Open Tech Calendar

The Future of Work Scotland team are delighted to be hosting author of "Succeeding with OKRs in Agile", Allan Kelly.

Agile has lost its shine, "corporate agile" has stripped away all the fun, passion, excitement and learning. Adding OKRs just makes it worse: a reinvention of top-down management by objective with added metrics to mislead and distort reality. Such OKRs are little more than a return to command and control.

That is what this former OKR cynic thought, but after using OKRs with multiple teams he got a surprise: they work. Used right OKRs fit well with agile.

OKRs offer the tantalising prospect of reawakening agile's radical side, aligning management with teams, improving communication and resolving the tyranny of the backlog.

In this presentation Allan Kelly will share his journey from cynic to enthusiast and explain how to use OKRs to bring out the best in agile.

Learning Objectives:

What can our attendees expect to take away from the session?

● The two strains of the agile virus
● How OKRs allow a different approach to agile working and what to do with the backlog when using OKRs
● Why OKRs need to be bottom-up approach to goal setting

Here's some background on our amazing guest speaker for this session:

Allan Kelly wants software professionals to enjoy more fulfilling and satisfying work. He advises teams and managers on using agile approaches to improve the way work is organised and requests are made. Happier people and better ways of working make for more effective companies, greater value and competitive advantage.

His wide experience of the challenges faced in software development underpins his advice, coaching, training and writing.