA as a speaker and mentor. Recent speaking engagements include Agile UX NYC and the Michigan Lean Startup Conference

An active member of her professional community, Lane is a long-term participant in the Interaction Design Association (IxDA) and a founding member of Balanced Team, a working group of software professionals who promote multidisciplinary collaboration around customer value and iterative design and delivery as an engine for innovation.

Twitter: @thinknow

Blog: "The Apprentice Path"