Collaboration was the general topic at the recent Scrum Gathering in Orlando, Florida. For three days Scrum users and experts from around the world came together to exchange their experiences with this agile project management method. In talks and workshops the participants were able to gain new insights or to make a first encounter. Current topics and case studies about them were presented in five top-cast expert rounds.
Andreas Dangl presented "When Worlds Collide", the case study of a cross-company project that is currently being realized by Siemens Energy together with Fabasoft. The international project team uses Fabasoft's latest product, the cloud computing software Fabasoft Folio Cloud; with its app "Scrum Projects", cross-company projects can be implemented safely and with confidence, anywhere and at any time. Access is also possible via smartphones. The international audience especially appreciated Fabasoft Folio Cloud's availability in 15 languages.
These meetings are organized at regular intervals at places around the world mainly to allow Scrum users to exchange experiences, to gain new insights into this type of project management and to more fully evaluate the potential of the Scrum method. Collaboration was not only the main topic of the conference, but was also put into practice in situ. For example in the Dialogue Room – conceived as an open space for experimentation and informal meetings – contacts could be intensified and spontaneous Scrum sessions called. A conference exists to make new contacts and to stay in touch with existing ones and – in compliance with the conference topic – to unlock new ways of collaboration. No one had to dispense with social software, either. Via twitter and flicker, participants could share viewpoints immediately on a large display and not only make themselves heard amongst each other, but to the whole world. The Dialogue Room did not offer any official program, but instead all the possibilities that Scrum has to offer. The organizers supplied everyone interested with all that they needed. Another specialty of the Dialogue Room was the Scrum Clinic, where Scrum experts would give individual diagnoses in one-on-one meetings and immediately attend to any minor problems or errors.